Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Caravan - If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You






Let's start listening to some progressive rock. Caravan belongs to the Canterbury scene, which had its own sound at the time.
Excellent album that reaches its peak with the 14 minute suite "Can't Be Long Now-Francoise-For Richard-Warlock".
Trust me, listen to this :)

"A wonderful album that improves upon the debut by leaps and bounds, Caravan's sophomore effort contrasts nicely with what fellow Canterburians Soft Machine did on their own second album released a few months earlier; both come highly recommended. Both bands engage in what was at the time described as "jazz-rock," although Caravan's use of jazz only extends so far as to what they could synthesize with more traditional rock and folk song elements. Soft Machine's jazz influences were more total and more experimental. In hindsight, Caravan's second album sounds more like progressive rock whereas Soft Machine's sounds more like experimental jazz. What makes this album so pleasing is the way in which the band merges considerable improvisational technique with an accomplished ability for melodic development. Thus, for fans of jazz and rock, the band gives you the best of both worlds on large portions of this record. Probably the best example of this is the second track, 'And I Wish I Were Stoned/Don't Worry' where the band packs half an album's worth of melodies into an 8.5-minute suite. Although the entire album is full of great ensemble playing, it is the organ of David Sinclair that most noticeably asserts itself and indeed functions as the glue that holds everything together on this record. Not particularly complex for a progressive rock album, 'If I Could...' is an excellent example of how great band synergy can provide music of substantial interest for fans of progressive music. This is one of Caravan's career highpoints." - http://www.progreviews.com



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