Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Kaleidoscope>Fairfield Parlour





"Kaleidoscope is an English psychedelic rock band from London that originally were active between 1967 and 1970.[1] The band's songs combined the elements of psychedelia with lyrics.[2][3] The band were also known at various times as The Sidekicks, The Key, I Luv Wight and Fairfield Parlour."





Some of you may be familiar with "Flight From Ashiya," a 1967 single by Kaleidoscope that didn't do particularly well at the time, but became a "nugget" as time went on.  All of Kaleidoscope is great fun in small doses, but as Fairfield Parlour, they seemed to drop some of the phasing and sound effects and all the bells and whistles associated with 60's psychedelia, in favor of a slightly more majestic sound. I'm on the fence about what I prefer, but "From Home To Home," Fairfield Parlour's 1970 release, has been on heavy rotation for the last few days. It can occasionally sound a bit twee, but this record is more like what I had always hoped I would hear on a Moody Blues record, but rarely did.



 

2 comments:

buzzbabyjesus said...

I fell down the Kaleidoscope-Fairfeild Parlour rabbit hole in 2009, I know because I wrote a lengthy blog post about it.

I am still astonished a band that good would be awarded with such a stunning lack of success.

I particularly like their last album, "White Lady", from 1971, which didn't see a release until 1991.

With Mike Pinder producing, it too "is more like what I had always hoped I would hear on a Moody Blues record, but rarely did."

Here is the closer:

http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/epitaph_angel.mp3

BlakeS said...

This is right up my alley. Kinda reminds me of Sagitarius or the Millennium.