CARAVAN

I owe this album for quite a long time by now and it's a bit of an odd one in my collection. Well, it was for many years because it was my only Canterbury album. By now I bought their masterpiece as well and one of the Hatfield albums. So I'm getting more and more into this peculiar style of prog. How to define Canterbury ? Maybe not the official definition but how I experience it that it's symphonic prog with jazzy undertones played by English intellectuals mainly.

But since I absolutely love both symphonic prog and jazz it should fit me perfectly. Well. it certainly does as long as it can be called melodic music. As soon as it gets too profound and the musicians prefer the more challenging and out of the ordinary (eclectic) stuff I tend to call it a day. Here we have an example of how I like it best. Slightly accessible music creating a delicious atmosphere. Especially the first six songs of this album are delightful to me. Both strong rocking moments and very jazzy elements determine the style here.

Last three songs the band changes the direction in an obvious way. Jack and Jill almost sounds like a funky pop song, the violin and a short organ solo and a bit of flute make it at least a bit special but that's about it. Can you hear me ? is more or less the same story where accessibility is concerned. Less funky but also here with prominent Hammond organ and violin. Both songs are still enjoyable by the way but the jazzy aspect is suddenly gone or at least strongly diminished. The real disappointment is last track All the Way. First half of the song is ok but second half is extremely repetitive for several minutes. What a shame since it almost ruins a very good feeling I have about this release.

Let's call it 42 minutes of great music and 4 extremely poor and annoying ones. So the outcome where the rating is concerned is not difficult here. It's simply an excellent album. Maybe an album in the declining phase of their career for the real fans but it doesn't bother me that their peak days are gone at this point. This album suits me much better than their magnum opus In the Land of Grey and Pink. This is Canterbury how I like it best. Four strong stars for Blind Dog !

In the Land of Jazz and Waterloo Lily

It's rather common for a Prog band that after their most acclaimed opus, in this case In the Land of Grey and Pink, one of the 'key' members leaves the band thus leaving the band no option than to replace him by someone who generally is pretty different to the former member, and as a result making either a weaker, but essentially a different kind of record to what the band is known-of doing. Conclusion, fans consider it either a weak attempt of re-making their grandiose opus or simply just say it's a weak record per se because they don't like the addition of the replacement.

Well, that's the case of Waterloo Lily, however for me it's neither a weaker copy of their previous effort nor I have any issues with the addition of the replacement, quite the contrary. The main issue that fans of their previous albums have with this album is the addition of Dave Sinclair's replacement, Steve Miller, who adds to the band a very jazzy feel overall.

However, I can't denie another obvious factor that also leads to dissapointment, and this one I can understand. This is the lack of Richard's distinctive voice, which was by all means 'the voice' of Caravan. So, yes, in Waterloo Lily the vocal department is not exactly the 'Caravan vocal department', but I've learnt to deal with it.

While I absolutely love In the Land of Grey and Pink and think it's a superior album to this one, I can't say I'm no big fan of this album as well, and that's all thanks to Steve Miller's splendid addition of great jazzy bites all within the album. He may be no Dave Sinclair, but neither Patrick Moraz was Rick Wakeman and yet he rocked the hell out with Relayer and added to the band something that hadn't be heard with previous efforts.

Anyways, this is not a jazz rock affair as a whole, just get rid of In the Land of Grey and Pink's happinness and sophistication and add a rockier, groovier and a more loose feel to it. Songs like The World is Yours, Aristocracy and Songs and Signs still sound very much like the ol' Caravan. However it's the longer suites that make the difference; Nothing At All being a very cool jazzy jam showing the whole new line-up at full steam in the instrumental side of things, while The Love in your Eye is a more sophisticated tune with string arrangements and plenty of brass instruments too.

So overall Waterloo Lily is a different, yet excellent, treat by this new, not-that-different, incarnation from Caravan. Anyone who is fond of jazzy-inclined good music, I highly recommend you this. If you're a big fan of In the Land of Grey and Pink but you are not that fond of jazzy stuff, then check If I Could Do It All Over Again, I Would Do It All Over You first.

Music of Caravan is a good one, especially given that they play my favourite tracks here. As a live recording, you can hear audience quite a lot and sound quality also isn't good at all (not so clear, but you can get used to it). It's mostly because we (Caravan fans) are used to hear these songs as album version of great clear quality. Of course, I have to say that I don't know all of these songs, but those that I didn't know I after all like. Hearing them live, performing them live, being few dozens of years older (2x12 in average) also doesn't help, but let's take it as it is. Nine Feet Underground sounds quite rockingly. And not only this one, most of them sounds more "rocky", more "live" (literally).

4(-), decent in quality, extraordinary in energy performance.

