I'm still in a dreamlike state since I've watched the Kaleidoscope footage that only few days ago turned up on youtube.
As a huge fan of Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd I've always been drawn towards British Psychedelic bands of the late 60s but it was Kaleidoscope that really blew my mind when I first discovered them thanks to Rubble vol.4 "The 49 Minute Technicolour Dream" around 1986 or so...
I regularly had a look to see if any Kaleidoscope clip would turn up...and why not?
After all they did appear on TV in Europe and lots of great stuff has turned up on youtube, especially from French TV, including early Soft Machine in colour and black and white, The Pink Floyd with Gilmour "being" Syd, obviously early on...even Tomorrow and the Poets to name some of my favourites.
I'm amazed by the amount of truly spectacular bands that were on TV in France, Belgium, Germany or Holland by 1967 or so...it seems incredible even more so when compared to what's being broadcast today, 40 years later...
Peter Daltrey remembers appearing on German and Swiss TV but it's about this show in particular that he has something to say, the band had just released their debut single "Flight from Ashiya" b/w "Holidaymaker" on 15th September 1967, both of which are performed on the French TV show "Le Petit Dimanche Illustré" a month later (16th October):
"One of our first outings under the new banner was to Paris to appear on a live TV show. Those frogs. We entered the studio to find ourselves in the midst of unorganised chaos. They complained about our frilly white shirts; too white for colour transmission. Suddenly we were dragged on set and we realised the show was on air. A group of guests sat on a sofa smirking at a tasty young girl; someone threw their arm in our direction and we grinned. Then everyone began wandering around; we were off air. In fact we had to wait for hours for the real show. Ed fell over a cello and then we mimed expertly to the single and then we were in the street, in a taxi, in a plane and off home before you could say, `J`taime.`"
What I found interesting in that comment is the bit about colour transmission...WOW!
Would this be in kaleidoscopic colours???
As mentioned there are clips in colour from French TV from the same time...I wonder though, who in 1967 France would see it in colour?
Growing up in Italy I can tell you it was a good 10 years later that some (but not all) people had a colour tv set...
Kaleidoscope story in the words of Peter Daltrey:
http://www.chelsearecords.co.uk/
The Key, 1966
http://www.mediafire.com/file/nde7ad1srxo2tyd/The%20Key%201966.rar
9 comments:
Thank you for digging this up! I may have to repost this, cheers!
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thanks for that info-amazing what turns up-there was a nice vid on yt of honeybus with ;i cant let maggie go'[-running up and down a er...bus ]-a while ago-which surprised me too-but performance ones like htis are better.
With Kaleidoscope;Tinkerbell Fairytale Nirvana was one of the best UK vocal group of the end of the sixties.
Other thing ,have you the possibility to repost the olympic post"big beat from Prague".Since the picture of Five Travellers EP on Buffalo Europeen blog A friend is speaking of this EP and I now need to listen to this French EP.Hope you will have possibility to repost.
hi folks!
sorry but it's only now that your comments appear, somehow they were kept on hold "awaiting moderation", rather than being published immediately....
@JeanBernard I will see to repost the Olympic, one of the few things that are available...all Mediafire links should work (copy and paste them)
At the end of the film near the piano we can see 2 French artists;France Gall and Serge Gainsbourg.First time I saw this TV show.
Yeah, that's right both very well known in France...and Gainsbourg across Europe...
hey, JeanBernard perhaps you can comment on what I'm saying at the end of the post about colour transmission.
Aldo
Colour arrived on French TV the 1 October 1967.But to see the show in colour(if it was in colour) obligation to have a special colour TV and it was rare in 1967.It's on your blog I see for the first time this TV show and one think is sure,with such clothes colours must be great.
What? Drugs? No...better! Kaleidoscope! Where or what exactly was(is?) Peter Daltry? One thing's for sure, he had some loyal and talented kindred bandmembers to help him. But, the man himself - never one to rely on comparisons - was about as close as you could get to a stable Syd Barrett(...or amalgam, isotope, subset, etcetera thereof). He was so cool that he had already transcended coolness and had no use for it. That's supreme. See the host ask a decent question but not keep up with the answer. The second time around, the host changes his mind and denies Peter rather than take the risk of not-getting-it again. Instead he starts to jabber with the fine blonde wool...all the while Peter looks as if he knew it was coming. Man, that was a big brush(off). Fear not! To be treated so rudely only made the band appear so much more hip than their host! One minute high...the next minute...low.
I also felt drugged by the on-screen charisma of the band. An effect that I rarely experience. Thank you for the good stuff.
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