Kaleidoscope - Fairfield Parlour - Kaleidoscopic Visions

The English Kaleidoscope, not to be confused with the more famous (at least at the time) American Kaleidoscope, had all the makings of a breakthrough act, yet never truly managed to emerge, only ever brushing against the dream of success. In their brief but intense career, the four members of Kaleidoscope went through it all: boycotted by record labels, betrayed by people they trusted, and, more generally, dogged by bad luck that never let up. Starting with the choice of name: in theory a perfect fit, if it hadn't been for the fact that shortly afterwards another band would emerge, among the most important of the Californian psychedelic scene, also called Kaleidoscope. And, by a strange twist of fate, the title chosen for their first album would go on to become the name of a celebrated German band.

At least time has been kind to them, turning them into one of the cult bands par excellence. Tangerine Dream, their celebrated debut album, had indeed become one of the most sought-after LPs among collectors and had reached exorbitant prices. In recent times, the record - among the most venerated of the entire psychedelic era - has been reissued several times: this has allowed Kaleidoscope to be rediscovered by new generations of listeners, who have fuelled their legend even further.

So has justice (belatedly) been done? Only up to a point, since the other three albums made by Peter Daltrey & co. - the lysergic Faintly Blowing, the progressive From Home To Home (released as Fairfield Parlour) and the rock opera White Faced Lady (the band's lost masterpiece, released posthumously) - don't enjoy the same reputation as Tangerine Dream, even though they remain at the same extremely high level, preserving that magical mix of Beatles-esque melodies, baroque delicacy in the style of the Zombies, colourful, childlike visions à la Donovan, and Barrett-like eccentricities.

Guitarist Eddy Pumer and drummer Danny Bridgman form their first band, the Sidekicks, in 1964, at Acton's high school. Bassist (and later flautist) Steve Clark and eighteen-year-old Peter Daltrey join the fledgling outfit, with Daltrey quickly becoming its leader and lyricist. The latter studied classical piano but has little familiarity with rock instruments; for this reason, he puts himself forward as the singer. The Sidekicks rehearse in London's youth clubs, playing covers from the repertoire of Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Beatles and Rolling Stones. The four of them, however, are ambitious types, determined to write songs that go beyond the conventions of traditional rhythm and blues. Their very first recordings, thanks to the growing interest in the band, would be released in 2003, in the box set The Sidekicks Sessions 1964-1967.

After a three-year apprenticeship, the quartet - who in 1965 had changed their name to The Key - sign a one-year contract with Fontana in January 1967, the label immediately sensing their melodic potential, as shown by the financial backing granted. These are years of youthful ferment and epochal change in the history of rock, which will have a strong impact on the music and attitude of the London band, who finally settle on a new name, this time for good: Kaleidoscope. A fitting choice, perfect for evoking the kaleidoscopic sound of Daltrey and co., who at that time were literally bewitched by "Revolver", a record that changes the way they perceive music. Also strongly influenced by Donovan's songwriting and the insights of the early Bee Gees, Kaleidoscope embrace English psychedelia, showing points of contact with other emerging bands from the area, such as Pink Floyd, Blossom Toes and Tomorrow.

The band's first single, strongly lysergic in flavour, is an explicit statement of intent: "Flight From Ashiya" no longer has anything to do with the standard blues-rock they had started out with. The song fails to chart in Britain (paradoxically, though, it sells over a million copies in the Japanese market: the four of them will only find this out several years later), but it is among the most played tracks on independent English radio. Among Kaleidoscope's earliest admirers was a certain John Peel, who considered their songs inferior only to those of the Beatles.

Aware of their own qualities and of the compositional prolificacy of Peter Daltrey and Eddy Pumer, Kaleidoscope release more small gems of psychedelic pop onto the market, such as "A Dream For Julie" and "Jenny Artichoke", neither of which would end up on the debut album. Even so, despite being played constantly on the radio, the two songs fail to achieve the success hoped for. Kaleidoscope, at that time, are moreover penalised by not having a manager: probably because of this, they are unable to play at the iconic venues of the London psychedelic scene, such as Middle Earth and, above all, the Ufo Club.

