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Thread: Richard Sinclair Solo Record Thread

  1. #1

    Richard Sinclair Solo Record Thread

    Ok Canterburians, closer to the Caravan sound: RSVP or Caravan of Dreams. Or are they both worth checkin' out??

  2. #2
    Member bigjohnwayne's Avatar
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    Caravan of Dreams is incredible. It's very song oriented. Jazzy, melancholy, full of beauty. I listen to it more than all but a couple Caravan albums these days.


    On paper RSVP is even better--it's got Kit Watkins! The songs are a touch longer! Whereas Caravan of Dreams (according to my understanding) was a collection of trunk songs, some of which dating back to the early 80s, this was a made from scratch record. Thus, it isn't quite as consistently tuneful or memorable. It isn't as immediate a record, but still worth getting.


    But then again "Back to Front" is one of my favorite Caravan records--and partially because it is in ways reminiscent of the sound of these two records (especially the Richard Sinclair written tracks, obviously)

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    Member rickawakeman's Avatar
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    The double live Caravan of Dreams is awesome.

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    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Caravan of Dreams is loverly. I'm still working so I think I'll spin it right now!

    But as I recall RSVP is also very nice. I remember trying to track that down many moons ago and couldn't find it.

    And thx bigjohnwayne for the shout out to Back to Front. I just re-listened to that the other day and kept thinking "Why isn't this considered one of Caravan's better albums?" What a shame they couldn't hold it together.

    Anyone else out there remember when Richard toured the states for those albums back in the mid 90s? First he came over solo then he came back with Rick Biddulph and Andy Ward. They played some tiny places and the shows were pretty rambly. But how nice it was to see those guys live in the states.
    I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.

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    Member moecurlythanu's Avatar
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    I saw him solo at a coffee house on the northeast side of Cleveland, back in the 90s. He was greeting attendees with a hand shake as they entered. Very enjoyable show.

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    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by moecurlythanu View Post
    I saw him solo at a coffee house on the northeast side of Cleveland, back in the 90s. He was greeting attendees with a hand shake as they entered. Very enjoyable show.
    He was so fun. I remember he was selling Caravan's debut album on cassettes at the gigs that he'd made himself because nobody at the time wanted to reissue it! I hung on to that sucker until my car tape deck finally bit the dust (and the album was finally reissued on CD around then).

    I also remember taking him out to dinner in San Francisco while he was doing his first solo tour. He was really doing it spartan-style, crashing at people's houses and bumming rides to get from place to place. He played two gigs in the Bay Area and we took him out to a Mexican place in the Mission after one of them. He had never seen a burrito in his life! He just sat there saying over and over, "Burrito. Bo-ree-to." with this big grin on his face.
    I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.

  7. #7
    I'm happy that we have a Richard Sinclair thread going on, he deserves it. However, I hadn't listened to his solo stuff for a while, so I gave RSVP a spin early this morning. It's a very fine album. I didn't remember and was surprised to found out that it's mostly an instrumental affair (more Hatfield than Caravanesque, to this ears). Even, a lot of vocals are wordless (in Northettes fashion). Lyrically, it's a nostalgic album (that's not hard to tell simply by looking at the song titles). Some Bossa Nova influence here and there. Highlights for me are: "What's rattlin'" (I love the "vocal solo", an obvious nod to "In the land of grey and pink"), "Videos" (don't get put off by the title!), "Outback in Canterbury" (awesome intro & ironically reminds me of Crimson -"Formentera lady"- not Canterbury), "Out of the shadows" (superb 1st and 3rd movement) and the beautiful world influenced "Bamboo".
    RS has the most gentle voice in prog IMO, he's an accomplished but very humble musician that deserves more recognition & he's a great composer too (e.g. "Winter wine").
    I agree with you Paulrus that Back to front is a very good album; I don't understand why all the hate either. Also, as an offthread comment, I'm in the minority (I think) whose favourite Camel era is that with Richard Sinclair. IMO, with RS and Mel Collins, Camel's sound became more varied and they started to experiment with different things. I don't find this era to be poppy at all, as has been frequently said.
    But, back to this thread... I'm going to listen to the two Richard Sinclair's Caravan Of Dreams albums I have and I'll comment later on.
    Last edited by Frankk; 09-25-2015 at 11:56 AM.

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    Member Camelogue's Avatar
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    I am a huge fan of Camel with Richard and Mel. "Rain Dances" is so sublime.

    I have to locate my "Caravan of Dreams"

    What a terrible price I have paid having to pack all my CD's away in boxes. Hopefully 2016 will have me organized again!

    Nice to have a thread about Richard. Got to see the regrouped Hatfield and it also was wonderful.

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    Member rickawakeman's Avatar
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    I have ROIOs from his shows at the "Elf's Den" in Cheshire CT. and a triple live from Tokyo from the early '90s iirc.

  10. #10
    Saw Caravan of Dreams live several times. Bracknell and Half Moon Putney springs to mind. Very solid gigs.

    Saw RSVP also at a pub in Stoke Newington. Steller line up and the music was equally impressive.

    Totally agree with album comments. What is an ROIO? Is that like an audience recording?

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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    When Richard came to Seattle on that '90s tour he played in the basement(!) banquet room of a Chinese restaurant. There were about 12 of us in attendance. He started out by asking, "What does anyone want to hear?"

