''A Beacon from Mars'' is

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a regular symmetrical pattern when v ...

's second album. It was published in November 1967 by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

along with the single "I Found Out" b/w "Rampè Rampè". At the time it was released it received good reviews, but like Kaleidoscope's other albums, it was commercially unsuccessful.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's retrospective review hailed the album as flawless brilliance, "the best non-compilation showcase of Kaleidoscope's legendary eclecticism and versatility." They noted the many styles represented by each of the songs, and deemed that "Every one of these disparate styles is performed with authority and commitment, and the result still has the power to amaze." The track "Taxim" is based on "Şehnaz Longa", a Turkish piece by Santuri Ethem Efendi. A 1968 music reviewer stated: "“Here is the most versatile band we have ever heard. You want ragtime? Listen to 'Baldheaded End Of A Broom' which brings back early Spoonful fun. Lovely bass, good mandolin and harmonica. How about authentic hillbilly music? 'Louisiana Man' hunts muskrats in the swamps to bagpipe-sounding fiddles, embellished in drums, of course. Or hard blues? They make good use of their instruments. fuzzed up on the tense, electric 'You Don't Love Me'. High register harmonica screams over a heavy swing bottom. Excellent tension contrasts. 'I Found Out' is a medium tempo folkish tune. 'Greenwood Side', is a slow, emotional Scottish ballad of death, again with bagpipe fiddles and death roll drums. 'Life Will Pass You By', is a Byrd-like song with hillbilly twang harmony and mandolin. 'Taxim' is a long oriental-sounding instrumental, featuring excellent musicianship on caz, oud, harp guitar.Platter chatt: albums from the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Cream and Kaleidoscope. (review) (no author) (1968, April) Hit Parader.”

Track listing

Personnel

* David Lindley – guitar,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

Chris Darrow Christopher Lloyd Darrow (July 30, 1944 – January 15, 2020) was an American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. He was considered to be a pioneer of country rock music in the late-1960s and performed and recorded with numerous groups, ...

– bass, vocals, guitar, mandolin *Solomon Feldthouse – vocals, saz,

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

, vina,

oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

doumbek The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet- ...

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

, guitar *Chester Crill (as Max Buda) – violin, viola, bass, organ, piano, harmonica *John Vidican – drums, percussion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beacon From Mars 1968 albums Kaleidoscope (American band) albums Epic Records albums