In The Land of Caravan

There are many types of Progressive Rock out there. These different avenues of Progressive Rock can range as Orchestral type Prog, to heavy metal type. There is so much out there that it sometimes gets to be a blur. King Crimson did a great job of creating all kinds of sounds in their albums. One album had Jazz feel to it and the next one had elements of Classical. It was clear that Progressive Rock could reach different roads and still have some Rock sense ability. There is so much to talk about when you talk Prog with somebody because each person likes their own style. While at Nearfest I was at that same question. What Progressive Rock do you like?

There is also a scene that I enjoy listening to that was created around the time King Crimson ruled the roost. Some of this music was clearly defined as something called the Canterbury Scene. These bands fused a jazz feel with heavy psychedelic. A fraternal collective of musicians clustered around the Kentish tourist town that is home to the Church of England's Archbishop, the Canterbury Scene provided the cradle for a half-dozen of the most freewheeling British bands of the post-psychedelic era.(AM) The band that came out of this scene are quite impressive and some of my favorite of this type of genre. These bands include, Gong, Hatfield and The North, Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Egg, National Health and lastly Caravan. These band fused the Jazz elements with the Psychedelic music quite well.



Caravan I got into later then all the Progressive Rock bands. It was not because I did not know much about them, it was because the there stuff was a bit hard to find in retail shops or at good used record stores. I found one but the price then was way to much for my blood. I had a friend who gave me most of their albums on tapes so I really listened to those. They nicely fit on a side of a 90 minute cassette. Each title was also quite a play on words. For example, For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night, If I Could Do It All Over Again I Do It All Over You, and Cunning Stunts. My favorite album was a simple Progressive Rock title, In The Land Of Grey and Pink. These tapes kept me happy because I could see how well Caravan made the use of Jazz, and Rock I also liked the length of Caravan songs. On In The Land of Grey and Pink one song takes up the whole side of a LP. This has been done before with Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rush and others, but this song was full of multi-chord changes and wonderful lyrics.

In 1994 I decided to pick up the 2Cd retrospective of Caravan. I liked it because now I could hear all the albums. I could even listen to stuff I did not even have. It was cool to listen to this stuff now, but I can only imagine what this stuff would have been like in 1971. Caravan was quite good at doing great music to just zone out to. It was my friend who suggested that these albums featured on this retrospective are damn good albums too. The stuff that was not part of this set should be listened to also. It was not until 2001 many of these albums got re-issued with much improved sound quality and really good extra bonus tracks.



I picked up most of the Caravan CD's with bonus materiel to them and when trying to figure out what to write about for this post, it was hard to figure out. You might just need to hear them for yourselves. I do promise you this, that they are as important as any other Progressive Rock band from the 70's. A fine example is the twenty-two minute song "Nine Feet Underground." The song has wonderful examples of their Canterbury influence and the genre itself. Check them out and you too will enjoy what this music has to offer and maybe get you to Nearfest like me and know what makes my yearly get away so special. Enjoy!