Robert Callender — "Autumn" (Official Live Concert Video)
The man behind one of psychedelia's rarest LPs returns to the stage with strings, sitar, and tabla to perform Rainbow in full for the first time
The man behind one of psychedelia's rarest LPs returns to the stage with strings, sitar, and tabla to perform Rainbow in full for the first time
In August 1968, a young singer named Robert "Bobby" Callender walked into a Los Angeles studio and recorded Rainbow, a record so far ahead of its time that it barely registered on release, only to become one of the most sought-after psychedelic LPs in the world. Raga-rock arrangements, orchestral sweep, Eastern instrumentation woven through California sunshine pop: it was a record that belonged to no genre and answered to no market, which is precisely why the original pressing now commands serious collector money.
Nearly sixty years later, Callender finally brought Rainbow to the stage. Performing at the Timucua Arts Foundation in Orlando, backed by the jazz ensemble Golden Flower and joined by Dr. Kanada Narahari on sitar, Pandit Nandkishor Muley on tabla, and the Fernwood String Quartet, Callender translated the album's East-meets-West vision into something that felt less like a concert and more like a ceremony.
Excerpt from 'Rainbow: The Anniversary Concert'
The official live video for "Autumn" captures a single, luminous moment from that performance. The song channels the album's most intimate melodic thread: Callender's voice, still warm and present after all these decades, floating over delicate strings and the soft pulse of tabla, while Narahari's sitar lines trace arabesques around the melody. It's a performance that makes you understand why Rainbow became a grail in the first place. Not because it was obscure, but because it was genuinely visionary.
The full concert is available as Rainbow: The Anniversary Concert, a 2-disc CD/DVD release on Think Like A Key Music featuring the complete performance, a 16-page booklet with new liner notes by co-producer Chaim O'Brien-Blumenthal, and candid reflections from Callender himself on the origins of Rainbow and its long journey from cult favourite to cultural artefact.
Rainbow: The Anniversary Concert is available now from Think Like A Key Music on limited edition LP, CD/DVD and Digital editions.
