Record Store Day 21^st April 2018

Kaleidoscope: `Faintly Blowing` / `Jump in my Boat` 7 inch vinyl

From my scrapbook archive:

“On Monday 14^th August 1967 we arrived at the Fontana studio at Marble Arch at 6pm. We redid `Kaleidoscope` and then cut `Faintly Blowing.` We started a bit shaky but eventually got in the mood of things after a break. We then celebrated Dan`s 21^st birthday with a bottle of champagne. Finished at 1am.”

This mix you have here on this RSD 2018 release is Take 3. This is a slightly different mix than the released version. On this the guitars are slightly more forward in the mix adding more power to proceedings. You will also notice the main vocals are not double tracked at the end as on the original. If I could turn back time I would have shot the lead vocalists at the end of the last chorus. I detest the endless vocal warblings which to some extent obscure Ed`s stunning guitar virtuosity.

“On Tuesday 22^nd October 1968 we arrived at the Fontana studio at 6pm. We ran through our latest Daltrey / Pumer song `Jump in my boat` – written on the fifteenth of this month. Had quite a few takes – about twenty before we got one down! Then found we needed to do the bass again. Unhappily we couldn`t get the sound we wanted and after another two hours had to abandon it. But we carried on with two vocal tracks, 12-string guitar, maracas and hand claps – courtesy of Steve, Ray, Ian and Ed – and a bit more percussion from Dan. Had to finish at 1am as Dick and engineer Roger were tired. The track sounded good and we are hoping it will be better when we add the bass and a few more musical and vocal trimmings.”

The above scrapbook entry describes the first session for `Jump in my Boat` and the rough mix given to the band on acetate that night for their own use is the one you can here on this RSD 2018 single. However we also have what was intended as a final mix to be released as a possible single which failed to see the light of day and has remained in the vaults for a staggering half a century. The second scrapbook entry adds more detail to the final recording processes.

“On Friday 25^th October we had a very busy day. We arrived at Fontana`s studio at 10am. Steve zoomed off to pick up a hired Fender bass and speakers – and zoomed back without them! He finally got them about 11.30am. Ed played bass and Pete played organ on `Jump in my Boat`. We then added a few vocal touches – and on the advice of Jack Baverstock we changed the line `Will you lay here` to `Will you play here`. We finished about 1.45pm We packed the gear back in the van and made for Piccadilly One BBC studios where we were booked for 2pm for the David Symonds show. We got there due to traffic jams at 2.30pm. We ran through a number we had never played before – `(Love Song) For Annie` – and were very pleased with it. We cut backing tracks first with Pete on celeste and organ for `Annie` and `Music` – then Pete and Ed did `Bless the Executioner` by themselves. We then added double vocals – and then a lead vocal to the `Jenny Artichoke` backing track. All sounded very very good. We asked them to phase `Music` which they did and it left us speechless! Bev Phillips produced and he said it was the best session he`s done since the Moody Blues.”

OK, it`s all a bit youthful breathlessness, but hopefully gives you a glimpse into our lives as struggling – but ambitious – musicians way back there in the Sixties. Needless to say that `Jump in my Boat` was written after demands from the Fontana suits that we come up with another `Jenny Artichoke` which had been a very successful radio-friendly `hit`. `Boat` is obviously cut from the same nautical cloth: it`s light and airy, candy floss nonsense which the radio producers of the time loved. Three minutes and bright. 2.58 minutes even better. Who knows if it had been a chart entry had it been released. By the end of 1968 we had fought the good fight and lost and with the support of Fontana waning we knew we had to get to pastures new.

During our time as Kaleidoscope working with Dick Leahy as our producer we were not often in the studio for final mixes of our tracks. Dick carried out that work during office hours with various engineers. Still green behind the ears and in awe of our record company and it`s personnel we accepted that it was not our place to rock the boat by demanding to be involved in the final stages of mixing tracks for release. This position changed to some extent when we worked as Fairfield Parlour. We had matured, knew our own minds and certainly knew how we wanted our music to sound. But even then final mixes were not always to our liking. Dan and I still recall a rough studio mix of `Emily brought Confetti` that was like listening to an angelic orchestral recital in St Pauls that was so moving it almost made you believe in God! Sadly we left the studio before the final mix was committed to tape and never heard it like that again... But musical waters under musical bridges.

To give Dick Leahy his due he got it right most of the time. Perhaps the phasing on `Music` was a touch frenetic. Perhaps `Balloon` could have been redeemed had Dick politely asked the clarinetist to put his sock in it; er, no – perhaps not.

Full credit must be given to Pete Kember`s remastering of these tracks which has brought out a sonic clarity that we thought lost forever. Don`t forget, he is working with tapes that have been gathering dust – literally – in various offices and vaults for fifty years. As we saw with the Fiftieth Anniversary release of `Tangerine Dream` what was thought to be impossible can happen with crystal clear instruments and vocals sounding as fresh and immediate as they did on the day they were recorded. Believe me – I was there and they do sound that good.

After years of negotiations with the multi-billion dollar international record company that swallowed up Fontana some years ago we are on course to releasing the entire back catalogue of Kaleidoscope – and the material we own as Fairfield Parlour. We ask for your patience as progress is slow as we process these recordings and put together designs and contents for the vinyl boxset. It has to be perfect. This will be the definitive release. A fitting end to our career. We just hope we`re around to see it.

As always: thank you for your support. You will never know how much that means to us. After years in the wilderness your interest in our music validates everything we tried to do way back then.

Peter Daltrey, Wiltshire March 2021

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