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Supertramp had their “Breakfast in
America”. To start the day full of nutrition our Caravan friends keep it
with an honest British breakfast served at the Victoria Café. Whilst the
inlay sports plenty of baked beans on toast the CD itself shows a
healthy omelet. Maybe the tomatoes and mushrooms have been reserved for
the limited edition ? Together with Pye Hastings’ soft whispering voice
it’s humour like this which has always been the trademark of Caravan.
Sadly this never translated itself into healthy sales although the
band’s succesful appearance at last year’s NEARfest certainly sheds a
different light onto the band’s popularity.
Looking at the band’s line-up
over the years for sure Caravan had a bumpy ride and it’s god’s gift to
find they are still around today. Maybe not so prog-ish than during
their heydays but still interesting enough to get down to the bare
essentials. The opening track ‘Smoking gun’ could be a commercial single
for the likes of Camel around their “Rain dances” period including a
nice bluesy guitar which could well be that of Andy Latimer himself.
Throughout their career it has always been Pye’s soft voice which
injects the calm into their music so although some of the guitarchords
in ‘Revenge’ contain a little ominous atmosphere, Pye soon brings it all
down to earth again. I really love the orchestral ending of the song
which also contains a guest keyboardsolo courtesy of Dave Sinclair. The
rhythm for the titletrack emulates the rhythm of a train with Doug Boyle
sounding ever so fusion like. Fusion, jazz, it has been introduced into
Caravan’s music as far away as 1972 when they released “Waterloo Lily”.
Here the jazz is softer, more entertaining as proves the saxophone
during the soft babbling ‘It’s getting a whole lot better’ also sporting
a fine Supertramp-like piano.
Coming of age also means
knowing what you want from life, knowing how far you can take certain
things. This most certainly is contained in ‘Head above the clouds’
which begins almost classical featuring a desolate viola before settling
for probably the most commercial feel on the entire album. Or maybe if
we were to chose a single from this album we’d have to go for the superb
‘Straight through the heart’ which even sports some tucked away banjo as
performed by the likes of Geoffrey Richardson. In order to create a
certain balance two instrumental tracks have also been added. Written by
Richardson ‘Wild west street’ is build around acoustic guitar and viola
delivering a repetitive pattern. Compositionwise I think ‘Nowhere to
hide’ is the most adventurous and the one which goes back most towards
the band’s creative seventies explosion. The album closes with ‘Linder’s
field’, a repetitive instrumental beauty composed by Doug Boyle.
“The unauthorised breakfast
item” is not the kind of album which will change the world overnight
however compared to some of the band’s output this most certainly is a
very nicely balanced album containing some splendid new compositions.
You don’t need to be an expert to hear that the band fully enjoys
playing together which in the end is all that matters.
Compared to a lot of their contemporaries
Caravan has always been more mellow, more song structured, more
commercial if you like. Although they flirt with jazzy themes the band
is more song oriented rather than delivering technical prowess. This
most certainly sets them apart from anyone else although we have to be
honest in saying that the new material does not contain a new ‘For
Richard, ‘Golf girl’ or ‘Nine feet underground’ but then again that was
then, this is now ! |
