{"id":19560,"date":"2020-09-22T05:30:34","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T09:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19560"},"modified":"2022-09-20T07:45:51","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T11:45:51","slug":"hello-hello-a-look-back-at-caravans-second-album-at-fifty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/22\/hello-hello-a-look-back-at-caravans-second-album-at-fifty\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello Hello: A Look Back at Caravan\u2019s Second Album (at Fifty)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Rock fans who bought LPs in the late \u201860s and early 1970s may recall that some labels made use of the records\u2019 inner sleeves as means to hype their other offerings. Certainly more elegant than the You-may-also-enjoy* hype that Capitol applied to back covers of Beatles LPs for a time, these full color inner sleeves often alerted music consumers to artists and titles they wouldn\u2019t otherwise know.<\/p>\n

Despite the labels\u2019 efforts (I won\u2019t say \u201cbest<\/i> efforts,\u201d because arguably they could have done more), many of the artists featured on those record sleeves failed to break through in the United States. One such band was Caravan. Exemplars of the Canterbury scene, the band\u2019s music was a heady and intriguing synthesis of rock, English folk, progressive and jazz, all combined in a wonderfully accessible package. Caravan earned a great deal of well-deserved critical acclaim, but that didn\u2019t translate into record sales in the States.<\/p>\n

After a well-received 1968 debut (the self-titled Caravan<\/i>, discussed here<\/a>), the gorup found itself momentarily adrift with the collapse of its original label. Happily, they were soon picked up by Decca (London in the U.S.) and returned with their second LP, 1970\u2019s If I Could Do It All Over Again, I\u2019d Do It All Over You<\/i>. (To save on typing, I\u2019ll subsequently refer to the record as Over Again<\/i>.)<\/p>\n

While the group \u2013 which is officially still together in 2020 \u2013 would experience numerous personnel comings-and-goings, Over Again<\/i> represents the second of three records made by the original lineup of Pye Hastings (guitar), Dave Sinclair (keys), Richard Sinclair (bass) and drummer Richard Coughlan.<\/p>\n

The album opens with the title track, a tune in which the band sounds very much like fellow Cantabrigians Soft Machine. The \u201crhythmic\u201d vocal line is in lockstep with the nonstandard time signature of the song, but the lyrics exist mostly as a means to draw listeners into what\u2019s essentially an instrumental workout. David Sinclair\u2019s trademark highly-distorted organ is at the heart of the piece; it sounds positively malevolent. The silliness of the repeated vocal phrase (\u201cWho do you think you are?\u201d) provides effective contrast with the knotty beat.<\/p>\n

Things turn far more in an ear-candy direction with the lilting \u201cAnd I Wish I Were Stoned \/ Don\u2019t Worry.\u201d Hastings\u2019 gentle vocals and a lilting beat (still nothing like 4\/4, mind you) characterize the number. Sinclair solos again, while Hastings plays a separate lead behind him, employing a very similar tone; it\u2019s easy to lose track of which instrument is which here. The second part of the tune \u2013 the \u201cDon\u2019t Worry\u201d section \u2013 is soaring prog rock with Hastings peeling off a lovely, if brief, solo. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he leads the band into a lovely and comparatively conventional piece of music. A memorable signature riff makes the tune something even more special. A brief (and somewhat ordinary) drum solo ends the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I Feel I Die\u201d is exceedingly quiet for its first two minutes; when it finally bursts forth, it suggests what it might sound like if Dave Brubeck had pursued a rock direction. Another stellar organ solo features a jazzier tone and character reminiscent of Brian Auger. Things gets delightfully distorted toward the track\u2019s finish.<\/p>\n

The next track debuts what would become a defining characteristic of Caravan\u2019s music: a suite of several songs\/movements, strung together. \u201cWith An Ear to the Ground You Can Make It \/ Martinian \/ Only Cox \/ Reprise\u201d runs nearly ten minutes, and distills all of Caravan\u2019s virtues into a single track. The \u201cYou Can Make It\u201d section, in particular feels like an embryonic version of the fully-realized \u201cNine Feet Underground\u201d to come on the group\u2019s third (and finest) album.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to overlook the contributions made by bassist Richard Sinclair; his is a subtle approach, anchoring the music and adding color to it, yet rarely calling attention to itself. But his bass work is never less than exemplary, and a close listen to this suite underscores that fact. Guest musician Jimmy Hastings (Pye\u2019s brother) turns in a lovely flute solo that evokes warm thoughts of Ian McDonald\u2019s work on 1971\u2019s underrated McDonald and Giles<\/i> LP. And Dave Sinclair\u2019s sparkling piano on the \u201cReprise\u201d section sounds quite a bit like Tony Banks\u2019 work on parts of Genesis\u2019 Selling England by the Pound<\/i> (1973).<\/p>\n

