https://www.facebook.com/HomunculusR...ype=3&sfnsn=moOriginally Posted by aith01
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https://www.facebook.com/HomunculusR...ype=3&sfnsn=mo
Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-A405FN met Tapatalk
Yeehaw! Thank you, Joost.
There is a CD as our friend Dunno just showed. These guys are so subtle and intelligent, that one cannot avoid multiple listens with each record they release. I think this is their best.
Very cool. I'm excited to hear it.
Think I'll spin their other albums while I wait in the meantime.
After spinning the new Homunculus Res several times over the last few weeks (what a killer album), and then finally catching up to that Zopp CD, I got the urge to listen to some Caravan tonight. So it's Land of Grey and Pink right now for me. "Nine Feet Underground" is such a good track. Caravan aren't my favorite of the Canterbury groups, but they're still pretty great and I think I need more of their albums.
Yes - a fanastic track (and album) and all of those early albums are indispensable imo. I still haven't heard some of the later Caravan albums.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
Totally agree, they are indispensable. I love Grey & Pink, and If I Could Do it All Over Again... so much. The latter in particular has a certain mood that really jives with me for some reason. It's crazy to me that those came out in '70 and '71. For only being their second album, If I Could sounds very self-assured IMO.
Another of my favorite tunes is "Memory Lain, Hugh / Headloss". Both halves of that song are great! I just finished listening to Grey & Pink (hitting Nine Feet Underground twice), and now I think it's on to For Girls Who Grow Plump In the Night.
Edit: How is their first album? I don't have that one yet.
Everything from the debut up to and including Blind Dog is worth owning IMO.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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Oh yeah...I have all of those.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
It's pretty close to my favourite, really...
They're still a psych-pop band that does 3-mins songs (except for Where But...) but everything you'll love later on is already there. There isn't a dud on it, and the weirdest-sounding one Cecil Rons is amazing (in some ways, it reminds me of Cthluthlu on For Girls in its sonic depth)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Love it....must have Canterbury classic imo.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
I love it to tears.
re: the first Caravan.
Back when I first discovered the band (late 80s as an ardent record collector and retro pursuer) I always believed that All Over You was their debut, because most lists weren't mentioning the first one. Then when I got into Canterbury at large by reading (and hearing) and engulfed in the vintage Soft Machine chronicles, I got surprised to know that there indeed was an even earlier release than the (somewhat) juvenile All Over You.
But boy, that's one of their best! "Place of My Own", "Love Song With Flute", even the attempt at the early epic - this is simply beautiful - and just so wholeaheartedly unpretentious. Fine songs, laid back performance, and that amazing vibe of adolescent romantic adventure.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
In terms of material, I like it as much as anything they did later, even if the production IMHO has dated more than the Decca/Deram albums. The CD includes the mono mix which is at least a bit less reverb-drenched.
Blind Dog is underrated IMHO.
Eclectic Discs (as was) put out the early 80s albums on CD but they were a bit 'blink and you'll miss it'. Back To Front is the only studio album the original quartet did after ...Grey And Pink. It's not a classic but has its moments.
The Unauthorised Breakfast Item has some good tracks.
Last edited by JJ88; 09-04-2020 at 11:47 AM.
I am not all in with Caravan. For various reasons. But when I like them I like them a lot. This discussion prompted me to check out the couple of tracks that are on YouTube, & I liked them a lot. Late 1968 underground psych. Ordered the cd immediately.
I suspect this may turn out to be my Caravan sweet spot.
Do you have the first three studio albums?
re: Blind Dog.
It's got "The Show of Our Lives", which was one of their very finest tunes and also one which captured that vibe which was so peculiarly only theirs and has become somewhat symptomatic of the strangely sophisticated Canterbury "pop" format. The versio on the Live at the BBC does wonders.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I think Show of Our Lives might be on Cunning Stunts, but it has been a few years since I've listened to either record. Great song though. I was just listening to the live on the BBC version today. It quite the different experience without the fade-in.
