Guide to British Music of the 1960s

March 2004

CD Review

Kaleidoscope- Please Listen to the Pictures

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The band recorded many sessions for the BBC, usually at the Maida Vale studios. These included programmes like Top Gear, The Pete Brady Show and Saturday Club. The BBC also created new programmes by putting sessions onto vinyl by different acts, adding Brian Matthew's voiceover and sending the transcription disc to other radio stations to be played as a complete programme. Unfortunately the BBC tended to erase the "live" performances so that the tapes could be reused. This seems sacrilege now but it was as much because of the high cost of tape in those days as much as the fact they they did not realise the value of that they had. This policy applied to everyone including the Beatles. However, thanks to private collectors, some sessions have remained, even if they quality of the recording is not what it could be. All the Kaleidoscope tracks here come from these secondary sources and the BBC transcription discs. However, some of the Fairfield Parlour tracks were retained and come from the original tapes. 

A major benefit of these BBC recordings that have been released in recent years is that they provide some impression of how a band may have sounded in front of a live audience. The majority of the BBC recordings may have been played "live" in the studios without an audience but at least the tracks were not ruined by extensive overdubs. Consequently, they retain their spontaneity.

The set begins with the superb Flight from Ashiya, a song about a plane crash. This track has been featured on a couple of excellent compilations lately so may already be familiar to Making Time readers. The sing has a dreamy quality despite the seriousness of the subject matter. Prior to this track, Brian Matthew's interview with Peter Daltrey and Eddie Pumar shows how prolific they were as songwriters. Despite writing together for just eighteen months, they already had 150 songs written.

The Murder of Lewis Tollani also has an unusual subject and veers from the darker lyrics to an more upbeat tune. The upbeat tone is continued through A Dream for Julie. This track helps to position the sound of Kaleidoscope firmly within English psychedelia with its dreamy lyrics and strange sounds permeating through the usual guitar, bass and drums. Incidentally the dark themes keep returning, most notably on the folky Bless the Executioner.

The accessibility of Kaleidoscope's songs is clear through singles like Do It Again for Jeffrey and Snapdragon. It is astonishing that with songs like this, the band failed to make the chart despite considerable airplay. Snapdragon, in particular, should appeal to fans of Kula Shaker.

Faintly Blowing was recorded for the BBC in 1967 but did not make its official debut on record until the album of 1969. Along with the following track, (Further Reflections) in the Room of Percussion, this shows the truly psychedelic sound of Kaleidoscope.

The second version of Do It Again for Jeffrey and (Love Song) for Annie are much heavier. Taken from the same Top Gear sessions the latter track ends suddenly, a case of the tape running out!

The Fairfield Parlour tracks are somewhat lighter. Bordeaux Rosé is a wonderful pop song.