Caravan naked

The Battle Of Hastings presents a subtle, charming and predominantly acoustic Caravan with many Folk-influences with mandolin and flutes. The melodies are soft and whimsical, rather simple throughout and quite poppy. It really only takes a single listen to get into this music and it does not have the lasting appeal of albums like For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night and Cunning Stunts. Many of the songs here remind of the poppiest songs from the latter album, but unlike on that album these songs are not counterbalanced by longer more progressive songs. As I said, this album is very acoustic in its nature, almost naked compared to other Caravan albums, but it is not quite an unplugged session, however, as there are some nice keyboard solos and electric guitars in addition to acoustic guitars, mandolin, flute and violin among other instruments. The flute work in particular is quite wonderful.

While almost all the songs are rather pleasant, they are not particularly memorable, or in any way out of the ordinary. The outrageously silly Wendy Wants Another 6" Mole is totally out of place with its inappropriate farting noises! Are they trying to make children's music? Thankfully, the rest of the songs have a rather serious tone and are not silly. I have never liked Caravan's silly moments.

The conclusion is that this album is certainly worth a listen, with an emphasis on a - I don't think it requires nor deserves repeated listens.

Recommended primarily to Caravan fans, since others might find it pleasant but rather dispensable

(This is a review of the original album)

Caravan went a bit jazz on this album compared to their pretty rock orientated previous albums. But fear not; they did not go as far as Hatfield, National Health or Egg. Not to mention Soft Machine.

What I like most about Caravan is the mix of rock, pop and jazz. They have in my view the Canterbury Scene prototype sound. Their previous album was probably the best ever Canterbury Scene album too. David Sinclair was a big influence on that album. But he left before the band recorded Waterloo Lily.

This album consists of some quirky rock tunes and a lot of funky jazz improvisations. The rock tunes are pretty catchy and so is the jazzy bits. The main instrument is the keyboard of Steve Miller. Most of his contributions here is jazzy improvisations over the themes. This album therefore almost feels like a live album. The best example is the twelve minutes long The love in your eye / To catch me a brother / Subsultus / Debouchement / Tilbury kecks medley. The keyboards is sometimes backed up by funky guitars, flutes and horns. Richard Sinclair's vocals is as usual excellent.

Taken into account that I rate this band very highly, I think this album is very good. I like the jazzy bits because I happens to be a fan of the other half of Wilde Flowers (Soft Machine). There is a couple of iffy songs here. But they are overshadowed by the truly excellent stuff here like the title track and the jazzy improvisations. I therefore rate this album very highly.

4 stars

While the music of Caravan doesn't have the best track record of pleasing me on a purely emotional level, I have to admit they are extremely clever.

The title track "Waterloo Lily" is an example of some great song-writing. There are two catchy verses of singing in the first minute then the chorus leaves a bit to be desired. Luckily the song is done with singing until the final minute. After the chorus is done there are two parts of instrumental music. The first takes us to the halfway point in the song and this is the first time I give Caravan a pat on the back. If you listen to any 5-second clip from the first instrumental then are transported to any random part in the first instrumental, you will undoubtedly be able to say that you are listening to "Waterloo Lily." By itself that is probably the most basic thing any song is meant to do. However, add the fact that the music never repeats itself. It's in a constant dance around the main "Waterloo Lily" theme and it never takes the same step twice. I'm really blown away by this and I can't think of any other song that does something like this. The second part of the instrumental also forces me to congratulate Caravan. It starts off slow and quiet and is only identifiable as music. Then the music picks and narrows to the Canterbury genre, then narrows down further to Caravan and finally narrows down to "Waterloo Lily." This leads us right into a verse followed by a chorus to end the song. 8/10

Next, if I have but one song to congratulate Caravan on, it would be this one. "Nothing at All" is an instrumental and I will issue a *SPOILER ALERT* for upcoming cleverness that actually made me smile. This starts off with a lovely bass line that is our guide in this jazzy improv-sounding instrumental. "Nothing at All" is probably something along the lines of what you would expect if you were told "Canterbury-styled improv." Somewhere around 4:00-4:30 the music started to sound like it was leaving its world of improve and was heading in a direction. The next 30 seconds sounded like the music kept on getting distracted from its goal. At this point I checked the song info and saw "Nothing at All" was broken into movements. The first being "Nothing at All," an apt description of what just happened, and I was then listening to "It's Coming Soon," which at that moment was nothing more than a nice, soft jazzy piano piece. I then saw what the final movement was. "Nothing at All (Reprise)." I smiled thinking "Oh Caravan. Your song title is so tongue-in-cheek. You aren't going to deliver the ending that was glimpsed at the end of the first movement. I'm just going to listen to 'nothing at all' at the end." However I was misled again. With 3:15 left to go in the song, the music took a radical departure from the previous movement (which had evolved to a less jazzy piano-centric piece with some bass and light percussion peppered in) and even the first movement. It would seem as though I would get the ending I had been longing for and had often changed my mind on whether it was coming or not. Anyway, "Nothing at All (Reprise)" finishes out the song without really sounding like the first part of the entire instrumental (at least until the final minute rolls around). So anyway this song is a lot of fun. 9/10 for getting me to fall into their trap many times.

