I thought I'd written about all the Caravan albums in the past, but apparently I've only tackled two of them, and not the best ones either. Ha! So time to start a retrospective. Not that I have much to say here. Caravan's history is well documented, and this debut shows the group as a very raw entity at its beginning. Which is part of its charm. They were nowhere near the level of their other former bandmates (from The Wilde Flowers) Soft Machine at this stage of their career. But they caught up fast, and arguably surpassed them in short order. Highlights here include the organ-up-front 'Place of My Own', Jimmy Hastings' first of many cameo's 'Love Song with Flute', and the closer 'Where But For Caravan Would I?' which predicts their future closing opus' that ultimately defined Caravan's place in history.
Ownership: LP: 1972 MGM. Single sleeve with alternate cover. Recent acquisition from Tiger Records (2022). Turns out it was this version that I first owned and bought new from Peaches Records in Dallas (1985). This copy also looks new remarkably.
CD: 2002 Verve (Japan). Papersleeve edition. It's essentially the exact same reissue as the European version with the Japanese packaging. Best of both worlds. The booklet has copious historical notes with input from Pye Hastings. Both the mono and stereo versions are included. They also added the 'Hello, Hello' 45 single which technically goes with their next album, but they didn't have the master tapes at the time it was reissued. Shortly thereafter they did find them and added it to this reissue instead. This CD is part of the Disk Union Caravan box set, one of the treasures of my collection.
1985; 6/30/22 (new entry); 12/10/22 (LP acquire)
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