    I love all his solo albums, but have a particular fondness for one called "What In The World" which is just him and pipe organist David Rees Williams, performing in some drafty old Medieval stone church before an audience that includes several figity children. The acoustics are divine, the mood is relaxed, and the occasional outbursts from these kids just adds to the fun.
    Last edited by rcarlberg; 09-27-2015 at 09:29 AM.

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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Toothyspook View Post
    What is an ROIO? Is that like an audience recording?
    Yep, "Recording Of Indeterminate Origin" which is the nicer term for an audience-recorded bootleg.

  13. #13
    Thanks for that.

    By the way, I also have that 'What in the world' CD

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    Quote Originally Posted by Paulrus View Post
    I also remember taking him out to dinner in San Francisco while he was doing his first solo tour. He was really doing it spartan-style, crashing at people's houses and bumming rides to get from place to place. He played two gigs in the Bay Area and we took him out to a Mexican place in the Mission after one of them. He had never seen a burrito in his life! He just sat there saying over and over, "Burrito. Bo-ree-to." with this big grin on his face.
    That's a great story, and very consistent with my experience of Richard. I met him at the Progman Fests in Seattle and then a few years later in Los Angeles. Richard seems like the most happy-go-lucky guy on the planet. Just happy to be alive and live from day to day.

    I've got all his solo cd's except for the live double. I saw it once in a used record shop and I'm still kicking myself for not buying it!

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    Genius. Grey and pink, rotters, rain dances, dream. Excellent bass player, singer and composer

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    Member interbellum's Avatar
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    Never took notice on this one, but today I listened to a couple of songs, liked the Kit Watkins-tracks I heard and then I found this youtube and now I've ordered it. Better Late!

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    Member StarThrower's Avatar
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    ^^^
    Great stuff. Thanks!

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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Never a bad idea to resurrect a very old thread about something wonderful.

    Just to keep the momentum going, here are my 2 cents about each of Richard's solo albums:
    • 1992 Caravan of Dreams - A collection of very jazzy songs & tunes, including such current favourites as "Going For A Song" and "Cruising" and some olde Hatfield material ("Felafel Shuffle," "Halfway Between Heaven & Earth" & "It Didn't Matter Anyway"), played by a stellar band that includes Andy Ward, Rick Biddulph, Jimmy Hastings, Dave Sinclair and Alan Clarke. A perennial top 10 for me.
    • 1993 An Evening of Magic - Live recordings of Richard's deep catalog, including Caravan, Hatfield & solo tracks, as played by the same band above (less Jimmy & Alan). Really nice versions really well recorded, but somewhat of an archival release due to the age of the songs.
    • 1994 R.S.V.P. - More new songs ("new" in 1994) in studio recordings. The usual suspects plus Kit Katkins, Hugh Hopper, Pip Pyle, Tony Coe (clarinet), Tony Rico (didgeridoo) & Didier Malherbe (winds). Another perennial favourite.
    • 2002 Live Tracks - "A collection of 1990s favorite gigging moments" recorded on DAT on tour. A nice release but the track list duplicates most other releases.
    • 2003 What In The World - A sort of "fan club release" with cheap artwork and it may be a CD-R, but I'm entranced (as mentioned above) by the imperfect informal nature of these echoey recordings in a drafty 230 year old stone church. YMMV


    One more which I discovered via Discogs is a 1992 Voiceprint release by guitarist & vocalist Todd Dillingham called "The Wilde Canterbury Dream" (or "Cantebury" as it's printed on the spine and back cover...) Musicians include Richard, Jimmy Hastings & Andy Ward, but it's Dillingham's project all the way with little-to-no influence from the backing musicians. Dillingham's not bad exactly... just not very memorable or noteworthy.

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    A very talented man, wonderful singer, songwriter & bass player. Camel's Breathless is my fave of his works.

  20. #20
    Another nice one:
    Richard Sinclair & Hugh Hopper 'Somewhere in France'
    ( Voiceprint)
    Dieter Moebius : "Art people like things they don’t understand!"

  21. #21
    Member StarThrower's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve983 View Post
    A very talented man, wonderful singer, songwriter & bass player. Camel's Breathless is my fave of his works.
    I find his vocal melodies and bass lines irresistible. I have a couple of tunes from Somewhere In France on a compilation. I forget the name? It might be a Hopper set? The one with the acoustic guitar on the cover. But I'll have to pick up one of those Sinclair albums.

  22. #22
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    Awesome bassplaying on Hatfield and the North - Mumps !

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    Member bigjohnwayne's Avatar
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    Member bill g's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    When Richard came to Seattle on that '90s tour he played in the basement(!) banquet room of a Chinese restaurant. There were about 12 of us in attendance. He started out by asking, "What does anyone want to hear?"
    He did WHAT??? Played in a restaurant in Seattle?? Well, too bad only 12 knew he was there, I would have been there in a heartbeat!

    It's a good week to pull out 'Caravan of Dreams' I'm thinking...

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    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bill g View Post
    He did WHAT??? Played in a restaurant in Seattle??
    LOL, here in the Bay Area he played the patio of a gold course clubhouse. That man went anywhere and did anything to play his music.
    I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.

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