Side Two of Over Again<\/i> opens with \u201cHello Hello,\u201d a tune that\u2019s about as close as Caravan would (could?) come to a pop single. Another tricky time signature and some devilishly understated drum work from Coughlin are the song\u2019s defining features. That is, until Dave Sinclair\u2019s solos \u2013 interspersed with chorus vocals \u2013 take center stage. The tune ends with some playful bits of sonic mayhem.<\/p>\n

The very brief \u201cAsforteri\u201d has a gentle, medieval folk vibe, with countermelodic vocal lines and a swirling keyboard part. But it\u2019s merely a linking track to lead listeners into the album\u2019s centerpiece, the epic \u201cFor Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Richard\u201d starts out gently, with barely audible acoustic guitar strums, an uncluttered bass figure, and soothing nearly-wordless vocals. On the record, it\u2019s noted as a four-song suite: \u201cCan\u2019t Be Long Now \/ Fran\u00e7oise \/ For Richard \/ Warlock.\u201d A sweet flute part is joined by a gurgling bass line. Then all hell breaks loose, with a stinging, jazz-rock riff providing the bed upon which David Sinclair tears off one of his best-ever solos. Jimmy Hasting surprises by launching into a saxophone solo; the band provides hard-charging support.<\/p>\n

As effective as Side One\u2019s suite has been, \u201cFor Richard\u201d represents the band\u2019s finest moment so far. The tune continues to change and evolve; few bands pack so many worthwhile and memorable ideas into a single piece. Not a moment is wasted. Ten minutes in, Caravan reinvents itself into Deep Purple, with some of the heaviest organ riffage on record. That\u2019s followed by Hastings soloing on guitar in a manner more like what one would expect from Black Sabbath \u2026 if Sabbath had a jazz influence. Sinclair and Hasting play over one another, but it never gets messy. Coughlan is finally given the space to unleash his skills in a dazzling display, albeit in support of the overall tune. \u201cFor Richard\u201d ends on a showy note.<\/p>\n

And while that showy note sounds like the end of Over Again<\/i>, it\u2019s not. Another very brief track, the bossa nova flavored \u201cLimits\u201d seems to exist to remind listeners that Caravan is at its heart a sophisticated, jazz leaning outfit. It just happens to be one that can rock like mad when the occasion calls for it.<\/p>\n

Over Again<\/i> spawned material that would find a prominent place in Caravan\u2019s live repertoire for decades to come; \u201cFor Richard,\u201d in particular remains a fan favorite and appears on many of the band\u2019s (many) live albums. The most highly recommended of those, by the way, are the 2CD archival release The Show of our Lives: Caravan at the BBC 1968-1975<\/i> and the band-with-orchestra reading on Caravan and the New Symphonia<\/i> (1974).<\/p>\n

Decca released a single ahead of the album, \u201cHello Hello\u201d b\/w \u201cIf I Could Do It All Over Again, I\u2019d Do It All Over You.\u201d Like all of the tracks on Over Again<\/i>, the compositional credit for the pieces listed all four members of the group.<\/p>\n

Over Again<\/i> would get the expanded reissue treatment in 2001; a single-disc CD release featured four bonus tracks, including three demos and an outtake. The most notable of these is \u201cWhy?\u201d which is a very different early vocal version of \u201cAnd I Wish I Were Stoned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like its predecessor, Over Again<\/i> wasn\u2019t a major commercial success in the U.S. market. And while the band\u2019s commercial fortunes wouldn\u2019t change with the release of 1971\u2019s In the Land of Grey and <\/i>P<\/i>ink<\/i>, that landmark album would earn the status of a progressive rock milestone; Rolling Stone<\/em> pegged it at the #34 spot on its Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time list.<\/p>\n