Caravan
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Music Lounge
Forum Description: General progressive music discussions
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2998
Printed Date: February 14 2025 at 21:14
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Topic: Caravan
Posted By: vwcamper
Subject: Caravan
Date Posted: January 13 2005 at 09:45
| Caravan can anyone tell me why they weren’t as successful as say Genesis as I rate them up there with Procol Harum and Yes. Could it be down to bad management? |
Replies:
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:51
| Musically more quirky? Perhaps Caravan's vocalists (e.g. Richard Sinclair) had less charisma than Peter Gabriel? Different record labels will have different publicity machines and Charisma were more effective than Deram/Decca - the label which turned down the Beatles!!!! But Genesis wasn't successful (at least financial) until Selling England. Caravan like a number of Canterbury bands were probably more successful in mainland Europe. And then there could have been a prevailing hippy attitude, where success and heaps of cash were less important to playing the music.............However, I think to some extent they were over-shadowed by friends and fellow Canterbury scene band Soft Machine in the early 70's - but even Soft Machine never made money - as the forthcoming Machine biography will reveal and one of many reasons why members often did session work to make ends meet. |
Posted By: oliverstoned
Date Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:56
|
yes, Caravan is a wonderful band, they embodie the Canterbury sound.
Their two opus :"if i could do it" and "in the land" are masterpieces. Unfortunately, they turn bad at the end of the 70's |
Posted By: Man Erg
Date Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:57
|
People seemed to like a gimmick in the 70's.Gabriel had one with his dressing-up box,Caravan relied on the music and the music alone.Not decrying Genesis' musical talents ,that couldn't be farther from the truth,but an observation nonetheless.Many other prog bands without gimmicks became more successful.Maybe a constantly changing line-up didn't help ,but then again,Yes saw quite a few of those. ------------- 
Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb. |
Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: January 13 2005 at 14:53
|
Caravan nearly broke through, they had a surprise hit single in the UK with "If I could do it all over again, I'd do it all over you". They were probably just a touch too jazzy for mainstream rockers, and a touch too rock for jazzers! They're something of an acquired taste for many people, but certainly well worth the effort. By the way, aren't Caravans and VWCampers mutually exclusive? |
Posted By: chorus of one
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 00:26
| I have 'In The Land Of Grey And Pink' and I'm a little confused why it's considered a prog classic. Nine Feet Underground is a wonderful song, the rest to me seem just 'good'...Love To Love You and Golf Girl for example, enjoyable tunes, but I would have thought they were much too simple and poppy for your average progger. Hmm... |
Posted By: oliverstoned
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 03:00
|
I've got a Caravan CD: "song from Oblivion fishermen" which features a fantastic version of "Nine feet...".
the sound is unfortunately poor, making it rather a document. the point is that the drumming has nothing to do with the studio version. It's much more dynamic, virtuose, the overall sound is much psychedelic. On the studio version, it seems that they have choosed to sound more "pop", and the drumming is more "binary"... |
Posted By: Nerevar
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 05:47
Well, keep in mind that if you compare a lot of prog sub-genres to symphonic prog rock, they might pale in complexity and grandeur. You might have seen the discussion about whether DSOTM is prog or not, because it lacks complexity or variations in time signatures etc. Fruitless discussions really... But if you check out the definition to Caravan's sub-genre of prog, Canterbury, you'll see it fits quite nicely.  ------------- "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy." |
chorus of one wrote:Posted By: chorus of one
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 07:29
Oh I'm not one to care too much about complexity, I was just surprised when I heard it. I was expecting it to be more along the lines of other Canterbury I'd heard, but it sounded a bit different. Still a nice album, I prefer Hatfield though. |
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 07:36
| Played I Wished I were Stoned last night on my radioshow from If ICould Do It All Over Again..." - the very title giving the clue that here is band who haven't given up on their hippiness and underground starting point, so musically in transition from late psychedelia to prog rock - but as somebody has pointed out- typical Canterbury of the time. |
Posted By: bokal
Date Posted: January 18 2005 at 07:28
|
You have choose a nice song, one of my favourites from Caravan! They were really a good band, but some changes in the line-up have changed also the music style after the first three album. I've got If I Could..., The LAnd Of and Waterloo Lily and the latest one is th elast exciting of the three. I think that they were good musicians with good songs, but not enought popular or charismatic to sell millions of copies. ------------- Space Stoned Rock |
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: January 18 2005 at 07:34
I do believe Caravan were awarded a gold disc in the mid 90's based on the total sales of Land Of The Grey & Pink ; not quite millions but still respectable numbers - but did they get what was owed in royalty cheques? |
Posted By: Emperor
Date Posted: January 18 2005 at 08:02
|
Personally, I never was a fan of Caravan. They give too few impressions to me. It's subjectively. Objectively: Caravan has a huge lack in dramaticity, freshness and power in their music. They have no necessary ambitions, no especial "charisma" - great bands (Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, etc.) always have them. ------------- I Prophesy Disaster... |