Blind Dog is very streamlined and airbrushed, but is a better record beginning to end than Cunning Stunts in my opinion. All The Way is a particularly gorgeous track.
I really like Back to Front. It sounds the most Canterbury of any of their stuff since For Girls Who Grow Plump.
Back to Herne Bay Front is a minor Richard Sinclair classic. Sally Don't Change it has that gorgeous David Sinclair-does-pop melancholy that Wanderlust and Show of Our Lives has. He does a decent job singing it--I like his voice more than John G Perry's at least.
Interesting recollections of Caravan.
I purchased Blind Dog At St. Dunstans back in the late 70s or early 80s as my very first Caravan purchase, and I was severely underwhelmed. It kind of put me off of the band for years, until I think I purchased a 2nd hand CD copy of In The Land Of Grey And Pink, which blew me away, and caused a Caravan buying frenzy.
I purchased the first Caravan CD well after purchasing most of their 70s albums on CD, and a few others as well. To my ears, it's not really a Canterbury Prog album, rooted much more in Psychedelia, and the whimsical side of that subgenre to boot. Those who purchase this expecting Caravan similar to most of their output will be very surprised, imo.
Last edited by moecurlythanu; 09-05-2020 at 11:12 AM. Reason: Doh!
"The Show of Our Lives" is on Cunning Stunts.
My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/
Cunning Stunts feels slicker to me than what went before it. It's good on its own terms but I'm not sure some of it actually sounds like the Caravan of previous albums. 'The Show Of Our Lives' is a lovely track though. I like the bulk of 'The Dabsong Conshirtoe' as well, though I'm not keen on the long, rambling ending.
Blind Dog does feel more like the natural follow-up to For Girls..., in some ways.
That was the track I really didn't like! Other than that the songs were good.
The main drawback with the album is probably that, for me, some of the instrumental tones haven't aged as gracefully as what you hear on earlier albums.
Last edited by JJ88; 09-05-2020 at 03:30 AM.
G&P was one of the first 10/15 buys circa 74/75, so I went ahead and Waterloo and For Girls in the next year or so, and didn't find the same magic (for some reasons, I couldn't find the first two for years).
When Stunt and Dog came out, I was quite put off, and kind of abandonned the band (and art-rock/prog as well) around the same time, and I don't remember seeing BBF, Album and BtF in the stores back then. In the mid-80's while frequenting a great Toronto second-hand shop (Vortex records) , I did fall onto Caravan's debut but with the alternate artwork (with the MGM label towed-Caravan), and around the same time, the second album Over You - and also saw for the first time the last three albums, (BBF etc..) and avoided those three. And that rekindled my interest in the band, but didn't change my outlook in the band's later-70's output.
It's only been fairly recently that I've really warmed up to Stunt (maybe I won't include it as a "classic Caravan", but damn close) and in ways to Dunstan as well (that one is a bit more of stretch to reach "Classic C" status).
I still can't dig the last three first-era albums, though when the original four members regrouped to do BtF, it was clearly the better of those three:
BBF: Last Unicorn and Nightmare would have been fillers on Blind Dog and unfortunately are the "highlights" (sort of speak) on this album. I like the sleeve, though.
Album: Probably worse than BBF, only the reggae track Clear Blue Sky fins grace to my ears (and CBS is better than anything on BBF, IMHO)
Back To Front: only the opening Herne and closing Proper Job is OK, but I giess Videos was finally clubbed into me with the bands' insitance to give it a second-life on stage. BtF is clearly the better of those three, but I won't make precious shelf-space for it.
What does that say about the early 90's one-off Nottingham concert, with the original four (which I find rather good)??
I have no idea whether the band was really still alive (I mean touring or even keeping in contact) between 83 and 95 (when Battle of H was released).
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Yes the Nottingham 1990 set is worth a look. I think it's the only footage of the original line-up (with Jimmy Hastings as well) in a concert setting.
Certainly! I stand corrected.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
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