CARAVAN

Like Soft Machine, Caravan came about as the result of the split of Canterbury band The Wilde Flowers, the band that spawned the so called Canterbury scene, a scene which most of the musicians playing in that area at the time deny even existed.

Caravan's eponymous debut while showing promise doesn't bear much resemblance to the quirky progressive style they would become better known for in the near future. It's an album of the time, that being 1968 and the blend of psychedelic pop/rock like many albums of the era does sound somewhat dated. Nevertheless it's enjoyable enough the 2 best tracks book ending the album at start and finish. Place Of My Own is an instantly accessible and melodic organ driven rock song but it's closing track Where But For Caravan Would I? that shows promise of what was to come. Starting off somewhat restrained it develops over its 9 minutes into a psychedelic fuelled mini epic with David Sinclair's organ taking centre stage.

Overall then Caravan debut is far from essential but a pleasant enough way to pass 40 minutes and an album that anyone who's already investigated their better known work will want to come too eventually.