But it's not yet time to throw in the towel and rail against bad luck: Kaleidoscope thus go into the studio full of confidence to record their first album, one of the many hidden treasures of 1967: Tangerine Dream. A work crafted down to the smallest detail (the instrumentation is rich and varied, including harpsichords and bells), with impeccable production, that manages to enchant through the almost unreal delicacy and tenderness that characterise its lighter tracks (practically twee-pop ante litteram).

Adorable songs like "Please Excuse My Face", "Mr. Small, The Watch Repairer Man" and "Dear Nellie Goodrich" are marked by childlike tones and blend perfectly with the cover photo, which lingers on the four musicians' boyish faces and their clean-cut image as calm, well-mannered good lads, albeit dressed according to the hippie extravagances so fashionable at the time. There is, of course, no shortage of trippier, typically psychedelic moments, in which the influence exerted on the band by a figure such as Syd Barrett emerges forcefully. The typical Barrett-esque emphasis is in fact convincingly reproduced on several occasions, thanks above all to Peter Daltrey's pronunciation, which is truly similar.

⟦Q1⟧. Tangerine Dream opens like this, and Kaleidoscope's music seems to be an invitation to relax in order to fully enjoy all the sensations stirred up by their sound - at times softer and more delicate, at times more menacing and unpredictable. On the eponymous opening track, precious vocal harmonies frame a simple, catchy melody, while the lyrics describe the comings and goings of the world as seen through a kaleidoscope. The opening theme is then picked up again in "Dive Into Yesterday", perhaps their best-known track today, as well as the most brazenly Barrett-esque one, marked by a quivering guitar sound that seems to mimic a car horn. Among the most psychedelic episodes there is certainly also the aforementioned "Flight From Ashiya", the album's most experimental track, inspired by the Bee Gees' "New York Mining Disaster 1941". Equally fine is the following "The Murder Of Lewis Tollani", which deals with death and - symbolically - opens and closes with an unsettling heartbeat.

Kaleidoscope are also excellent writers of infectious, easy-to-remember choruses, as shown by "(Further Reflections) In The Room Of Percussion" (again with Barrett-esque echoes) and the holiday-themed "Holidaymaker", the latter - somewhere between the Beach Boys and the early Beatles, with an exotic Mexican touch - the poppiest, most carefree episode on the whole record. Preceded by "A Lesson Perhaps", a medieval poem recited by Peter Daltrey over solo acoustic accompaniment, comes finally "The Sky Children", which brings the album to a close in the best possible way. An eight-minute dreamlike tale, with twelve-string guitar and tinkling music-box sounds, virtually unchanging throughout, with the same ethereal melody repeated endlessly. And yet time never seems to pass, and for the listener the song could easily go on forever. It's no exaggeration to consider "The Sky Children" one of the peaks reached by pop music in the 1960s.

All the lyrics, poetically childlike, bear the signature of storyteller Peter Daltrey, who - besides showing off his smooth voice - plays a bit of everything: piano, organ, Mellotron, harpsichord. The protagonists of his fairy-tale, imaginative stories have improbable names, which inevitably recall that Arnold Layne of Floydian memory. But the spectre of "Eleanor Rigby" also hovers over the lyrics, because the characters in songs like "Flight From Ashiya" and "Mr. Small, The Watch Repairer Man" (the watch repairer of the title being none other than the guitarist's own father) appear powerless and live in a deep state of loneliness, which leads them irrevocably to death. The sophisticated arrangements, on the other hand, are the work of Eddy Pumer, the band's other mastermind, who alternates between guitars and keyboards.

