Side Trips
Studio album by
The Kaleidoscope
ReleasedMay 1967
RecordedNovember-December 1966
GenrePsychedelic rock, folk-rock, Arabic
LabelEpic
ProducerBarry Friedman
The Kaleidoscope chronology
Side Trips
(1967)		 A Beacon from Mars
(1967)

Side Trips is the debut studio album by American band Kaleidoscope. It was released in May 1967, on Epic Records BN 26304, and re-released on vinyl by Sundazed Records (2007). The album has a raw, non-limited instrumental mentality, for each member played many instruments; for example, David Lindley played guitar, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin, and Solomon Feldthouse played saz, bouzouki, dobro, vina, oud, doumbek, dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, and vocals.

Background

After forming in 1966, the group known then as The Kaleidoscope won a recording contract with Epic Records. Their first single "Please", backed by the non-album track "Elevator Man", was released in December 1966. The album Side Trips was released in May, followed in August by the album cut "Why Try" backed by non-album track "Little Orphan Nannie". The album combined rock & roll with roots and world music along with several traditional songs including Charlie Poole's "Hesitation Blues" and Cab Calloway's signature song "Minnie the Moocher". Bassist Chris Darrow contributed a couple of psychedelic numbers, "If the Night" and "Keep Your Mind Open", while Solomon Feldthouse penned the Middle Eastern influenced "Egyptian Gardens". Soon after the release, they renamed themselves as simply Kaleidoscope.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]

Allmusic's retrospective review praised nearly all of the individual songs and called the album "arguably the most diverse effort of 1967", but concluded that enthusiasts and collectors would be better off getting the more comprehensive Pulsating Dreams anthology, which includes the entirety of Side Trips.[1]

Track listing

  1. "Egyptian Gardens" (Solomon Feldthouse) – 3:08
  2. "If the Night" (Chris Darrow) – 1:51
  3. "Hesitation Blues" (Charlie Poole) – 2:27
  4. "Please" (Feldthouse, Mark Freedman) – 3:18
  5. "Keep Your Mind Open" (Darrow) – 1:56
  6. "Pulsating Dream" (Darrow, Feldthouse, David Lindley) – 2:16
  7. "Oh Death" (Dock Boggs) – 3:25
  8. "Come on In" (Traditional, arranged by David Lindley) – 2:07
  9. "Why Try" (Lindley) – 3:39
  10. "Minnie the Moocher" (Cab Calloway, Clarence Gaskill, Irving Mills) – 2:15

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

  • Barry Friedman – producer
  • Mike Goldberg – production supervisor
  • Arnold Shaw – liner notes

References

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