Record Collector Article

Kaleidoscope, the English psychedelic band whose career spanned most of the 1960s and early 1970s, now command high prices in the collector's market. In 1987, both their highly acclaimed original albums, 'Tangerine Dream' and 'Faintly Blowing', were reissued on the Five Hours Back label; last year a bootleg EP consisting of live tracks from their appearances on the BBC's 'Top of The Pops' radio shows in the late 1960s appeared; and within the next few weeks we can finally expect to see the release of their legendary unheard studio material.

Although their original releases are much sought-after, little has been published about the band (apart from a lengthy article in 'Bucketfull of Brain' 20) It's a fascinating story, especially so for he collector as their history is littered with non-album tracks and projects under several different names. Besides Kaleidoscope, the same four were also known at various times as the Sidekicks, the Key, I luv Wight and Fairfield Parlour.

Brainchild

The group was the brainchild of Eddie Pumer, an accomplished guitarist and huge Duane Eddy fan, and his childhood friend drummer Dan Bridgeman. In 1964, inspired by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the pair recruited a singer, Peter Daltrey, and a bassist, Steve Clark, from among their friends and acquaintances, and formed a band.

Based in West London, and calling themselves the Sidekicks, they began to play pubs and clubs around Acton and Hendon - occasionally with other local band called the High Numbers (later the Who). Unfortunately they didn't issue any recordings at this time, though Dan the drummer did have the foresight to make an acetate LP of demo recordings. It's a fascinating document of the early set, consisting of covers of 'House of the rising sun', 'Mona' and 'Hi heal sneakers', and a few original songs like 'And she's mine' and 'What can I do'. These are in Stones-influenced R&B vein with Peter Daltrey adopting an appropriate Jaggeresque voice. One track, '18 years of age' a folky ballad, is an early indication of the lighter, more psychedelic material that would follow, and for which the band are now renowned.

The same acetate contains one song, 'San Francisco`, recorded under their next name. the Key. With a large body of Pumer/Daltrey compositions in hand, the band approached music publisher Dick Leahy, who was astounded by the quality of their material, said it was the strangest music he'd heard in years, and agreed to put them under contract. Eddie Pumer remembers their music being described as 'psychedelic', but didn't know what that meant! Leahy decided that the Key was unsuitable as a name, and they agreed on the more appropriate Kaleidoscope. Eddie recalls. "people thought, 'oh wow, really freaky', but we never took drugs, we used to get pissed as rats on cider!".

Up to this point, the band had avoided presenting much of the innovative 'psychedelic' music on stage, feeling that it might alienate their existing, R&B-oriented audience. But with the confidence that came from signing A recording contract, they quickly dropped the older material from their set.

Kaleidoscope's first release was a single which coupled two Daltrey/Pumer songs, 'Flight form Ashiya' and 'Holidaymaker'. Issued by Fontana in 1967, it had the distinction of being the first U.K. release on the label to feature a picture sleeve, a fragmented color shot of the luridly kaftan-ed band posing in front of crinkled aluminum foil. "Flight from Ashiya" was a fabulous track ,a perfect marriage, of pop and psych, influenced by the Bee Gees' "New York Mining Disaster, 1941". It tells the tale of Captain Simpson, the pilot of a doomed aeroplane who "seemed to be in a daze, one minute high, the next minute... low". Very hard to find in its picture sleeve, this single is now worth around £25, while a Dutch Fontana version, in a different picture sleeve and with "Further reflections in the Room of Percussion" on the flip, would fetch £35.

Although it was a superb song, "Flight from `Ashiya` failed to make the charts - as did the equally splendid Fontana single issued a few months later, "A Dream for Julie" / "Please excuse my face". Unlike the other tracks mentioned so far, "A Dream for Julie" didn't turn up on the band's debut album, and the single (issued in a plain sleeve) is currently worth around £20.

Kaleidoscope's three-single contract allowed them one last crack at the charts; but while they were working on the single Dick Leahy suddenly offered them that chance of making an LP! The album, which he produced, was "Tangerine Dream", issued on Fontana in November 1967. Its cover featured another shot from the same session as the "Flight from Ashiya" picture sleeve, and it contained three of the four songs already issued on 7" plus eight new numbers.

The album is a wonderful artifact of its time, exquisitely arranged and with Daltrey's refined English voice deadpanning lyrics like "battalions in baby blue are bursting beige balloons", and "a plaster jester speaking out of tune", that still manage to sound charmingly quaint, rather than positively daft, today. The songs employed a diversity of instruments: besides singing, Daltrey adds piano, harpsichord and organ; Steve Clark played flute as well as bass; and drummer Dan Bridgeman used bongos, tubular bells and pedal tympani alongside his regular kit while guitarist Eddie Pumer was responsible for arranging the material, which he co-wrote with Peter.

