Kaleidoscope (US version)

[packrat]

Idly browsing on Amazon recently (as I am wont to do), I came across Pulsating Dreams, a 3-disc compilation of this band at a decent price. The write-up looked interesting so I bought it.

Giving disc 1 a spin for the first time at the moment - bloody hell, this is BRILLIANT!!!








I just love their somewhat eccentric approach and the rather unusual instrument mix must have been pretty odd even back in the 60s. I can certainly understand why they landed up as a fringe, cult act but they really do deserve better.

Any other fans here?

Any tips for similar-ish stuff to this?

[Six String]

Yes! I have their early albums on vinyl. David Lindley was in the band of course and he wasn't the only guy good at anything with strings. I never bought anything after he left the band and I hear mixed reviews on those albums but the early ones are great imo. As you mentioned they seem to enjoy playing so many kinds of music and they try to squeeze it all in, sometimes in the same song.

[Charlie O.]

Love 'em.

I just recently downloaded a couple of Kaleidoscope sets from Wolfgang's Vault - one from the Ash Grove in '69, and one from the Newport Folk Festival in '68 (that's the better of the two). The 12-minute "Oh Death" from the Newport set has to be heard to be believed.

I know Billy's a big fan, too - maybe this'll smoke him out of retirement...

[Magilla]

Delightful band. I've only got the Bacon From Mars comp, but it's a lot of fun. Their stuff strikes me as somewhat mannered and contrived but it's not irritating.
I think they made the mistake of doing too much within the songs instead of spreading the ideas and riffs out wider, however.

[Muskrat]

Jimmy Page and probably Plant were (purportedly) fans of the band, and a few of them appeared anonymously as the backup group on Leonard Cohen's first album.

[der nister]

great band, also provided backing and direction here:
(also check out chris darrow's solo work)

[Charlie O.]

Jimmy Page and probably Plant were (purportedly) fans of the band

At least as late as the mid-'70s, Page was calling them his "ideal band." Which is slightly mind-boggling.

[Six String]

Jimmy Page and probably Plant were (purportedly) fans of the band, and a few of them appeared anonymously as the backup group on Leonard Cohen's first album.

That's right, I forgot about that. I know I was surprised when I first heard that.

[der nister]

also backing band on BSprinfield's bassist's Bruce Palmer's solo

[Jeff K]

Remember that April Fools joke from a few years ago when Phenomenal Cat had a supposed 'link' that claimed it was the Kaleidoscope guys playing uncredited on a Dylan album? I think it was Blonde On Blonde.

[pcqgod]

I have 'Beacon from Mars' and the 'Egyptian Candy' compilation.


Yes, amazing music.

[Duncan]

Yeah, that Pulsating Dreams package is a bargain. I love that it includes the Larry Williams & Johnny Watson track that Kaleidoscope provided the session men for. A crackin' bit of psychedelic soul:

[Quaco]

Jimmy Page and probably Plant were (purportedly) fans of the band

At least as late as the mid-'70s, Page was calling them his "ideal band." Which is slightly mind-boggling.

Yeah, why didn't Led Zeppelin sound a bit more like them? Why doesn't he play music like this now that he isn't working on LZ?

[Jeff K]

Yeah, why didn't Led Zeppelin sound a bit more like them?

They wouldn't have made the same amount of money if they had.

[Brother Spoon]

Yeah, why didn't Led Zeppelin sound a bit more like them?

They wouldn't have made the same amount of money if they had.

Think of all the money they would have made from guest appearances on Randy Newman and Ry Cooder albums!

Kaleidoscope (US) - love 'em, btw.

[Charlie O.]

Remember that April Fools joke from a few years ago when Phenomenal Cat had a supposed 'link' that claimed it was the Kaleidoscope guys playing uncredited on a Dylan album? I think it was Blonde On Blonde.

Music From Big Pink, actually. That was brilliant.

[Jeff K]

Remember that April Fools joke from a few years ago when Phenomenal Cat had a supposed 'link' that claimed it was the Kaleidoscope guys playing uncredited on a Dylan album? I think it was Blonde On Blonde.

Music From Big Pink, actually. That was brilliant.

Didn't Muskrat end up checking with some people from the band to find out if it was true or not?

[Charlie O.]

Yup.

I'm sorry that that thread seems to have vanished forever. It belonged in Classic Threads.

[Quaco]

I like Kaleidoscope a lot. They were from the area I grew up in, so they were "hometown boys" for those of us from that area. Everybody from Claremont knows who David Lindley and Chris Darrow are, and learning about the rest of the group wasn't far behind. They weren't quite what I expected when i first heard them -- I think I did expect something a little more like Led Zeppein actually, something more exotic/trippy and less rootsy -- but it didn't take long to like them for what they were.

I would dearly love to see their whole career reissued in a thorough way. Besides the albums, there are all sorts of things they did for National Geographic documentaries, various soundtracks, and so on. It would be incredible to hear what these guys did for those.

[Jeff K]

Yup.

I'm sorry that that thread seems to have vanished forever. It belonged in Classic Threads.

I doubt Muskrat was sorry to see it vanish.

P-Cat did something similar later when he discovered an 'interview' with Glen Campbell in which Glen talks about his uncredited session work on the Stones' Exile On Main Street. I think he sang background vocals on a few songs.