CARAVAN

Caravan's debut studio album shows the first seeds of the band's unique sound, but is equally rooted in tranquil mid-1960s pop. In this sense, the atmosphere of tracks such as "Place of My Own" is reminiscent of the tracks on sister band The Soft Machine's "Jet Propelled Photographs" demo from 1967, suggesting that both bands had been soaking in similar influences since their founder members had been working together in the Wilde Flowers, but by this point in time the Soft Machine had developed their own distinctive voice, whereas Caravan are still working towards theirs. That said, there's plenty of pointers towards what's to come: in particular, "Cecil Runs" reminds me of all the more foreboding parts of "Nine Feet Underground" or "C'thlu Thlu". If you are a Caravan fan who has already collected their classic albums (from If I Could Do It All Over Again I'd Do It All Over You to For Girls Who Grow Plump In the Night), I think their debut is definitely worth checking out before any of their later works, but I wouldn't call it a major priority.