WATERLOO LILY

Caravan

Canterbury Scene

3.77 | 663 ratings

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ster

Different but still excellent.

Caravan did a great job cultivating such a great sound from their debut to their third album, In The Land Of Gray And Pink. This was due to a stable lineup and great contributions from all members. After ITLOGAP failed to become the commercial success they had hoped, keyboardist David Sinclair left and was replaced by Steve Miller. Newcomer Steve Miller brought a more jazzy influence that was contrary to guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Pye Hastings style. The sound of the band changed since Miller sounded nothing like David Sinclair and bassist/vocalist/songwriter Richard Sinclair was very accepting of the new direction. Now the band were at odds and the album has an obvious contrast of styles. Waterloo Lily is a bit of a let-down because it sounds different from its predecessors but is still a great record in its own right.

Waterloo Lily is a rock tune with some jazzy chops. Hilarious lyrics and great playing. An excellent song and a Canterbury classic.

Nothing At All /It's Coming Soon / Nothing At All is an instrumental that starts off with a jam that maybe overstays its welcome by a few bars, very monotonous. Mid-tempoed with plenty of improvised soloing along a related riff, but the "It's Coming Soon" section makes up for it with its great melodies, variations and dynamics.

Songs And Signs is a shorter piece penned by newcomer Steve Miller. Very melodic with great vocals. Great tune.

Aristocracy is a Pye Hastings song that doesn't disappoint. A leftover from the Gray and Pink sessions. A fun poppish song although the version on the deluxe version of ITLOGAP is better IMO.

The Love In Your Eye / To Catch Me A Brother / Subsultus / Debouchement / Tilbury Kecks is the epic on the album and one of Caravan's great moments. Great melodies with a backdrop of brass and Jimmy Hastings excellent flute playing. The tune then morphs into a jam not too different than the second track but little better and maybe a little too long. Still an excellent track with lots of variation.

The World Is Yours is an acoustic Hastings penned tune that's nice but kind of weird that they chose this to end the album.

ster | 4/5 | 2016-11-18

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