30 CD Caravan Box Set November 2020

[mogrooves]

"I Don't Know It's Name (The Word)". I like that song as much as Winter Wine, I think.

I certainly prefer it to "Golf Girl." Hastings's tenor solo is hip.....

[arturs]

I am not sure if I need any more Caravan live sets from the mid-70s period though. Thus if Madfish hope to convince me to splurge on the upcoming box they'll need to dig out a solid bunch of earlier live recordings. They should really contact that guy from French TV and ask him to search his attic.

Agreed. It would have to be 1970-73 era live stuff (without an orchestra, please!). I've got all the live discs you mention. Fairfield Halls is stupendous and UK '75 close behind--but I don't need any more from that era.

I am curious about the DVD. There have been some excerpts from French TV up on Youtube for several years. But not enough to make a satisfying DVD. So I'm guessing/hoping they've been digging in vaults to find something more complete. That could ultimately be the deal-maker here. The early lineups have so little on film, compared to Soft Machine, Camel, etc.

[Jay.Dee]

It would have to be 1970-73 era live stuff (without an orchestra, please!).

It was quite surprising to me how badly the orchestra gig had turned out. On paper it looked like a good match, especially if you consider how many progressive bands had tried it before, but for some reason it was a misfire.

I've got all the live discs you mention. Fairfield Halls is stupendous and UK '75 close behind

My fave is BBC Live in Concert from March 1975, with Dave Sinclair still in the band. Absolutely relentless performance; they were on fire throughout the set!

And then I think I'd give the nod to Surprise Supplies taped in London in May 1976, because it featured a refreshed setlist that worked really well live.

Jan Schelhaas had been already on UK Tour '75 (from December), so I'd be curious to hear if he had any impact on the numbers well-worn on their 1973-75 tours w/ Dave Sinclair. They did not seem to rotate their setlists too much in those years, did they?

[strawberrybrick]

I am not keen on Madfish' strategy of bundling a few rarities with all commonly available material in a big box. I passed on their Wishbone Ash, Steve Hillage and Streetwalkers boxsets, because I am not such a big fan to buy the full core discography just to get a handful of archival live discs. I picked Family BBC set though, because it was limited to radio sessions and live sets and I could justify re-buying part of that stuff.

However, if the upcoming Caravan and Gentle Giant boxes follow the same strategy, I'll most probably bail out again.

If the book was sold separately I would be incredibly happy to purchase it. I did end up getting the Hillage set, but at some point with these box sets, it's all too much...

[Jay.Dee]

at some point with these box sets, it's all too much...

That's why you need to be picky and buy only the stuff you'd actually listen/return to.

I dig a lot well-curated boxsets filled with unreleased (live) archival bounty. In that respect Art Zoyd's and Henry Cow's live retrospectives were probably the best I ever bought, followed by that Progglådan monster documenting Swedish radio sessions in the 70s. The German jazz festival boxset series released by B.Free! was no slouch either and now we have the upcoming monumental Woodstock documentary. That's the stuff I always have money for.

However, when it comes to a more narrow field artist/period-wise I become harder to please. A string of (same set-list) shows from a single tour by Dylan ('66 or '75), YES ('72), Grateful Dead ('72) or King Crimson? I say no (unless it is John Coltrane) and pick individual shows/compilation releases instead.

Mega-boxes that bundle everything at hand together, add a few rarities and get slapped with a hefty price tag, like most Madfish releases? I usually say no, thank you. For similar reasons I passed on Pink Floyd mega-box, I just could not convince myself to pay so much for a bunch of DVDs, BBC sessions and some scraps of other live material (only the first volume was worth its price).

However, if it is a well-curated box of some legendary concert sequence, e.g. Hendrix at Winterland, Zappa at Roxy/Palladium, Allman Bros at Fillmore East, Velvet Underground at Matrix, Humble Pie at Fillmore, Van Morrison '73, a few sets by Grateful Dead, Phish at Hampton, Gov't Mule in Georgia, Coltrane at Village Vanguard, Jarrett at Blue Note, Rollins/Cherry at Village Gate, Anthony Braxton in Europe '03, Vandermark 5 at Alchemia, etc, I am all in.

Same for multi-tour/year collections, preferably featuring entire performances, like Dylan '79-81, Grateful Dead '73-74, Weather Report '78-81, Family/Fairport Convention at the BBC, Miles Davis official bootleg series, Pentangle, Fläsket Brinner, Chicago, William Parker, Lambchop, Björk as well as some euro-bootleg live retrospectives on SoundStage (Patti Smith, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, CSN&Y, etc).


I have managed to balance things out I think, although the recent increase of such releases makes it harder and harder to keep up with the inflow of recordings. The key point is to properly evaluate what you will actually listen to (more than once) vs what you primarily want to have on your shelf, and stick to the former.

[s24man]

Hi all, first time poster. Pye and his son Julian are friends of mine. Julian is doing all the work on the recordings and he told me he is remastering the studio albums and doing a remix of Paradise Filter. Just as a point of interest for me, he is including the last Trading Boundaries show which I was at.

Pye for his part is really excited about the project, probably because Julian is doing all the work. But they are putting a lot of care into the various extra bits that will be in the set--finding lots of old paraphernalia. My understanding is that this will be a limited edition with only 2000 copies.

Also, there is going to be another boxed set coming out later this year put out by Decca/Deram. They are basically reboxing all the classic albums in a nice package, and if you don't have them, it would be a nice boxed set. But it's not the same one that Caravan is working on.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/car...ween-1970-1975

[Dan Roth]

Also, there is going to be another boxed set coming out later this year put out by Decca/Deram. They are basically reboxing all the classic albums in a nice package, and if you don't have them, it would be a nice boxed set. But it's not the same one that Caravan is working on.]

A thread is ongoing for that one also. :-). https://www.progressiveears.org/forum/showthread.php/24362-9-CD-Caravan-Box-Set-September-2019

[yesstiles]

Julian is doing all the work on the recordings and he told me he is remastering the studio albums and doing a remix of Paradise Filter.

Awesome! Please tell Julian to please not over-compress the mastering or use any noise-reduction.

[Wah3]

Anyone know what the current status of this box set is, was it delayed?

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

madfish doesn't have any mention of it on their website...

[Hour Candle]

Any news on this?

[Camelogue]

Cunning Stunts is under rated.

[Bazcrim]

Any news on this?

According to the bands web site it was delayed because of the pandemic and is now planned for March.

[Hour Candle]

According to the bands web site it was delayed because of the pandemic and is now planned for March.

Thanks alot!