A hunting we shall go (Caravan) (LP 2159 - 2162)

Caravan  For Girls Who Grow Plump In the Night (CD, Decca Records, 1973) ****  

Caravan  Live at The Fairfield Halls, 1974 (CD, Decca Records, 2002) ****  

Caravan  Cunning Stunts (CD, Decca Records, 1973) ****  

Caravan  All Over You...Too (CD, HGT Records, 1999) ***  

Genre: Prog rock

Places I remember: Fopp; HMV; Fives

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: For Richard (Live at The Fairfield Halls, 1974)

Gear costume: L'Auberge Du Sanglier/ A Hunting We Shall Go/ Pengota/ Backwards/ A Hunting We Shall Go (reprise) (For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night); Stuck In A Hole (Cunning Stunts)

Active compensatory factors: Now this is what a true progressive rock band should sound like!

That the band whose first album was in 1969 is still going strong in the 2020's and that the quality is still first class is quite extraordinary. But that's the case for Caravan. True legends.

These albums from their seventies to nineties are stunning in their consistency.

Plump in the Night and Cunning Stunts show the band exploring new sounds with purpose. This is via delivering short concise songs or lengthy song suites with wig outs aplenty (as featured above).

The live album and bonus tracks on these CDs show a band firing on all cylinders in that context. The live versions of For Richard are unbelievably intense, but they can change mood completely and continue the sound from In The Land Of Grey and Pink (that 5 star album was reviewed earlier).

All Over You...Too is a compilation of the nineties version of Caravan reworking some favourites to excellent effect.

Where do they all belong? 2021's effort - It's None Of Your Business was reviewed here.

Luna's tuna (Caravan) (LP 2074)

Caravan  It's None Of Your Business  (Vinyl, Kadfish Records, 2021) ****  

Genre: Prog 

Places I remember: Fopp (London)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Wishing You Were Here

Gear costume: Down From London

Active compensatory factors: I can't think of many sixties bands (their first album came out in 1969) still putting out records this good in the 2020s.

Although many would argue their peak period was the seventies, they have put out an album or two every decade since then. That's remarkable, and so is the quality.

Pye Hastings (the only original member left) and Geoffrey Richardson have been the mainstays but the other musicians are fully onboard with the Caravan sound.

Where do they all belong? A fine addition to the vinyl prog collection - sits happily next to In The Land of Grey and Pink.

Winter wine (Caravan) (LP 744)

Caravan  In The Land Of Grey And Pink (Vinyl, Deram, 1971) *****

Genre: Progressive rock

Places I remember: About 20 years ago, a colleague at Cambridge High School gave me his copy.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: In The Land Of Grey And Pink

Gear costume: Golf Girl

Active compensatory factors: The space and light in these songs is unique to time and place - the early seventies Canterbury prog scene (kind of debunked as a 'scene' in Mike Barnes' A New Day Yesterday but a handy way of positioning bands like Caravan).

First track Golf Girl sets out the band's 1971 wares brilliantly as a whimsical story and sounds float and curl around a gentle beat. The rest of the album builds on that start and if these medieval folk/jazzy /rock sounds don't do it for you you don't like prog.

Me? I really love this stuff. Caravan never really sounded like this again as this was their last album with this particular lineup, so it is an ideal snapshot.

Where do they all belong? A cornerstone of my prog collection.