Kaleidoscope (US) vs Kaleidoscope (UK) vs Kaleidoscope (MX)

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late 60s psych bands. discuss.

― Jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

vs. the song by (teh) Marmalade

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Never heard the Mexican band. I've only got a comp of the U.S. band that I never got into that much. U.K. Kaleidoscope was great, including both Fairfield Parlour albums (The White Faced Lady being the second one, unreleased in its time).

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

chocoreve.blogspot.com/

they have dowloads of the mexican one, the US 3cd comp and a Fairfield Parlour album. i haven't heard any of them yet, still downloading

― Jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

and concerning the US band, how is this album?

i see it occasionally and it got good amg reviews.

also, i share a last name with Chris in that band.

― Jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:15 (7 years ago) Permalink

Dadaismus to thread!

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

The Mexican one are good but a definite third place.

The first album by the UK one is good all the way thru, and features Dive into Yesterday which has AMAZING guitar and drums. The second LP is too twee but features the epic Music which has a spinning coin thru phasing sound that'll scare the fuck out've you if y're listening stoned on headphones.

The US one are all over the shop, from proto Sun City Gurlz Egypto stuff to Minnie the Moocher covers to breakbeats to well written, affecting songs. Also check their cover of Nobody w/Johnny 'Guitar' Watson & Larry Williams which is weird and funky.

You can't go wrong w/any band w/this name it seems.

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:25 (7 years ago) Permalink

Kaleidoscope UK!! Awesome group. Faintly Blowing is a masterpiece.

I do like the US one quite a bit too though. Never heard the MX.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:36 (7 years ago) Permalink

See, I don't think the second album is too twee. U.K. Kaleidoscope are really the epitome of twee psychedelia, the very definition of it.

"Faintly Blowing," "If You So Wish," "Just How Much You Are," "Black Fjord" - those were some of their best songs.

Also, the thing about Kaleidoscope is that they were simultaneously the definition of twee and yet managed to remain a rock and roll band. There was always a bit of raunch to them.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

including the Fairfield Parlour albums, I mean

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:39 (7 years ago) Permalink

YOU KAY. love the way they'd stick these bizarre intro pieces on their songs and then they'd burst into full eiderdown-and-teapots twee psych glory. "a dream for julie" is amazing.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:40 (7 years ago) Permalink

so if i get the Fairfield Parlour album, will i get a clue to what the UK one was about. i mean, it's pretty much the same band, yeah?

and do they really sound kinda like ISB?

― Jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:46 (7 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, it just sounds like the third Kaleidoscope album, not that different. They don't sound anything like ISB, though.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

wins!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:48 (7 years ago) Permalink

The song about going to the zoo and playing with the winged tiger always makes me cry.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

xpost - saw that shit coming. even though her second one (wonderland) is the best thing she ever did

― Jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

whenever someone says a song makes them cry, i wanna punch them in the neck and give them something to cry about

― Jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

Sorry if I wasn't clear above. There were only two UK Kaleidoscope albums. Home to Home basically sounds like their third album because that's what it was - they just changed their name.

x-post - uh, it makes me cry, too, and so does "Sky Children" so punk yourself in the neck instead

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

WATCH IT, MR UN-HUMOROUS MAN!

― Jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

It makes my ROFCMEO.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:57 (7 years ago) Permalink

I thought White Faced LAdy was actually the third album. Because the original CD ish on UFO was under the name Kaleidoscope. Before it got reissued I was searching for it for the longest time. I'd punch in "Kaleidoscope CD" on eBay but all I'd ever find was the Kelis album.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 16 September 2005 21:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

I only know the US Kaleidoscope and they were v. good. The 1st David Lindley solo album asked about up there is also v. good.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:01 (7 years ago) Permalink

is david lindley like ry cooter and bill laswell?

― Jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:03 (7 years ago) Permalink

Serious post: I've never heard the Mexican version (or maybe I have, but I don't remember them that) but both the American or the UK version are equally competent at what they do (which means whenever I hear one of their songs I think okay this is good, but I've never bought either one's albums.) I think I prefer the pop-whimsy of the UK version ever so slightly more, but in general I prefer my US psych garage-ier and my UK psyche twee-er so maybe it's just my prejudice.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

No, would have been the 4th album. There was a good 2xCD version of Home to Home and White Faced Lady that came out in '99 which has Peter Daltrey's plot synopsis of White Faced Lady. It's also got the single tracks from that time like "Bordeaux Rose" (I think their only hit) and "Let the World Wash In."

x-post - Alex, what UK psych is twee-er than Kaleidoscope?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

With the exception of Marc Wirtz's "He's Our Dear Old Weatherman" anyway!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

OK, maybe "Hole in My Shoe," too.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

those David Lindley / Henry Kaiser THIRD WORLD EXPLOITATION albums are pretty great actually.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

Haha nothing is more twee and that's why I consider them marginally better than the US version!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:16 (7 years ago) Permalink

is david lindley like ry cooter and bill laswell?

