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For those of you who don't know Caravan, they're an english band from the Canterbury area. If you know british psychedelia/prog/avant history, you'll know that the Canterbury Scene is it's own movement that gave birth to many peculiar bands like Soft Machine, Gong, National Health, Camel and Hatfield and the North. A very wide variety makes the canterbury sound kinda hard to pin down, but it started roughly as a sort of jazzy psychedelia that picked up prog and other influences into the 70s. The one proto Canterbury band formed back in '64 was the "Wilde Flowers". This band broke up in 1967 and while some of the members formed Soft Machine, ex-Wilde Flowers members David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan would go on to form Caravan. While Soft Machine and many others would go down the less accessible road of extended jazzy jams and avant-garde influences, Caravan would take folk-jazz-influenced psychedelia and over time move it in a more pop/rock direction.
As a result, Caravan may be the best entry point into Canterbury there is. They're fairly accessible and thoroughly charming. During an interview for the prog rock briannia documentary, Richard Coughlan said they were writing songs outside in the sun and living off girlfriends. They also tried to be as british as they could and listening to Caravan, some of those beautiful Canterbury landscapes and warm summer days infuse the music. They often wrote about things they loved like drugs (sometimes cleverly disguised in the lyrics as "tea") and sex, although always subtle and tongue in cheek rather than obvious and vulgar.
Their earlier albums before they descend into a more pure pop/rock direction are the most appreciated. Their widely regarded masterpiece is the 1971 "In the Land of Grey and Pink" which is often regarded as the quintessential Cantebury album.
Here I've listed their discography with links to on-site album reviews if they exist. I'll also give you spotify links
Green Bottles for Marjorie: The Lost BBC Sessions (2002)
Live at Fairfield Halls, 1974 (2002)
The Show of Our Lives - Caravan at the BBC 1968-1975 (2007) - Listen to it on : Spotify
So what's your favourite Caravan album? I love In the Land of Grey and Pink, but my favourite is 1973 album For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night. It's a bit rockier than their previous albums and is like the perfect mix of prog and pop/rock.
Here's a vid of the most famous song from that album, "The Dog, The Dog, It's at It Again"!
The Official Caravan Thread
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