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 has been a performing musician with Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and others, 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. The first single, “Please”, was released in December 1966. It was produced by Barry Friedman, as was their first album “Side Trips”, released in May 1967. The album showcased the group’s musical diversity and studio experimentation. It included Feldthouse’s “Egyptian Gardens”, Darrow’s “Keep Your Mind Open”, and versions of Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher” and Dock Boggs’ “Oh Death”.
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 Calloway and Duke Ellington in their repertoire.
Several of their 45s were pretty good. One of the best, “Nobody,” was a most unusual fusion of R&B and psychedelia that found the group backing veteran rock and blues greats Larry Williams and Johnny “Guitar” Watson.#
The band’s second album “A Beacon from Mars” was released in November 1967, to generally good reviews but poor sales. The album was a mix of Middle-Eastern, country, folk and rock musical styles. The title track, inspired by a Howlin’ Wolf musical riff originally in his song “Smokestack Lightning”, was recorded live in the studio, and featured a long psychedelic electric guitar solo by Lindley, which later caused Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page to refer to Kaleidoscope as his “favourite band of all time.”
In live performances of the tune, Lindley used a violin bow on his electric guitar, probably influencing Page to use the same effect later. Another live “no overdubs” track on the album was “Taxim,” with solos from Lindley on a “harp guitar” and Felthouse, who played oud and saz on the lengthy cut.
The band recorded their third album, “Incredible! Kaleidoscope”, in 1968. It featured “Seven-Ate Sweet”, a long progressive instrumental piece in 7/8 time signature which they had been playing live since the early days of the group.
Kaleidoscope’s fourth and final album from their Epic Records era, “Bernice”, featured more electric guitar work than the earlier albums, and more country influence.
Kaleidoscope contributed two new songs (“Brother Mary” and “Mickey’s Tune”) to Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point” The band split up soon afterwards.
The Fat Angel Sings 