More like Ry than like Laswell, but much more of a goofball than either. That album's basically a very likable mishmash of reggae, New Orleans boogie-woogie and old-time rock'n'roll. And "Pay the Man" is a stone classic.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

oh, i got you (x-post)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 September 2005 22:24 (7 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

The only one I know is the US Kaleidoscope, and I think they're pretty good. I dig the extended tracks on Beacon From Mars.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Sunday, 5 March 2006 22:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

Dadaismus to thread!

Well, I'm a bit late but here I am. Yes.... Kaleidoscope (UK), I remember liking them once upon a time but I heard them recently and found it all fairly irritating, thin stuff for the most part, I think I've outgrown it. Kaleidoscope (US), well yes they are undoubtedly all over the place and wildly inconsistent but when they're good they're fucking great!

― Doi Doing! (Dada), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 12:10 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

love this

― velko, Thursday, 30 April 2009 03:33 (4 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

i wish there was a band that sounded like "music" (from "faintly blowing") all the time.

― love and flowers and things that don't explode (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Tuesday, 5 January 2010 21:23 (3 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

me too

kaleidoscope uk (+ fairfield parlour) > kaleidoscope us > kaleidoscope mex. but there's no going wrong with any of the three

― kamerad, Sunday, 27 June 2010 16:49 (2 years ago) Permalink

Kaleidoscope US imo, but I like hick stuff and cornball americana more than cornball twee nonsense. I wonder if Jaxon ever got into the Chris Darrow solo records--I think the s/t and "Artist Proof" are both up his sunny california post-sixties mellow rock alley. "Take Good Care of Yourself" is an epic winner.

― ian, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:05 (2 years ago) Permalink

and yet you can't get into circus maximus. maybe you need some ars nova albums.

― scott seward, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:13 (2 years ago) Permalink

jerry jeff walker -vs- david lindley -vs- david grisman

― scott seward, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:14 (2 years ago) Permalink

psychedelic cornballs all!

― scott seward, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:14 (2 years ago) Permalink

I have both Circus Maximus records, but I rarely listen to them. They're okay, really, but they never had the immediacy for me that some of the best JJW solo records do.

― ian, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:18 (2 years ago) Permalink

i have never explored the lineage of david grisman but maybe i should. i think i always get him confused with stefan grossman.

― ian, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:19 (2 years ago) Permalink

maybe this is a weird facet of my taste, but i almost always prefer solo records by hippie cowboys to their sixties sike groups-- steve young > stone country; jjw > circus maximus; darrow > kaleidoscope; neil > buff spring; i think i like the wildweeds better than nrbq though. i prefer plaid to paisley and steel guitar to hippy stuff.

― ian, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:27 (2 years ago) Permalink

do you have the first 2 or 3 nrbq albums though? i like them a lot.

― scott seward, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:48 (2 years ago) Permalink

i like it all. plaid, paisley, its all good to me.

― scott seward, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:48 (2 years ago) Permalink

but i'm not that big on brad paisley.

― scott seward, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:49 (2 years ago) Permalink

i don't know which those are, skot. i never tried really hard with nrbq. i did like that al anderson solo record on vanguard, though, iirc. my fave nrbq song, really the only one i can think of off the top of my head, is "riding in my car."

― ian, Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:51 (2 years ago) Permalink

their first album where they cover eddie cochran and sun ra.

second album on kama sutra. also good.

third album is where they really hone their barbluesamericana thing and also really good and fun:

― scott seward, Sunday, 27 June 2010 18:33 (2 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

peter daltrey has just done a collab with the asteroid #4 called "the journey" and it's gorgeous

― derek and cliiv (electricsound), Wednesday, 25 July 2012 00:20 (9 months ago) Permalink

Great cover. Speaking of Chris Darrow, this somewhat caffeinated take, imported from Rolling Country via Can We Talk About Early etc, still spotlights some worthy tunes and atmospherics:
imported from Rolling Country (our discussion of early frontrunners of Top Ten:
Chris Darrow's twofer, s/t with Under My Own Disguise. from the early 70s, post- or late-psychedelic folk/country rock I'd say: he reaps the whirlwind, under inpenterable cloud cover, but re-orientation is no prob: dense but clear, as xgau said of Meltzer's best writing, And no up-in-lights oh wow factor, cause no lights. Lots of stuff going on, but mainly what gets me is voice-keyboards-bass-drums in the pocket, like on Fotheringay 2, Jessi Colter's Out Of The Ashes, Tell Tale Signs (and some other Dylan tracks, much older than Tell Tale Signs' outtakes, like "Ballad of a Thin Man"/"Dear Landlord"/"Down Along The Cove"/"If Dogs Run Free"/"Dirge") Vocally, a bit like Michael Nesmith, but this guy can hold a note as long as he wants to, and flex it too (might be some of that Middle Eastern in his alma mater, Kaleidoscope, but he always sounds like a cowboy, incl in UK with maybe some of the same people on Fotheringay 2, come to think of it-- although some of the "UK" vibe turns out to be from the L.A. sessions, and vice versa)

― dow, Wednesday, 25 July 2012 00:54 (9 months ago) Permalink

US Kaleidoscope's albums live up to their name, would also live up to Mixed Bag, Grab Bag, Patchwork, Collage, Random Shuffle--but not too random, can always tell it's them (not that I've tried to mix them with other sources). For fans of a barefoot, dusty West Coast Beatles' White Album and then some.

