LOST TREASURES

Kaleidoscope (UK)

White Faced Lady

By Peter Marston

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On Saturday, April 20, 2013, I was fortunate enough to see the great English psych-pop band Kaleidoscope play live at the Satellite, a small club in Los Angeles. I was, in fact, no further than ten feet away from lead singer Peter Daltrey. I am not a historian of the band’s tour history, but I can say that the tour was at least promoted as Kaleidoscope’s first U.S. Tour. There was definitely a Spinal Tappish quality to the show. Daltrey and the rhythm guitarist (the other “old guy”—the remaining members being younger musicians assembled by Rob Campanella of the Brian Jones Massacre) were dressed in impossibly outdated outfits and the guitarist was playing instruments that were not only vintage, but quite probably decrepit—and fiddling endlessly with his guitar effects pedals. He spent most of the show on his knees.

All that said, it was wonderful to hear Daltrey sing those great Kaleidoscope songs live, especially in such a small venue. It was definitely one of the highlights of my concert-going career. I am not too proud to admit that I even bought a T-shirt.

I am sure most PGH readers are familiar with the two main Kaleidoscope albums, Tangerine Dream and Faintly Blowing.  Both are undeniable classics of psych-pop—the former perhaps moreso than the latter, but that’s just a quibble: both are 100% essential. But White Faced Lady is a somewhat different matter.  Recorded in 1970, but not released until 1991, White Faced Lady is undoubtedly a Lost Treasure.

Broadly speaking, White Faced Lady is somewhere between a concept album and a rock opera. It features a symphonic overture, but lacks the operatic dialogue of Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar and even Evita. In this regard, it is fairly close in structure to the Pretty Thing’s S.F. Sorrow.  The songs, however, are stunning—in my opinion, well above the material on S.F. Sorrow—and the arrangements flawless, highlighting both the simple folky chord changes and the songs’ wonderful melodies and melancholic lyrics. The story follows the trials and trysts of the titled protagonist Angel, a beautiful young woman, and her ill-fated pregnancy.

Musically, the album strikes me as most similar to the Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle and late ’60s Moody Blues, but those are really just touchstones: the music is wholly original and bears the indelible stamps of Eddy Pumer’s harmonic sensibility and Peter Daltrey’s impressionistic lyrics. Picking out highlights among the songs is a challenge. Not only is the material uniformly excellent, the album has an extremely consistent tone, entirely suited to the sustained narrative. All that said, “Broken Mirrors,” “Angel’s Song: Dear Elvis Presley,” “Heaven in the Back Row,” and “The Locket” stand out, mostly for their memorable melodies. As is the case with many concept albums/rock operas, the material tends to get a little strained near the end of the album, but by then it is the narrative that carries the listener along.

There is, of course, no chart history to discuss for White Face Lady. The album remained unissued for over twenty years and received only limited release even then.  In 2001, Pilot Records reissued White Faced Lady in a two-CD set accompanied by Fairfield Parlor’s Home to Home (Fairfield Parlor was a new name Kaleidoscope adopted as the psychedelic ’60s came to a close).  The latter album is also terrific and if you can find this two-CD set, I highly recommend it. In 2009, 101 Distribution reissued White Faced Lady as a single CD. Both the Pilot and 101 versions are also available as digital downloads through the usual outlets. Now be a good completist and get White Faced Lady!

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

WIKIPEDIA:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidoscope_%28UK_band%29

WIKIPEDIA – “White Faced Lady”:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Faced_Lady

AMG – Bio:  http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kaleidoscope-mn0000354158/biography

AMG – Discography:  http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kaleidoscope-mn0000354158/discography

INFO ON PROG ARCHIVES:  http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=10517

VIDEO:

“Epitaph: Angel”  (Epitaph: Angel, the last song on White Faced Lady, is the coronation of the album as a masterpiece. Better ending to it would not be possible. It starts with singing only, and goes building over the same theme, introducing a beautiful female chorale, acoustic guitar, bass, drumming, electric guitar, piano and orchestral arrangements, peaking three times in a superb way. Pay attention to the superb classical guitar and bass interplay and feel all the beauty of the vocal melody (one of the best vocal melodies ever) and lush orchestral arrangements. (progarchives.com)

“Nursery, Nursery”

“White Faced Lady”