THE ALBUM

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I think that the title says it all. No inspiration. Only Clear Blue Sky - a reggae - manages some interest from my ears , the rest being really a lacklustre collection of uninspired songs . I am so sorry one of my favorite band ever got so low . This one did come out on Cd but look elsewhere as there are tons of Caravan records to investigate before delving for this one.

While rewriting my Blind Dog review, I had a chance to add this and tell you that this got a second release (remastered ) with a few Bonus Tracks - not that it would make it less un-essential - on the Eclectic label.

Even in their worst times CARAVAN are intelligent enough. Solid and even record, “The Album” is somewhere in between “Blind Dog…” and DONOVAN or THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS. Not recommended in any way, but it’s interesting journey for early CARAVAN fans. Unfortunately, they didn’t get better after it, and their later studio albums fall into the same line. Nice and inescapable addition for die-hard CARAVAN fan collection, but don’t bother if you still haven’t made your mind towards their best efforts.

SHOULD I COME BACK OR SHOULD I STAY AWAY (PART X)

This is frankly the question. Dave is back again in the band. But what for? This is a major flop IMO. One out of many of course in the early eighties from a prog point of view. At the end of the day, where were the great bands of the seventies (even if "Caravan" has never belonged to my fave ones)?

Gone are the days of their exquisite and so personal music that could be found on "For Girls". This one is just a poor I don't know what album. No genre can be associated with this album. Only that it is poor from start to finish.

Attempts to rock like "Make Yourself At Home" completely fails. And the awful disco "Golden Mile" just show you the quick way to the toilets. Run fast if you want to avoid the vomiting thing to happen onto your pants.This is the absolute nadir of this band (so far).

There are not a single track that stands out on this album. A shame of course for Caravan. But they won't be the only ones to produce a crappy album I these eighties, right? There is even one ridiculous attempt to a reggae song in here. This genre was rather commercially successful at the time, and I liked quite a lot bands as Culture and Steel Pulse during those days to know what great reggae was all about. This one is just boring and useless. Does anyone need "Caravan" to turn into poor reggae? Definitely not!

One star and this is way too much for this extremely poor album.

The Album is the ninth full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act Caravan. It´s been three years since their last album Better By Far (1977) was released and one could expect that those three years had been used wisely. Better By Far (1977) was a below standard album from the band though and I had my worries before listening to The Album.

The music is soft rock with only a few of the progressive elements left that made earlier albums by Caravan so great. The only song that gives small hints to their past greatness is Watcha Gonna Tell Me. It´s be far the best song on the album with flute and those quirky fast vocal lines that I love from the old albums. Opener Heartbreaker and the song Piano Player are also respectable ( remember I didn´t say good), but the rest is rather bland and forgettable. There´s even a poor attempt to play white man reggae in the song Clear Blue Sky ( and no it doesn´t sound like UB40). That´s a disaster to my ears.

The musicianship is as good as usual and it´s rather interesting that David Sinclair has returned on the keyboards once again.

The production is good. Warm and pleasant and it suits the music perfectly.

The Album is unfortunately another below average album by Caravan and it´s hard not to get the thought that they really didn´t have much more to offer to the world of music at this point in their career. A 2 star rating is warranted. I must say that I had expected much more from the band after a three year recording break.

"The Album" is quite good. In fact, I like it a lot. It's very much like a pick & mix bowl of candies. It's a contribution of individual songs "played' by members of Caravan. I don't really consider it a Caravan album per se. "Heartbreaker" is a great pop rock song that would sound great on Waterloo Lily. "Corner Of Me Eye" is a track by Geoffrey Richardson that sounds like it may be a Caravan tune until it turns into progressive bluegrass during the instrumental part of the track. A great twist(Dixie Dregs/Little Feat anyone?). "Watcha Gonna Tell Me" has some nice electric piano and beautiful flute colourings and a flute solo from Geoffrey Richardson...and a great guitar/keyboard/guitar/keyboard exchange between Pye Hastings and Dave Sinclair. This is the best track on the album. Another track that would not sound out of place on Waterloo Lily. "Piano Player" has lyrics about drinking and smoking that only Caravan sing about with expertise. It's a very flighty piece with Geoffrey Richardson delivering an inspired solo on the viola. A track to listen to after a warm rain. "Make Yourself At Home" starts out like a Doobie Brothers track, then the unmistakable english vocals are present with a relaxed/loose/slacker sound in the playing by the band. There's a weird vocoder effect on the vocal. Very cool! Uh oh, in comes the disco with the track "Golden Mile". No worse than "Summer Lightning" from Camel's Breathless, really. "Golden Mile" reminds me of something one might here on the Cafe Jacques album "Round The Back"(which also features Geoffrey Richardson). "Bright Shiny Day" is just that. A happy track. Off to Jamaica with the reggae of "Clear Blue Sky"(Police meets Dire Straits?). Nice guitar work from Pye Hastings. "Keepin' Up De Fences" is another great track and it concludes the album. Caravan with timbales? Yes, indeed. This one reminds me of something off Gentle Giant's "Civilian", yet I can't put my finger on it. A lively track this one - the boys sounding like "Caravan" with a nice keyboard/guitar/keyboard exchange. I have to say that I love albums like this on progarchives.com. The low ratings are unwarranted. it all depends on your taste. If you enjoy the Camel albums "Breathless" and "I Can See Your House From Here", then you'll certainly find something to enjoy with "The Album". An initial listen may not impress, but try it over several listens and you will be rewarded. A great rock & roll album for fans of Steely Dan and Dire Straits. Not very "progressive" but very competent. A great addition to anyone's collection, regardless.

First of all let me say that my vinyl copy of the album doesn't have that anonymous cover sheet that's on PA. It has a sort of aztec pyramid with "The Album" written in the stones.....

Unfortunately it's the only "epic" thing that I can find in it.

The return of David Sinclair didn't bring all the good that one could have expected and what they were perhaps intending as a sort of reunion resulted in a big disappointment.

The opener is enough to understand what this album is made for. "Heartbreaker" is a mixture of Supertramp and Climax Blues Band. Nothing to do with the band of Winter Wine. The finger picking of "Corner Of My Eye" is not bad if you like country music. I personally like this song, but it's absolutely non-essential.

"What'cha Gonna Tell Me" is a partially successful attempt to sound as in the past, but it's clear that it's not Jimmy Hastings to play the flute. The piano riff is good and the song sounds "Caravan enough".

I'm relistening to this album after years and it's not so awful as I was remembering. "Piano Player" is not a masterpiece but I don't dislike it.

Going to the B side we find a piece of trivial brit-pop like "Make Yourself At Home" followed by the disco-funky of "Golden Mile". Two tracks to skip, but after them the brit chill-out of "Bright Shiny Day" is not that bad. A kind of newage....

What do Caravan have to do with Reggae? It's not their pot. This song makes me thing to Wishbone Ash. They have a little piece of reggae in Pilgrimage, but their one is good. At least this should have been "reggae" also in the chorus.

"Keeping Up The Fences" just doesn't do anything for me. I had totally forgotten this song, probably because I've rarely been able to run the whole album in a shot. This song is not bad if you like things like Wishbone Ash "Front Page News", but this is not what one can expect from Caravan.

I'm undecided between one and two stars. Looking at my other one-star ratings on PA I think I can be generous and go for two, but if you are not fans there's no reason to invest money in this stuff.