Kaleidoscope's songs were often compared to Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, and like "See Emily Play" and "Arnold Layne" were populated by odd characters inhabiting vividly portrayed dream-like scenes and undertaking strange adventures, often described with an almost childlike sense of wonder. Until its reissue in 1987, "Tangerine Dream" was hard to find; and today an original mono copy (the reissue was in stereo) will command a price in excess of £1000. (2020 update: Sold for £2025 See below)

Around this time - late'67/early '68 - Kaleidoscope were featured on several BBC radio shows, presenting excellent live versions of their songs on 'Top of the Pops' a series hosted by Brian Mathew for broad-cast overseas. BBC transcription disc albums containing this material do exist but rarely come onto the market; when they do they sell for well in excess of £100 each. But the bootleggers have also been active, and recently a well-packaged picture sleeve 7" EP containing versions of "Flight from Ashiya", "The murder of Lewis Tollani", "A dream for Julie" and "Dive into yesterday", has appeared selling for around £5. And it was through these radio sessions that the band also met DJ David Symonds, who became their manager.

Following the release of 'Tangering Dream', the band issued a new single in 1968: "Jenny Artichoke"/"Just how much you are". The A-side was a jaunty, singalong-type summer ditty, noticeably less psychedelic than earlier releases. Nonetheless a Mint copy is worth £20, as neither song appeared on album.

Following promotional visits to Europe, including France where they appeared on TV with Serge Gainsbourg , and the Netherlands where they shared the bill with Country Joe & the Fish, Kaleidoscope set about recording their second Fontana LP, again produced by Dick Leahy. "Faintly Blowing" finally appeared in a gatefold sleeve in 1969. It was a stunning record, more polished than "Tangerine Dream" and with a superb crystalline sound that mixed occasionally explosive psychedelia with delicate wistful passages.

Songs like "The black fjord", about Saxon warlords and Viking funerals, the crashing "(Love song) for Annie", and the hauntingly ethereal title track are amongst the band's finest works. The album closes with "Music", an uncharacteristically aggressive outburst with surging guitars, treated percussive barrages and celestial choirs. A classic album, Mint original Fontana copies with the gatefold sleeve - unlike the single sleeve of the reissue - are today worth approximately £600. Luckily for the band, Fontana seemed to have a lot of faith in their abilities, and they enjoyed length periods in the studio, recording multiple versions of many of their songs, a few of which have been preserved on acetates. Alternate tracks of "Faintly Blowing", "Bless the executioner" and "A story for Tom Blitz" are known to exist, but it's almost impossible to put a value on such items.

Also issued in 1969 was a brace of new singles. First came "Do it again for Jeffrey", another bouncy singalong like "Jenny Artichoke", which was coupled with "Poem". It was quickly followed by "Balloon"/"If you wish", which was in much the same style. Both were released on Fontana, and though the B-sides came from the second album, the two A-sides remain otherwise unavailable, which has helped to boost their value. As usual, both releases failed to chart.

Another 'Top of the pops' session from this time features live versions of "Balloon" and "Do it again for Jeffrey", together with a completely unissued love song called "Jump in my boat" which had Brian Mathew exclaiming optimistically, "That number's going to be a tremendous hit!" Unfortunately, it was never given the chance, and soon afterwards Kaleidoscope no longer existed.

Indeed, the end of the decade marked the end of the band - in name, at least. Having failed to achieve major commercial success and feeling that their overtly psychedelic image was perhaps a little passé, the band agreed (at Fontana's suggestion) to a change of name and direction. Calling themselves Fairfield Parlour, they moved over to Fontana's progressive sister label, Vertigo.

Before trying to re-establish themselves under their new identity, though, they took on yet another new name, I luv wight, for a one-off single. The promoters of the 1970 Isle of Wight festival asked them to record a theme tune for the event. Although Daltrey and Pumer masked their identities by crediting the soft ballad "Let the world wash in" to the assumed names 'Newnes/Baker', a cursory listen to the song immediately reveals the work of the ex -Kaleidoscope members. The B-side featured a pleasant instrumental entitled "Mediaeval Masquerade". The single sank without trace when it was superseded as the festival's theme by Judy Collin's "Amazing Grace", and it's hard to find in its original Philips art sleeves - hence the current price of around £25.

The band's involvement with the festival did, however, allow Fairfield Parlour the opportunity to appear as the opening act, and while they were on the Isle of Wight they recorded a live album in the ballroom of the Clarendon Hotel, Shanklin; but sadly it remains unreleased, as the manager of the hotel subsequently disappeared together with the master tapes. (from correspondence with Peter Daltrey: "The `legendary` live album. It doesn`t exist. We stayed at the Claredon Hotel in Ryde, IOW. The manager loved the band and asked us to play in the bar. We did. It`s said that someone taped the performances. We didn`t. If the manager did we`ll never know because I think he`s six feet under. If anyone else did they`ve probably dumped it long ago.") Another early project was working on the soundtrack to "Eye witness", an adventure film starring Mark Lester. Fairfield Parlour played the short title song (a Daltrey/Pumer composition) and provided other incidental music, none of which is available on vinyl as no soundtrack album was ever released.

