- (This page is about the American band. For the British band of the same name, see Kaleidoscope and the radio series of the same name, see Kaleidoscope(3))
Kaleidoscope (originally The Kaleidoscope) was an American psychedelic folk group who recorded four albums and several singles for Epic Records between 1966 and 1970. The band membership included David Lindley, who later released numerous solo albums and won additional renown as a multi-instrumentalist session musician, and Chris Darrow who later performed and recorded with a number of groups including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They are not to be confused with a British band of the same name who were active between 1967 and 1970.
Between them, the group played a huge collection of stringed instruments in such psychedelic songs as "Egyptian Gardens" and "Pulsating Dream." They played fusions of Middle-Eastern music with rock in longer pieces such as "Taxim," which they performed at numerous venues including the Berkeley Folk Festival on July 4, 1967, and the Newport Folk Festival and the Family Dog at The Avalon Ballroom (San Francisco) in 1968. Live, band numbers were sometimes interspersed by solo instrumental turns from Feldthouse or Lindley, and occasionally Feldthouse brought belly dancers or flamenco dancers on stage. The band performed many different styles, including rock, blues, folk, jazz, Middle-Eastern and also featured music by Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington in their repertoire.
(Read more at Wikipedia)
Links to Peel[]
The Kaleidoscope "Egyptian Gardens"
Peel praised their album A Beacon From Mars in his International Times column in August 1968[1], saying that "they have broken up, which is sad" and that "Anyone interested in the general history of the current good things coming from America...should try to obtain one or both of their LPs on Epic".
Peel's information turned out to be wrong, Kaleidoscope surviving long enough to record two more albums, although only their final (and least typical) album, Bernice, was released in the UK. They became a cult band among followers of West Coast music, their fans including Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and the editors of Zigzag, which published a long article telling the story of the band, after it had split up. (They later reformed and made a couple of albums which made little impression.) Peel played only a few tracks by Kaleidoscope, but after his death several LPs by them were found in his record collection, including two copies each of the band's first and second albums. Between September 2016 and February 2017, a couple of these were displayed at the Victoria & Albert Museum (see Record Collection: V&A LPs)
Members of Kaleidoscope who later appeared in Peel playlists included David Lindley, who became famous as the leader of Jackson Browne's backing group, and Chris Darrow, who played on the two albums John Fahey recorded for Reprise Records in 1972-73, under the name "John Fahey And His Orchestra".
Shows Played[]
- 07 August 1968: You Don't Love Me (album - A Beacon From Mars) Epic
- 1969
- 03 August 1969: Banjo (album - Incredible Kaleidoscope) Epic
- 1970
- 11 April 1970: Chocolate Whale (LP - Bernice as American Kaleidoscope) CBS
- 23 May 1970: Lie And Hide (LP – Bernice as American Kaleidoscope) CBS
- 20 June 1970: Sneakin' Through The Ghetto (LP - Bernice) CBS