THE ANTHOLOGY/THE ULTIMATE ANTHOLOGY

This really is a great collection and would stand up as a pretty good intro to the band for anyone who felt like dipping their toe in the 'cool water'...but, of course, it definitely also appeals to that hard-core Caravan fan who just loves to see the lads do their magic, despite Pye Hastings' equivalent of a Dad dance with his guitar swaying! Only joking Pye, I love it!

The first two tracks from Nottingham, 1990, are 'For Richard' and 'Nine Feet Underground' and, as another reviewer stated it does sound a bit out of place to hear these epic tracks so early into a set but nevertheless they sound utterly brilliant and not a beat is missed. These tracks really do set up the DVD and put you in the right mood for what you are about to see and hear. That is, some utterly perfect (Ca)nterbury Scene) prog by what I consider to be the very best players of such.

The excitement is amped up as we find ourselves with a front row seat in Trenton, New Jersey, USA for the next part of this medley.(Thanks for that, Easy Livin). A welcome sight to this stage is Geoffrey Richardson and his trusty viola! It doesn't take long until we we are treated to hearing him play. It's one of the reasons I became such an instant fan of Caravan. I did not know what a viola was back then, age 20 and not a fan of progressive Rock either. I was new to it all when a friend put a cassette into his machine and told me to listen. We sat there silently as this fantastic viola sound took me on a journey like no other. With David Sinclair's keyboard solo on 'The Dog The Dog..' well that was enough for me. I realised I had literally never heard such perfectly arranged and presented music in my life and all I wanted to do was hear more and fast!! And so began a life long love for all things 'Canterbury' and especially Caravan and Camel.

Getting back to this video, the next section after the wonderful 'Medley' (which contains some of my favourite tracks, featured from the 'Blind dog At St Dunstan's' album, a much dismissed or overlooked album though not by me as I simply love it!) We are now given the treat of some rather old and classic performances by the fresh faced young lads, and it is worth the DVD just to have these performances to rewatch & archive. Here we are treated to 'Magic man', 'Place of my own' and the great classic that is 'Golf Girl' .

In my opinion this DVD is a worthy addition to any Caravan fans collection and also would be a great first DVD of theirs to own. OK the quality is pretty poor in terms of video compression and all that tech stuff, but, more importantly the audio for the most part sounds good to great and there's no drop outs or hiss or anything.

In conclusion, A Great DVD! If you see it up for sale somewhere, grab it!

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