In 1968 the band set off on a European tour, which also includes a handful of television appearances (the only ones that can be found today) in France and the Netherlands. Kaleidoscope are particularly creative live, including in terms of staging and choreography: they play with lights, throw smoke bombs and flower petals at the audience, and are always accompanied by pretty girls, all strictly in miniskirts, who recite poetry during the shows. It should be noted, however, that the band struggles to faithfully reproduce what they achieve in the studio, for obvious reasons linked to limited instrumentation (with just four of them, it's impossible to replicate all those sounds). Kaleidoscope thus lose something in terms of refinement, but gain in power, with a harder, more abrasive sound.

At the start of 1969, Kaleidoscope's new record is released, a worthy successor to the acclaimed debut. Faintly Blowing doesn't have the same freshness (also due to a certain youthful naivety) as Tangerine Dream, but it is musically more adventurous, with sudden changes of tempo, and pays even greater attention to small details. A halfway point between psychedelic pop and progressive folk, with a darker atmosphere than the debut, perceptible right from the opening title track, which confirms the band's splendid form at the time. "(Love Song) For Annie" shows Kaleidoscope's new face, adding muscle to the delicacy already amply displayed on Tangerine Dream, with drummer Dan Bridgman hitting the skins hard. The eccentric "Snapdragon" acts as a bridge between the band's recent past and present.

In the more folk-oriented episodes, one can hear echoes of the Incredible String Band and above all Bob Dylan (the references to the latter are evident in "A Story From Tom Bitz" and "The Feathered Tiger"). It's no coincidence that among the collaborators involved in making the album is John Cameron, Donovan's arranger during those years. There are also several acoustic, atmospheric tracks, barely whispered and brief in length, while the grand finale is entrusted to the lysergic "Music", their most electric and driving track, a frenzy of feedback, pounded-out percussion and vocal manipulation.

The album, however, arouses less interest among the public than its predecessor, which had already sold little or nothing. The problem with Faintly Blowing, in fact, is that it's still tied to the psychedelic season, which by then already seems out of time, well and truly over. Between '68 and '69, in fact, a great deal has changed, and the hippie dream has definitively faded. Kaleidoscope thus make the mistake (if it can even be called that, given the quality of the music on offer) of not realising this in time.

In August 1969, in an attempt to revive their commercial fortunes, Peter Daltrey & co. decide to change their name and reintroduce themselves as Fairfield Parlour (in hindsight, they would later admit to regretting the identity change). Dave Symonds, a former BBC disc jockey, becomes their new manager and convinces them to terminate their contract with Fontana and accept Vertigo Records' offer. Symonds, who believes blindly in the four musicians, even gifts them a picturesque van, immortalized in almost all of the (few) photos of the band, a vehicle the Fairfield Parlour use to get around. The former Kaleidoscope's transformation is also a musical one, taking on a more romantic bent: they abandon (at least partially) their psychedelic bender and embrace the new progressive trends. The result of this mutation is From Home To Home, whose splendid opening track, "Aries" (with an ending that's a genuine act of love toward the Beatles), is a brilliant testament to their change.

Steeped in pastoral folk, with Steve Clark's flute often taking center stage, the songs on From Home To Home evoke scenes tied to the English countryside and are, on average, less joyous than before. The melancholic, dusky lyrics are haunted by recurring childhood memories. In lively, eccentric tracks like "In My Box" and "Sunny Side Circus", though, the Barrett-esque influence becomes dominant once again (and indeed both songs belong to the old Kaleidoscope catalogue). Also standing out are "Free" (a song of limpid beauty in which Fairfield Parlour show off all their instrumental skill), the grandiloquent "Emily" (which pairs the sound of the Mellotron with Morricone-esque epic flair) and the closing "Drummer Boy Of Shiloh". But the whole album maintains a consistently high standard. The only ones failing to notice, as usual, is the public, who stubbornly continue to ignore them.

