CARAVAN

A definate product of the times. Caravan's first album is pysch all the way, but their whimsical Canterbury sound is just under the surface. The first song, 'Place of My Own' is catchy as hell, and their first single. The following songs are very Pink Floydish, ala Syd Barret, especially 'Cecil Rons' an absolute crazy pysch song. 'Love Song With Flute' has Pye Hastings brother Jimmy playing the flute, it's one of the most beautiful flute solos I've ever heard and to think it was done on the spot without practice! Being a HUGE fan of David Sinclair's keyboards, his playing is the highlight for me. Being sinister sounding, 'Cecil Rons', or whimsical, 'Policeman' or downright ornery, the album closer and epic 'Where But For Caravan Would I?' you hear the seeds planted for the groundbreaking and classic Canterbury albums to follow. But be warned, this is psych/prog. For those looking for that classic Caravan sound you may be disappointed. But if you are adventurous, and want to hear how they sounded way back when, give it a try. BTW, if you buy the re-mastered version, you get both stereo and mono. The mono, to me, sounds better. The stereo versions need to be cranked up a bit. Parts of the songs seemed to get washed out at low volume.