― dow, Wednesday, 25 July 2012 01:00 (9 months ago) Permalink

not that their albums reached White Album peaks of sustained catchiness, so another facile comparison limps home, barefoot and all.

― dow, Wednesday, 25 July 2012 01:44 (9 months ago) Permalink

OK, that could be interesting. (I think there are only 2 A4 fans on ILM but I am one of them.)

― I want to smother him in electronic butter. (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Wednesday, 25 July 2012 08:23 (9 months ago) Permalink

Love the US Kaleidoscope for first couple of lps at least, the 3cd box on Acadia is a great buy. They appear uncredited on Leonard Cohen's first lp too.

Have to agree with a poster early in the thread about the UK one. Daltrey's tweeness almost obscures the harder psyching nature of the band's music. Seems to have a real punch you might not notice if you concentrate on the vocals.
They've just had all the material under the Kaleidoscope name at least compiled on a 2cd set too.

Not sure to what extent I've heard the Mexican ones.
But I think the US ones are my favs.

― Stevolende, Wednesday, 25 July 2012 08:59 (9 months ago) Permalink

the daltrey/asteroid album is great btw, it's no tangerine dream but it's a really really good mellow nu-psych record

― condorito breath (electricsound), Thursday, 26 July 2012 02:35 (9 months ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

Hmmm. I gave it a listen, and it's nice, but doesn't really seem to live up to the expectations. Like, I love A4 so much that it's just a bit weird and jarring to hear them with a different singer, when I love their regular ones' voices so much. Would probably listen to it again, but doesn't seem to live up to either bands' legacy. But with such huge expectations, it's not surprising they'd be dashed.

― Chewton Mendip (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Friday, 10 August 2012 12:33 (9 months ago) Permalink

Just listened to Kaleidoscope, Shadoks SHAD130CD, 2011. "The band was not actually from Mexico, the musicians came from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Spain, and the album was recorded in 1967 in the Dominican Republic. The manager took it to Mexico where it has a tiny release of 200 copies on the Orlean label." Shadoks adds three tracks, the most engaging by far, on first listening anyway: "Cairo Blues" is kinda Steppenwolfstential, with some razory sustain (organ? guitar? both?) and unidentified sonics in backgrouns; "Take It To The Limit" is a bit (not too much) like Morrison Hotel Doors meet Lynyrd Skynyrd demos. These are credited to members Bodo Molitor and Frank Tirado, might be a side project w other players, cos the preceding studio tracks tend to lose momentum behind the organ. However, the whole band does well on a fast live cover finale, "Season of the Witch." Wouldn't mind checking a whole live set, and I'll listen to this whole thing again (maybe). Def those bonuses. But unless you're way deep into the garage clubland journeymen, save your Shadoks bucks for something else.

― dow, Sunday, 12 August 2012 00:26 (9 months ago) Permalink

I have owned "From Home to Home" for a long time so Peter Daltrey's singing voice is a familiar thing..

Actually, I hadn't played it for some time, and remembered "In My Box" as being proto-Wire style punk. Then I heard it on a Vertigo sampler, and I realised I remembered it right.

― Mark G, Sunday, 12 August 2012 00:30 (9 months ago) Permalink

i played a track from the second kaleidoscope (US) lp tonight on my radio show -- life will pass you by.

love it. chris darrow is the best.

― one dis leads to another (ian), Sunday, 12 August 2012 03:18 (9 months ago) Permalink

Bloody hell Mark, you are so right about "In my box". I'd never thought of it like that before.

― Rob M Revisited, Sunday, 12 August 2012 05:49 (9 months ago) Permalink

you could segue it with Outdoor Miner, no prob

― Mark G, Sunday, 12 August 2012 13:05 (9 months ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

The song about going to the zoo and playing with the winged tiger always makes me cry.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, September 16, 2005 5:50 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

THIS. I should not listen to 'The Feathered Tiger' when everyone but me has left the office and winter darkness has fallen outside ;_;

― there were chinchillas, these weird little rat animals, in cages (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 6 February 2013 23:23 (3 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Kaleidoscope UK tour dates on the west coast - anyone heard anything about it? Lineup or anything? Pretty sure Peter Daltrey is in, at least.

― timellison, Thursday, 21 March 2013 00:25 (2 months ago) Permalink

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