REVIEWS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES
A great, great anthology.
This is a wonderful anthology of a fine UK band who thankfully never quite hit the big time, but plied a respectable trade nonetheless.
The band's trademarks are long, quirky tracks with sudden changes of tempo and mood, interspersed with fey, peculiarly English intonation and wordplay. Not a mix for the faint hearted, but when it works, it is memorable.
"Place of my own" is worth the price of the anthology alone. This track is an absolute classic, featuring a masterly, storming organ solo - one of the very best i've ever heard. And "Golf Girl" is another wonderfully quirky song.
Purists may grumble about what was included, but to a non hard-core fan's ears, it all sounds good to me. And exceptionally wellpriced!
Grab it.
nick g black (London, England United Kingdom) 5/5 27.07.2001 (AMAZON)
Shameful.
This as earlier reviewers have pointed out is not a complete anthology several key tracks are missing, Hoedown, Cthlu thlu, Be Alright/Chance of A Lifetime, Dabsong Conshirtoe (Wraikes and Ladders section), Here Am i, Oik Suite, All The Way and a few tracks post Blind Dog At St Dunstans, it should be pointed out that the albums onwards are difficult to obtain now, Better By Far, The Album, Back To Front, Cool Water are difficult to find, a few decent tracks from these would of been welcome. The Compilers of this anthology seem to be obsessed with the first 3 albums, which indeed are not the best, For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night, Cunning Stunts, And Waterloo Lily are what I consider to be the best. Your better off with getting the Canterbury Tales 1975 collection as some of these missing tracks notably Be Alright/Chance Of A Lifetime are included. Give this one a wide birth.
James D. (England) 1/5 11.08.2001 (AMAZON)
Not the best compilation by caravan.
In short, this is a dissapointment, i agree with earlier reviewers that numerous choices from the In the Land of Grey and Pink Album and If I Could Do It All Over Again are unfounded. Indeed these do hold some great tracks but nearly the entire lps are on this and its supposed to be a best of, Later material post 75 is missing, Blind Dog At St Dunstans was the last good album and deserved at least 2 cuts, Be Alright/Chance Of A Lifetime is an unforgivable ommision, ok Better By Far, The Album, Cool Water, Back To Front and Battle Of Hastings were not great but they all had their moments, The Fine Canterbury Tales came out before Blind Dog at St Dunstans, so no cuts from the later lps are forgiven as they had not yet surfaced. This came out in 2000, so there is no excuse, this is not a complete anthology, lets hope one will come soon, just look at ELOs Flashback Box Set to see how it should be done.
James D. (England) 1/5 11.08.2001 (AMAZON)
Oh dear.
This may include material from all caravan albums up to cunning stunts, but the brilliant Blind Dog At St Dunstans is omitted, who can understand the numerous choices from the dull, Land Of Grey And Pink, and failure to include Be Alright/Chance Of A Lifetime, another of their great compositions, I agree with others that their later releases were not that good, but Blind Dog At St Dunstans for me was their last great album I know others feel the same, this is not a Complete Anthology, give it a miss
A Customer 1/5 17.07.2001 (AMAZON)
Fine overview of the bands most popular period.
I cannot agree with the last reviewer of this collection. To leave out any of the chosen tracks in favour of later material from "Blind Dog at St Dunstans" etc would have been a travesty. In fact if a third disc had been tagged on with the later material it would only have weakened the overall package on offer. "Cunning Stunts" arguably saw a tailing off in quality but subsequent releases were little short of embarrassing and I would not swap a single track from this commection for anything post 1975.
What is included are the pick of Caravan's back catalogue, presented in pristine, remastered quality and a couple of rarities chucked in. Obviously with there being only two discs available someone's favorite will be left off - In the Land of Grey and Pink for example is chock full of classics so the omission of certain key tracks is inevitable if nonetheless painful.
I would also have liked to have seen the "Can't be Long Now/Francoise/For Richard/Warlock" suite included rather than the New Symphonia version of "For Richard". One further omission is "Be all Right/Chance of a Lifetime" off "Girls who Grow Plump..." but, again, time constraints have presumably applied.
For anybody who wants a convenient overview of Caravan's most productive period in two full length discs they could hardly go wrong here. The availability of the four crucial releases - "If I Could Do It All Over Again..", "Land of Grey and Pink", "Girls Who Grow Plump..." and "New Symphonia" in remastered and extended form may, however, give some pause for thought and I would probably choose to buy those ahead of this package. Decisions Decisions...
A Customer 4/5 13.04.2001 (AMAZON)
Something Missing
I have most of Caravans Albums, and while this collection is good it is not comprehensive enough, where are C Thlu Thlu and The Dabsong Conshirtoe for example, also the criminal absence of Here Am I and The Oik Suite from Blind Dog At St Dunstans, no selections either from Better By Far, surely The Last Unicorn and the title track are worthy of a place on here. The Album is also bypassed over, Heartbreaker and Watcha Gonna Tell Me should be included. No selections from Back To Front which included the excellent, Back To Herne Bay Front and the Epic Proper Job/Back To Front suite, plus the great Sally Dont Change It. Cool Water from later sessions is also nowhere to be seen, as the Title Track, Just The Way You Are and Ansaphone would also be most appreciated, and then obviously a few cuts from the final outing, Battle Of Hastings a fine return to form, sad sad afair, this time and wendy wants another 6 inch mole would be the obvious choices. I cant slate this release as all the stuff on here is great but whats the point of an anthology if you only cover half the bands career, go figure.
A Customer 3/5 04.04.2001 (AMAZON)
An excellent collection of Caravan's finest work., 12 Nov. 2000
Caravan make music which doesn't appeal to everyone, but their afficionados tend to just love them! They have a unique and very English sound. They combine quirky lyrics with complex and beautiful tunes. They sometimes produce driving rock, but more often play gentle music which weaves a delicate and intricate tapestry. They have been recording music for 32 years, and have, of course, produced a diversity of music over this period. For most of their fans, it is their early work which is most distinctive, defining the 'Caravan Sound'. Not only does this double-CD contain all the band's best-loved songs from their first five Decca albums ( "Nine FeetUnderground", "A Hunting We Shall Go", "And I Wish I Were Stoned", "Where But For Caravan Would I", "Winter Wine" and the New Symphonia live version of "For Richard"), but also a few previously unavailable gems: a previously unreleased song, from the "If I Could do it Again, I'd do it All Over You" sessions, entitled "A Day In The Life Of Maurice Haylett", which has fine singing from Pye Hasings and a superb organ solo by Dave Sinclair, all in the classic Caravan vein; also of note are versions of "Golf Girl" and "Love To Love You" with additional flute playing from the inimitable Jimmy Hastings. Also appreciated are mono mixes of the four best songs from the debut album, which because of the weird stereo panning of the original LP, I find nicer than the original mixes. All in all, the perfect starting point for a Caravan collection for anyone who doesn't yet have all the individual albums (which will be reissued in the coming months with a wealth of bonus material).
A Customer 5/5 12.11.2000 (AMAZON)
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