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Music : If I Could Do It All Over Again I'd Do It All Over You
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Rating: 
- Brilliant, singular and uplifting
Although its follow-up '...Grey and Pink' is more frequently hailed as the best Caravan album, I personally prefer this, their second effort. Though I'm not too well-versed in their mid-1970s period (my preference seems to have wandered off towards Hatfield & The North with Richard Sinclair and his bass guitar) I still say this with some confidence. '...Grey and Pink' is more streamlined and features a more mature approach to constructing the pop hooks that never fail to reel people in, but '...Do It All Over Again' has a far better structure and flow to it, faring much better as a listening experience and unhindered by the logistical difficulties of trying to tastefully dump a vast, side-long epic into its duration.
The melodies and chord progressions are light years away from the jazzy complexities the Canterbury scene had to offer by 1974 and beyond, but many are sweet and beautiful in their own right and instantly memorable. They are easily traceable to the simple, naive charms of the psychedelic pop scene that Caravan themselves began as part of. Jimmy Hastings again makes his presence felt on the classic 'For Richard' suite, providing the excellent brass & woodwind touches that livened up several excellent albums of the era. Elsewhere, the pairing of Pye Hastings and Richard Sinclair was never more equal and more sensitive to each other's vocal and compositional strengths than herein, making this arguably the most balanced album ever to feature these two distinctive musicians.
It's a very breezy listen, full of excellent musicianship and still rooted in the late 60s British psych-pop scene, making it a decent companion piece to an album like Soft Machine's 'Volume Two'. The genre, along with the bands themselves, grew upwards and outwards at an alarming rate after 1970, and while there's certainly a great deal of value in the complexities and jazzy intimidation of later-period bands like National Health, this album has a charming and well-balanced nature that you'd be hard pushed to find an equal to.
Rating:
- Obscure and complex
Something has provoked me to write a review of this, the first I've done in ages - I think that 'something' is the complexity of an album that entirely failed to be what I expected it to be when I bought it. Prior to getting it, I had heard only 'In the Land of Grey and Pink', which became an instant favourite. I confess to having expected more of the same, but 'If I Could Do It All Over Again...' is not the same at all.
As yet I have only listened to it a few times, it's true, but at the corresponding stage of my aquaintance with 'Grey and Pink' I had got a handle on Caravan's "English", "pastoral", "progressive" sound (words which come up a lot in the other reviews), and fallen utterly in love with it - but 'All Over Again' still feels strange to me at the moment. Superficially it may be similar to 'Grey and Pink', but the music is wilder, and the sweetness far more bitter, leaving me disoriented. The bitty, fragmented nature of the album is also proving an obstacle to really getting into it and exploring it from the inside.
I was very surprised to look at the reviews and find no real acknowledgement of the very different groove 'All Over Again' cuts to that other acknowledged classic album: in fact, the terminology being used is mostly the same: Englishness, pastoral, etc. While technically this album is as brilliant as 'Grey and Pink', the sad and frightening songs here are just that, sad and frightening, with none of the comforting distance and nostalgia that made 'Grey and Pink' so winning; the hazy beauty of the Land has been replaced by a rather sinister murk. I don't agree at all that what you see on the cover, you get on the inside - this seems to me to be presenting a rather darker side of 'Englishry'. And I don't agree at all that it's 'pastoral', either - the organ and guitar solos are too heavy for that.
I don't whether this is just a fault of the CD release as opposed to the original vinyl, but I also found this to be very strangely mixed - the quiet bits are too quiet, making the louder bits relatively too loud, and the vocals are unusually hard to hear, adding another layer of difficulty to the listener's attempts to enjoy this as whole-heartedly as 'In the Land of Grey and Pink'.
All told then, this has been so far unrewarding, measured against my expectations after the easy-as-pie brilliance of 'Grey and Pink', and I would guess that it is perhaps not the ideal place to start with Caravan - although not having heard the rest of their catalogue (I wasn't around at the time!) I can't say how typical or otherwise this is. I have been assuming that 'In the Land of Grey and Pink' sums them up - in many ways, this one sounds more like the Strawbs.
Rating: - Sublime!