In 1970, Fairfield Parlour make an appearance on Top Of The Pops with "Bordeaux Rose", yet another melodically flawless single that once again goes unnoticed. That same year, under the pseudonym I Luv Wight, they record the theme song for the Isle of Wight Festival, "Let The World Wash In". But the memories tied to that experience are, in truth, entirely negative, due to threats received from a terrorist organization that intended to shoot at the first band to perform at the Wight Festival. Needless to say, the first act scheduled to take the stage was supposed to be Fairfield Parlour, who thus see slip away the chance to play in front of a large crowd, on a day that could have changed their career forever.

Fairfield Parlour's relationship with live performances was certainly a troubled one; sheer bad luck seems to follow them everywhere. In 1971, for example, they open a concert at the Royal Albert Hall for Pentangle, but disaster strikes right on cue: someone sabotages the connections and the sound coming out of their instruments ends up unlistenable. Nor does a gig at Birmingham's Mother's Club go any better, alongside none other than Led Zeppelin, who — apparently blind drunk — wreck Peter Daltrey and co.'s entire amplification setup, preventing them from performing. Still in Birmingham, during another high-profile event, drummer Danny Bridgman collapses, which will keep him out of action for several months. In short, a band truly dogged by misfortune, it has to be said!

Discouraged but not yet defeated, Fairfield Parlour plan an ambitious work inspired by the life of Marilyn Monroe: White Faced Lady, their musical testament. A concept album that, in an ideal world, would sit alongside the likes of "S. F. Sorrow", "Arthur", "Tommy" and "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", but which the band won't even manage to release, despite every song coming close to absolute melodic perfection. The captivating story is narrated by Peter Daltrey as if it were a novella, with a prose text accompanying each song.

White Faced Lady radiates grandeur right from the opening "Overture", which magnificently foreshadows the work's core themes. "Picture With Conversation" performs a similar function, summing up the album as it draws to a close, tying back into all its key moments. The songs, with their baroque, progressive structures, keep shifting shape, managing to catch the listener off guard every time. Take the sacred solemnity that opens the title track, which then morphs into a swaggering boogie. Or "Standing", which out of nowhere, without warning, turns into a full-throttle hard-rock number. Also noteworthy is the long, sitar-driven psychedelic digression of "Song From Jon". The alternation between achingly sweet songs like "The Locket" and rousing ones like "Nursey, Nursey" is skillfully measured and makes the record particularly varied, though it may come across as a bit repetitive, as well as excessively long (eighteen tracks for over an hour), on a first listen.

White Faced Lady is indeed less immediate than Peter Daltrey & co.'s other works, and it takes time to fully grasp its melodic richness (though there's certainly no shortage of catchy moments: tracks like "Small Song: Heaven In The Back Row", "All Hail To The Hero" and "Long Way Down" each unleash two or three masterful choruses). "Burning Bright" recalls the most intimate, ethereal side of the Byrds, while "Broken Mirrors" preserves intact that delicacy that had marked out Kaleidoscope, albeit with a different kind of awareness: now disillusionment and melancholy have taken over from the wide-eyed wonder of their early days.

The album closes in style with "Epitaph: Angel", essentially a reprise of "The Sky Children", with the same, unchanged melodic grace.

As incredible as it may seem, every record label refuses to release the work, deemed too long and lacking in potential singles. A cruel twist of fate that will prove fatal for the band's future. Exhausted by now, Fairfield Parlour quietly split up in 1972. And in their last, sad performance, they manage to scrape together a measly 20 dollars. "My girlfriend wanted to get married, but I was broke, increasingly worried about my future", recalls a sorrowful Peter Daltrey, who would at least get a small measure of vindication when, 20 years later, new generations of listeners would demand the posthumous release of White Faced Lady.

Peter Daltrey went on with his career, continuing to record good music away from the spotlight, with the same enthusiasm he had in the early days. He has released nearly twenty solo albums, a musician who never stopped, unlike his former bandmates, who drifted away from the music world after Fairfield Parlour's split. All four of them got infinitely less than they deserved, but their cult following is more alive than ever and is here to stay.

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