THE BEST OF CARAVAN

It's very difficult to decide what should make it onto the shortlist for a CD such as this one. And this is perhaps why there are so many different Caravan compilations, each with a few different songs and a slightly different timeframe in mind. However, The Best of Caravan is one of the better ones as far as compilations go. When it comes to Caravan I could almost suggest buy the first three albums and you'll have your best of Caravan anyway, but needless to say there are the samplers out there who wouldn't want to cut into their budget.

Released in '93, The Best of Caravan ignores their first album and gives you some of their finest from the second one: If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You (1970). "And I Wish I Were Stoned" and "Can't Be Long Now/ Francoise/ For Richard/ Warlock" were the greener and fresher sounding Caravan, easily a winner when wanting to captivate the listener. Only "In the Land of Grey and Pink" is included from their third album of the same title, which is a notable omission in many of the other compilation CD's. "The Love in Your Eye/ To Catch Me a Brother/ Subsultus/ Debouchement/ Tilbury Kecks" comes from Waterloo Lily (1972) at which point David Sinclair was set to leave and would be replaced by Steve Miller on keyboards. This is where Caravan's sound begins to change, become smoother and in some ways inferior to the original Caravan of the first three albums.

For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night (1973) gets a mention with "The Dog, The Dog, He's at It Again" and "Memory Lain, Hugh", while Caravan & The New Symphonia (1974) doesn't have any songs included on the best of. (And for a good reason too.)

Cunning Stunts (1975) is also on there with "No Backstage Pass", making this a pretty diverse and well selected Best of Caravan. If you want to sample Caravan but don't want to buy two CD's worth of them then this is a nice compact introduction to what Caravan has to offer and one of its better compilations. Otherwise I'd recommend getting Where But For Caravan Would I? (2000) or if you are a particular fan of Caravan's longer songs get Canterbury Tales - The Best of Caravan (1976).

Actually, I sold this album once I was able to find all the original albums on CD. However, it works as a great introduction to the band, the sound quality is good, and the price is right if you can find it.