Upmarket

Fairfield Parlour's first 7", issued in 1970, was "Bordeaux Rose"/"Chalk on the wall". The A-side - besides proving that the band were obviously a little more upmarked in their drinking habits now! - was a beautiful ballad, and very commercial too. It received considerable airplay, but failed to appear on the band's first LP, though its B-side was included. Nevertheless, the single was reissued in 1976 (this time on the band's own Prism label). While the Vertigo original sells for around £ now, the Prism version is backed with a great track, "Baby stay for tonight", cut during a brief 1972 reunion, and is worth around double that price. Neither had a picture sleeve, though a German art sleeve edition is rumored to exist.

Fairfield Parlour's album "From home to home" was released in 1970 on Vertigo, with David Symond's production and Kenny Everett's sleevenotes attesting to their continued popularity among DJs. As a whole, the album is more sombre in tone than the earlier albums, though it is obviously the work of the same people. Numbers like "Aries","...and Emily brought confetti" and "The drummer boy of Shiloh" were sad, reflective and beautifully performed. Other tracks, like "In my box" and "The glorious house of Arthur", were poppier and more akin to the Sixties material, but received a more measured performance. The album - never reissued, but easily available as a cut-out in the late seventies - is now keenly sought-after by both Kaleidoscope fans and Vertigo 'swirl' label collectors, and fetches £30 in its gatefold sleeve.

The band also issued another single, again on Vertigo, which featured four non-album tracks. "Just another day" was unusual in that it featured one Reg Dwight (alias Elton John) on piano, and Greame Edge of the Moody Blues on drums (standing in for Dan Bridgeman, who was in hospital at the time). On the B-side was series of three short and gentle, almost hymnal, songs - "Caraminda", "I am all the animals" and "Song for you" - running to about five minutes in length altogether. Another hard-to-find release, Mint U.K copies will fetch up to £15, with a German picture sleeve issue selling for slightly more.

Although the band had been admirably supported by both Fontana and Vertigo, a major breakthrough and chart success seemed terminally elusive, and their relationship with their label had finally reached the end of the line. So, without record company backing, the band invested their own money in their next project, the legendary "White-faced lady". It was record as a double album and was loosely based on the life of Marilyn Monroe (a storyline later used by Elton John on "Goodbye yellow brick road"). The tracks which both Dan and Eddie consider to be their best work, were recorded at Morgan Studios and feature the London Symphony Orchestra. RCA were initially interested in the project, but eventually decided against issuing it.

Majestic

The set still remains unissued (issued after this article was made, see Discography), though it is crammed with majestic songs like "Coronation of the fledging", "Diary song" and "All hail the hero". But strangely enough, two of its songs have already slipped out on vinyl. The instrumental "Overture to the White-faced lady" was issued as the B-side to a 1976 Australian Decca release of "Bordeaux rose". This record is almost impossible to find outside Australia, and it's a mystery in itself, as the band were unaware at the time that it had been issued, and still don't know how it happened. Easier to find is the track "Nursey, Nursey", released under the original Kaleidoscope name, which is included on a 7" single given away with issue 29 (April 1989) of "Bucketfull Of Brains" magazine. That track is a mouthwatering taste of what is buried in the vaults.

Thankfully, "White-faced lady" is about to be issued on 'Imaginary Records' new Triad label, in conjunction with 'Bucketfull Of Brains'. This long-overdue release can only boost interest in the band's other work.

Back in the early 1970s, though, the rejection of the album brought about the demise of the band, when Peter Daltrey decided it was time to call it a day, and the others considered it pointless to carry on without him. The three piece did appear for one final gig at the Weely Festival. The final split was entirely harmonious, and the four members still keep in contact - with Eddie and Peter continuing to collaborate on new songs. Eddie has also worked on recording jingles and as a radio producer; and he and Dan made an obscure 45 as the Freen Beans, "Blister Boogie" in the mid-1970s. The duo also played as session men on "Satisfied"/"Red Leather" by Brian Poole and Carousel in 1975. There's no great financial value to either record, but both are hard to find. More recently, Eddie Pumer realized a dream by working , as a producer , with Duane Eddy, and since then been involved in several secret projects with Paul McCartney!

Legacy

Pumer, Daltrey, Clark and Bridgman have left a rich legacy of recordings under their various names. And the resurgence of interest in their work in recent years has gone some way towards putting right the unjust lack of commercial success they enjoyed in their prime.

Christer Larsson.

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