A Beacon From Mars
by Kaleidoscope (US)
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Kaleidoscope (US) bestography
A Beacon From Mars is ranked as the best album by Kaleidoscope (US).
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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A Beacon From Mars track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
A Beacon From Mars rankings
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 3 hours ago).
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A Beacon From Mars ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 51 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 04/07/2025 05:32 | HotZappsBoogaloo | 1,270 | 83/100 |
| ! | 03/07/2025 19:57 |  RockyRaccoon | 7,133 | 84/100 |
| ! | 06/01/2024 23:00 | BorderFreeAndrew | 15,636 | 74/100 |
| ! | 08/20/2023 04:32 |  MadhattanJack | 5,980 | 66/100 |
| ! | 04/10/2023 12:25 | RemainInLight | 3,573 | 35/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album has a Bayesian average rating of 71.1/100, a mean average of 70.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.8.
A Beacon From Mars favourites
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A Beacon From Mars comments
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mdbaxter 10/06/2021 16:32 | #274731
Another eclectic release from a band with the knowledge and ability to perform just about any music from around the world. Rough sounding and a bit scattered but not as much as you'd guess given how many different types of music are included on the record. The longer compositions are certainly the most impressive parts of the album especially Taxim. The closer is a little too reminiscent of The Doors debut.
Along with United States Of America, Kaleidoscope (formed in 1966 in Berkley, near California), were one of the more complex bands of the original psychedelic era and one of the first to adopt an 'oriental' style.
Beacon From Mars (1968) represents a masterclass in creativity and diversity. The recording is resplendent with jazz, cajun, gypsy and Middle Eastern inflections, exotic arrangements and mystical country and western transfigurations. The album is rich musical tapestry of styles incorporating improvised instrumental solos, sitar, classical guitar, flamenco, music pagoda, dense percussion, Eastern strings, gypsy dances and Andean folk. These styles effortlessly overlap one another.
One of the numerous outstanding pieces is the title track which is a distorted 12 minute mosaic of cacophonous episodes of blues harmonica accompanied by a piercing hiss of frenetic guitar and percussion. The track ends with a piece of cosmic instrumental noise.
'Beacon From Mars' demands to be heard because it is a timeless classic.
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