If 'In The Land Of Grey And Pink' hadn't been the first Caravan album that I ever bought, hence being my first exposure to the music of this wonderful band, then almost certainly this would have been my favourite album of theirs. A beautiful set of melodic and memorable tracks awaits the keen listener to this album, being very 'English' sounding (along the lines of early Genesis albums, if you're not familiar with the concept of 'English' sounding music), and an important addition to the class of early prog rock music. These guys, along with many other musicians of the era, didn't know the meaning of the words 'filler tracks', so you won't find any here; every one counts, and in the best way possible. I'd pick out And I Wish I Were Stoned and Hello Hello as my personal favourites, both being very memorable and easy to get into. I'm so glad I've finally discovered this band, and for sure, I'll be playing their music regularly for the rest of my days. A must buy!!
Rating: - Interesting period piece by Canterbury's finest
What an interesting album. Unlike some others, I prefer this to their later album 'Land of Pink & Grey', which is also great, but somehow doesn't have the quirky Englishness of the period this has. The word 'pastoral' is bandied about when discussing this album (and those like it) which is odd, as the definition of pastoral is 'describes literature, art and music which depicts the life of shepherds, often in a highly idealised manner'; not really what's going on here, but one could imagine it sort of fits. Interesting time signatures, some wonderful keyboards and flute parts and very English vocals all add up to a heady mix of the late 60s progressive style. Progressive (or 'prog' as it has now been dubbed) has had a sticky ride since punk in the 70s appeared. Again, strange it has not managed to shake it off as many like aspects of this genre, and indeed, like all genres of music, it contains good, mediocre and poor interpretations of it. This I would say is a good version, if a little twee in places. That said, it was original at the time and is still highly entertaining and pleasant. Very Autumnal in feel, I highly recommend a listening.
Rating: - Doing it Englishly
Caravan found their voice on this, their second album. Brimming with ideas and three of their extended 'medleys' (though it isn't always clear where the divisions are) the album is typically gentle, with a sense of humour and well-being. Rather than grabbing the listener by the throat, the opening track has a 'how do you do' feel to it. This is just a limbering-up for the weightier 'And I Wish I Were Stoned', the first of their great extended tracks. 'With An Ear To The Ground' and 'Can't Be Long Now' are just as impressive if not as immediate. The shorter tracks in between are just as important, however, with 'Hello Hello' the stand-out. Three of the four bonuses are merely demos of album tracks, but the original is a worthwhile purchase on its own. Possibly their best album, though their next release, 'In The Land Of Grey And Pink,' rivals it.
- Brilliant, singular and upliftingAlthough its follow-up '...Grey and Pink' is more frequently hailed as the best Caravan album, I personally prefer this, their second effort. Though I'm not too well-versed in their mid-1970s period (my preference seems to have wandered off towards Hatfield & The North with Richard Sinclair and his bass guitar) I still say this with some confidence. '...Grey and Pink' is more streamlined and features a more mature approach to constructing the pop hooks that never fail to reel people in, but '...Do It All Over Again' has a far better structure and flow to it, faring much better as a listening experience and unhindered by the logistical difficulties of trying to tastefully dump a vast, side-long epic into its duration.
The melodies and chord progressions are light years away from the jazzy complexities the Canterbury scene had to offer by 1974 and beyond, but many are sweet and beautiful in their own right and instantly memorable. They are easily traceable to the simple, naive charms of the psychedelic pop scene that Caravan themselves began as part of. Jimmy Hastings again makes his presence felt on the classic 'For Richard' suite, providing the excellent brass & woodwind touches that livened up several excellent albums of the era. Elsewhere, the pairing of Pye Hastings and Richard Sinclair was never more equal and more sensitive to each other's vocal and compositional strengths than herein, making this arguably the most balanced album ever to feature these two distinctive musicians.
It's a very breezy listen, full of excellent musicianship and still rooted in the late 60s British psych-pop scene, making it a decent companion piece to an album like Soft Machine's 'Volume Two'. The genre, along with the bands themselves, grew upwards and outwards at an alarming rate after 1970, and while there's certainly a great deal of value in the complexities and jazzy intimidation of later-period bands like National Health, this album has a charming and well-balanced nature that you'd be hard pushed to find an equal to.
Rating:
- Obscure and complexSomething has provoked me to write a review of this, the first I've done in ages - I think that 'something' is the complexity of an album that entirely failed to be what I expected it to be when I bought it. Prior to getting it, I had heard only 'In the Land of Grey and Pink', which became an instant favourite. I confess to having expected more of the same, but 'If I Could Do It All Over Again...' is not the same at all.
