Bobby Callender – Rainbow

If interested there was a promotional series by Tom Wilson as a DJ for the Music Factory which was sent to radio stations. The 20th radio show had Bobby Callender interviewed. This was before the release of his debut album. Tom Wilson its that he was so impressed by what was going on with it that it beat him to doing something as genius. I put a video for the radio recording on YouTube. Also, you can see that Andy Warhol had produced some of the songs if not most of the songs to White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground though Tom Wilson got credit for it due to Warhol being fired by his buddy Lou. Listen to the last commercial in the radio program and it might just surprise anyone of interest. Oh And at the time of this interview Tom Wilson is working on the Harumi album which had Don Robertson on sitar. Don Robertson left his sitar with Bobby Callender when he moved to the West Coast to record DAWN on Limelight. You can also learn more about Bobby watching the Don Robertson Interview 2020 video number 4 on YouTube. Grab yourself a prize in the restroom over there for reading through all this.

This is right in the era of hippiedom, and boy, does it show? Lyrically it is one spliff short of a DIY colostomy. Seriously up itself if you get my drift. There are a couple of moments of super cringe where a large heavyweight duvet is recommended.
Musically, the record is a little schizophrenic - Asia meets Andy Williams. Not necessarily a bad thing.

A1. Rainbow
Whilst there are many colours in a Rainbow it appears that grey is predominant in Callenders’. A broken mix of sitar and guitar overlaid with strings. In need of another mix softening the overuse of fast tremolo and the “overtones of grey are always there.”
A2. Nature
A slow brooding number that again needs a re-mix. There’s some great hammond here but well down in the mix. Has real potential for a 2010 beef-mix.
A3. Sade Masoch
A cute ditty sounding Kinks / Yardbirds esque with a ton of stings and tangy sitar.
A4. Purple
At eleven minutes and thirty eight this might be a trifle indulgent. The background is the sound of rain pouring off a roof, so ensure you’ve been for a leak prior to listening. Lethargic sitar through fast tremolo with pats of tabla - it has a meditational/ turn over the disc feel.
B1. Mother Superior
Here we get to the nub. A poppy crossover nod to prog’ with a ‘typical’ public school educational feel. There’s even a Middle England string section. Once again, it breaks into whimsy.
B2. Autumn
Back to the bloody colours again! Breaks down into a spoken word and drives into an Hassidic Yompah!
B3. A Man
The story of a tramp with lyrics that sound as if they were written by a public school boy. Once again, not content with the Asian crossover we break in to some Sammy Davis Jr. Las Vegas Jazz with swing-along, ting-along drums.
“I often wonder why people become bums, alcoholics, or addicted to narcotics. I wonder if this man, for example, has become one of these, or doing what he pleases.”
B4. I’m Just High On Life
“Excuse me if I seem to digress from time to space and back again. I’m just high on life.”
B5. Symphonic Pictures
“After sixteen years of Grammar School...” And there we have it. Another song that flits from West to East.

An over indulgent slab of sixties that should have been issued with a complimentary tab so you can get in the moment. Certainly has the feel of a six-formers stage project that never quite makes it from the provinces.
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