"Songs and Signs" starts out as a light-hearted mellow song. It shares some similarities with "Waterloo Lily" because the singing only happens during the first and last bit of the song (in this case about 40 seconds on each end). The instrumental bridge ups the level of complexity a bit while still maintaining a playful tone. While this may be the most complex of the 3-4 minute songs on this album it's easily the weakest track on the album. 5/10

"Aristocracy" keeps the same light-heartedness as the previous song but at a faster tempo. If I had to pick one word to describe this song it would be 'bouncy.' I feel like this could have been a hit on the radio sometime during the '60s because the Canterbury sound often blurs with the psychedelic music from that time. Not a whole lot goes on here but it's still pleasant to listen to. 6/10

"The Love in Your Eye" is the longest, most varied and adventurous song on Waterloo Lily. With all members taking their turns in the spotlight with at least one solo per band member (flute included!), this song undoubtedly fits the description of prog. There are strings, trumpets and other instruments gracing this mini-epic which takes a Canterbury approach to the popular symphonic prog style. If I had to convince someone to buy Waterloo Lily with just one song, "The Love in Your Eye" would be my ace in the hole. 9/10

"The World is Yours" rounds out this album on a good note. In mood, tone, and simplicity it's quite similar to "Aristocracy." Maybe not the greatest way to praise a prog song, but it's easily my second favorite on the album. However, as this is a review for a prog album I feel like it would be immoral to objectively rate this high. 6/10

I don't like to be on the border between star-ratings but this album had me sitting on the fence for quite some time. Three songs on here are quite poppy with few prog characteristics. They're all good pop songs and one is even an excellent pop song. But these only make up 10 minutes of music while there are three great prog offerings that make up half an hour of music. The words that accompany the 3 star rating are "Good, but non-essential." That "non-essential" prevents me from giving it 4 stars, but this is probably the strongest 3 I could possibly award anything.

I like this album very much. I have a weak spot for it. And it doesn't matter how many times I listen to it, it stays fantastic. Maybe it is a bit less canterbury style than a few years before this one, and a bit softer, but it sounds o so sweet to my ears. There are many highlights, like the sing-along feeling in Feeling Alright and Let It Shine, the bass in top-form in Behind You, the feel-good dreamy vocals and guitar in Better By Far, the swinging silver Strings, the superb violin start and the bass-solo after 2.30 min of The Last Unicorn, the sexy female vocal screems (like on Pink Floyd's Dark side of the Moon) in Give Me More, the catchy keyboards from fellow dutchman Jan Schelhaas in Man In A Car, and the dreamy vocals, superb violin play and fantastic guitar solo on Nightmare. Give it a try and listen to it a few times, than you hopefully know what I mean.

Perfect big collection from best period of Caravan activity. Represents almost everything from 1968 to 1975, so you don't need from the band nothing else unless you're heavy Caravan collector.

The band itself if interesting and have many very melodic, pleasant and perfectly played songs. For me, Caravan always was a bit different from real Canterbury sound. I like Khan,Gong and ofter are waiting for almost jazz fusion sound. Caravan is different and in some moments are very folky. Even in long compositions, where jazz influence is more feelable, all sound is not jazzy relaxed, but more folky organised. It doesn't mean that the music is not good enough, just Caravan's sound is always a bit different from usual Canterbury sound.

Any way, this double album represents quite different trends in band's different albums,so you can choose, what you like more. For me in some moments songs sound as pure folk prog, in other there are a bit more improvisational freedom. But because of perfect melodies and strong musicianship, all the album is attractive for listening.

I have had a major battle with this album. I first thought it was something wrong with me. But no, I am fine. The problem is this album.

Caravan has arrived on their success formula on this, their second album. A mix of Wilde Flowers, jazz and pop. The Canterbury sound in other words. The opening song, the title track is cheesy as heck and more like a BBC jingle. That put me off. The rest of the album is thankfully more like a mix of pop and jazz; the Canterbury sound.

The music varies between whimsical pop and long improvised jazz pieces. Some of the tunes are pretty cheesy too. My gripe here is that I do not think the songs are as strong on this album as on the following albums. I directly dislike a couple of tunes here. I love the sound though. The bonus tracks are also not as strong as the original album. I therefore cannot give it four stars and I almost hate myself for talking bad about a band I really admire. Honesty hurts.

3.75 stars

This album was a sort of new depature. Richard Sinclair was gone and his cousin found his way back on keyboard. But it was all Pye Hastings. The sound is harder and the previous charm is gone. Instead we are served a soiid bunch of tunes, perfectly preformed with Richardson and Perry on board. But i do miss the charm of the old line up. But you still found some "Cantarbury style" tunes, most prominent on "The dog ..." This is a well produced and preformed album. It is a shame that Dave Sinclairs contribution is low key (he did not write anything for the band at this stage). and his classic organ is not at the front. For me, Caravan was at their top when they managed to mix solid performance and eclectic British humour!