As yet I have only listened to it a few times, it's true, but at the corresponding stage of my aquaintance with 'Grey and Pink' I had got a handle on Caravan's "English", "pastoral", "progressive" sound (words which come up a lot in the other reviews), and fallen utterly in love with it - but 'All Over Again' still feels strange to me at the moment. Superficially it may be similar to 'Grey and Pink', but the music is wilder, and the sweetness far more bitter, leaving me disoriented. The bitty, fragmented nature of the album is also proving an obstacle to really getting into it and exploring it from the inside.
I was very surprised to look at the reviews and find no real acknowledgement of the very different groove 'All Over Again' cuts to that other acknowledged classic album: in fact, the terminology being used is mostly the same: Englishness, pastoral, etc. While technically this album is as brilliant as 'Grey and Pink', the sad and frightening songs here are just that, sad and frightening, with none of the comforting distance and nostalgia that made 'Grey and Pink' so winning; the hazy beauty of the Land has been replaced by a rather sinister murk. I don't agree at all that what you see on the cover, you get on the inside - this seems to me to be presenting a rather darker side of 'Englishry'. And I don't agree at all that it's 'pastoral', either - the organ and guitar solos are too heavy for that.
I don't whether this is just a fault of the CD release as opposed to the original vinyl, but I also found this to be very strangely mixed - the quiet bits are too quiet, making the louder bits relatively too loud, and the vocals are unusually hard to hear, adding another layer of difficulty to the listener's attempts to enjoy this as whole-heartedly as 'In the Land of Grey and Pink'.
All told then, this has been so far unrewarding, measured against my expectations after the easy-as-pie brilliance of 'Grey and Pink', and I would guess that it is perhaps not the ideal place to start with Caravan - although not having heard the rest of their catalogue (I wasn't around at the time!) I can't say how typical or otherwise this is. I have been assuming that 'In the Land of Grey and Pink' sums them up - in many ways, this one sounds more like the Strawbs.
Rating:
- Sublime!If 'In The Land Of Grey And Pink' hadn't been the first Caravan album that I ever bought, hence being my first exposure to the music of this wonderful band, then almost certainly this would have been my favourite album of theirs. A beautiful set of melodic and memorable tracks awaits the keen listener to this album, being very 'English' sounding (along the lines of early Genesis albums, if you're not familiar with the concept of 'English' sounding music), and an important addition to the class of early prog rock music. These guys, along with many other musicians of the era, didn't know the meaning of the words 'filler tracks', so you won't find any here; every one counts, and in the best way possible. I'd pick out And I Wish I Were Stoned and Hello Hello as my personal favourites, both being very memorable and easy to get into. I'm so glad I've finally discovered this band, and for sure, I'll be playing their music regularly for the rest of my days. A must buy!!
Rating:
- Interesting period piece by Canterbury's finestWhat an interesting album. Unlike some others, I prefer this to their later album 'Land of Pink & Grey', which is also great, but somehow doesn't have the quirky Englishness of the period this has. The word 'pastoral' is bandied about when discussing this album (and those like it) which is odd, as the definition of pastoral is 'describes literature, art and music which depicts the life of shepherds, often in a highly idealised manner'; not really what's going on here, but one could imagine it sort of fits. Interesting time signatures, some wonderful keyboards and flute parts and very English vocals all add up to a heady mix of the late 60s progressive style. Progressive (or 'prog' as it has now been dubbed) has had a sticky ride since punk in the 70s appeared. Again, strange it has not managed to shake it off as many like aspects of this genre, and indeed, like all genres of music, it contains good, mediocre and poor interpretations of it. This I would say is a good version, if a little twee in places. That said, it was original at the time and is still highly entertaining and pleasant. Very Autumnal in feel, I highly recommend a listening.
Rating:
- Doing it EnglishlyCaravan found their voice on this, their second album. Brimming with ideas and three of their extended 'medleys' (though it isn't always clear where the divisions are) the album is typically gentle, with a sense of humour and well-being. Rather than grabbing the listener by the throat, the opening track has a 'how do you do' feel to it. This is just a limbering-up for the weightier 'And I Wish I Were Stoned', the first of their great extended tracks. 'With An Ear To The Ground' and 'Can't Be Long Now' are just as impressive if not as immediate. The shorter tracks in between are just as important, however, with 'Hello Hello' the stand-out. Three of the four bonuses are merely demos of album tracks, but the original is a worthwhile purchase on its own. Possibly their best album, though their next release, 'In The Land Of Grey And Pink,' rivals it.