Kaleidoscope - Side Trips (1967) [Original USA Mono Mix]

The Kaleidoscope – Side Trips (1967)

Original US Mono LP
Epic LN 24304 (Discogs)

~ThePoodleBites Rip in 96 kHz / 24 bit FLAC + full scans~

Thanks to @PsychTrailMix for referencing this album/rip in his excellent blog here.

The Kaleidoscope is now considered as one of the most essential 1960s psychedelic bands, and their debut album Side Trips is a masterful album combining elements of psychedelia, rock, and folk music with stellar musicianship and excellent as well as diverse songwriting. Allmusic’s retrospective review praised nearly all of the individual songs and called the album “arguably the most diverse effort of 1967” (source: Wikipedia). The mono mix of this album, which has never before appeared on CD and never been ripped (I guess primarily due to its scarcity), is completely different from the stereo mix which we are all familiar with, and by many accounts far superior. “Egyptian Gardens” has additional sound effects, “Please” is a completely different edit, “Pulsating Dream” is at a faster speed, and “Keep Your Mind Open” finally sounds like the mind-melting anti-war masterpiece it was written to be. The whole album is punchier, clearer, and trippier: like it was intended!

At the helm is David Lindley, a master of many string instruments, which led to the Kaleidoscope’s dense musical structure and dynamic composition style. Wikipedia states: “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.” After the Kaleidoscope Lindley continued his career as a popular session musician, working (notably) with Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton, and also had a successful solo career, as well as writing music for film.

Vinyl Condition: M- (yes, really!)
Lineage:
– Audio-Technica AT150MLx Dual Moving-Magnet Cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB Direct Drive Professional Turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA Phono Preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2018 (recording)
– iZotope RX 6 Audio Editor (manual declicking, remove rumble, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.2.0 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.3.17 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Track Listing:
1) “Egyptian Gardens” (Solomon Feldthouse) – 3:10
2) “If The Night” (Chris Darrow) – 1:51
3) “Hesitation Blues” (Charlie Poole) – 2:33
4) “Please” (Feldthouse, Mark Freedman) – 3:07
5) “Keep Your Mind Open” (Darrow) – 2:20
6) “Pulsating Dream” (Darrow, Feldthouse, David Lindley) – 1:59
7) “Oh Death” (Dock Boggs) – 3:31
8) “Come On In” (Traditional, arranged by David Lindley) – 2:12
9) “Why Try” (Lindley) – 3:44
10) “Minnie The Moocher” (Cab Calloway, Clarence Gaskill, Irving Mills) – 2:19

Musicians:
David Perry Lindley – banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, harp guitar, 7-string banjo
David Solomon Feldthouse – saz, bouzouki, resonator guitar, veena, goblet drum, dulcimer, fiddle, twelve-string guitar
Chris Darrow – bass, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, autoharp, harmonica, clarinet
Fenrus Epp – violin, viola, bass, piano, organ, harmonica
John Vidican – percussion

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

Additional transfer note:
“Egyptian Gardens” had an annoying wavering tone around 15.7 kHz which cut in and out at random times in the song. I have removed (or at least drastically reduced) this, very carefully of course. This was likely from the many overdubs and edits required on this mix. On all tracks there is a ~30kHz tone doing the same thing — again, this is in the mono mix. I have left this in since it cannot be heard. Neither of these problems are in the stereo mix, for which I have also ripped the original USA LP for comparison. I have also done a bit of removal of 60Hz and 120Hz noise when it did not overlap with the music. If any of this annoys you, raw rips and working versions are available as always. … But I think you will very much enjoy this definitive digital restoration more!

MEGA: https://mega.nz/folder/6lRijBIT#amaazNISuW6QpNC9VH5iyg
Enjoy, and please feel free to leave a comment so I know you enjoy this as much as I do!