recollections by ted richardson - 8th december 2008 - hearing the songs for the first time may 1999/ before meeting any one in the band, i heard the songs. i vividly remember kuriko's voice. very seductive and sexy. from the start marcus had praised kuriko the singer to high heaven. i was very interested and hearing her voice, i thought that praise was well justified. i loved her low sexy voice. not at all like the shrill glass-shattering japanese singers who were slightly and annoyingly off pitch and seemed to be so common in the 90's. arrgghh! anyway, kuriko's voice was great. low and relaxed, but sometimes cute high pitched chirpy sounds, screams to punctuate choruses. very very nice. i was so impressed that this guy marcus, who was a singer/ songwriter/ guitarist had just put this whole project together. i mean, most guitarists record guitar-ish songs and do everything themselves and it sounds like.. guitar rock home recordings. but this kurikokaleidoscope stuff was so cool because it was like a professional cd project. marcus had this image of jazz rock fronted by a cute female singer, perfect for the japanese pop world. then he went out, found and recruited various singers who were all really wonderful. they were all a bit different. he played me some older stuff with a singer named norie. that was entitled unknown norie. it was different but equally good. like with each project, the singer and the songs were a close fit. these amateur singers and the music seemed to work like magic together. like gin and tonic.
meeting kuriko sakuma for the first time may 1999/ i was to meet marcus and kuriko outside the shinjuku west exit nova language school. then it would be a typical fun night of drinking beer and karaoke. i was late to meet them. i was waiting in the wrong place. kuriko made a dazzling first impression. i expected a young gyaru type. i expected a shibuya gyaru type and she was a shinjuku gyaru type. that's a good thing. very cute, gentle, sweet. not at all arrogant like some of the hot gyaru. let's see, i remember her smile, shaking her hand. she spoke english reasonably well. sparkles on her cheeks. as in the sparkles make-up. that is my memory of meeting kuriko for the first time. very sweet and very very positive. i remember it very clearly. then three of us had a fun time in karaoke. i think bits of it are captured on video. marcus always had a video camera. i remember watching it. we were on the upper floors of that really cool karaoke place on the way from shinjuku east exit walking towards tochomae. i do remember kuriko's singing at karaoke. she was very good. very lively and fun. it was a very good vibe, all of us were goofing, taking the piss out of classic songs in a fun way. i have to say that i owe marcus an eternal debt for showing me the possibilities of karaoke. i do not remeber the resolution of the project/ there were these really good songs. i played some bass. we went into the studio with curtis. he was awesome ofcourse and i remember that well. curtis returned to the states. was it the states? canada. that was a bit of a blow to a very promising band and live project. there were some more recordings but i think it was a bit frustrating for me that the personnel kept shifting and it was never possible to take these great songs and do a live show. i played bass on tokyo rose, tokugawa shogun, close the curtis, kotomi satomi hitomi, play with me, a passage to the visitor, i am the matron from time lord, and the kurikokaleidoscope version of kagami no kanojo featuring norie inayoshi. kuriko herself seemed to fade out or become too busy. she was also looking to become a professional dancer. under those circumstances it was probably difficult for marcus to keep the project going forward smoothly. what i remember least was the ending of the kurikokaleidoscope project proper. 8th december 2008 - recollections by ted richardson.

notes by marcus stavely-alexander 24th december 2009
' six of the forty odd recordings are about to restored and presented here. at this point in time there are no plans for anything other than restored versions of the following titles, tokyo rose, tokugawa shogun, close the curtis, kotomi satomi hitomi, and play with me. having access to a yamaha md8 multitrack recorder means that i will not only be able to go back and work on the songs in question, i will also be able to erase certain contributions. it is my wish to retain the contributions and vibe generated by the mark one members and associated titles. anything after that will be a complete waste of time and i will not be bothered with it. with the technology that is now available some new songs will be put together featuring doctored contributions from the mark one members. this will be an extremely exciting new project to work on and the ultimate salute to kurikokaleidoscope. the restorations and new materials are coming soon.'

© Marcus Stavely-Alexander 2009.