If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You Caravan

• 1If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You03:08
• 2And I Wish I Were Stoned - Don't Worry08:18
• 3As I Feel I Die05:08
• 4With An Ear To The Ground You Can Make It09:54
• 5Hello Hello03:46
• 6Asforteri01:22
• 7Can't Be Long Now14:22
• 8Limits01:34
• Total Runtime47:32

Info for If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You

The band’s second album from 1970 features the classic line-up of Pye Hastings on guitar, vocals, Richard Coughlin on drums and the Sinclair cousins David and Richard on keyboards and bass respectively, all ably assisted by Brother James on saxophone and flute. Produced by Terry King and Caravan.

„One of the greatest Canterbury bands, Caravan, created with their second album, “If I Could Do It All Over Again, I’d Do It All Over You” one of the most symbolic and memorable works of the genre. It is highly melodic, easy to listen, but also very ambitious and highly progressive. Caravan have clearly abandoned the immature sounds of the debut and reached a whole new level of songwriting and musical philosophy.

Caravan’s psychedelic sound is all gone on this new 1970 album: the organ and the guitars are now always hand in hand, the musicianship is more elaborate, the overall sound is of a pretty noticeable change. The structure of these songs also are much more complex and studied, making this record one that leaves all innocence behind and goes towards the epic pathways of progressive. This however is not exactly an album of the Canterbury Scene quite yet, even though it already has plenty typical elements of the genre: it has that sense of romanticism Caravan in particular are famous for, and as a consequence also the whole Canterbury scene is, but it doesn’t have such elaborate songwriting, which is not a bad thing, because they are on this particular record much more accessible and memorable than almost anybody else from Canterbury. For example, it’s miles away from the cold avant- garde of the Soft Machine, or the spacey themes of Gong. “In the Land Of Grey and Pink”, the following Caravan album, will still be of this sort of nature -with a lot of melody-, but that time around it will have much more ambition and sophistications, being that their supreme masterpiece. But “If I Could Do It All?” still is a beautiful dedication to youth and innocence, inserted in a much more intricate, Progressive style. This is what Canterbury’s magic lies in.

Some of the more memorable moments include the beautiful “I Wish I Were Stoned”, which, from it’s nine minutes, donates some space in the final minutes for it’s other side, “Don’t Worry”. Together, these two parts create what is in my opinion the greatest song of the album, having great, catchy melodies, great song structure, and fantastic musicianship all together. There are the shorter, poppier songs like “Hello Hello”, and the build-up of “As I Feel I Die”, but also the highly ambitious ones, like the most Progressive song of the album, the final fourteen minute suite, “For Richard”, an instrumental that has no specific form but constantly shifts, builds, explodes, and tones down. No wonder it is considered one of the best Caravan tracks. The other suite is the middle one, “With an Ear To The Ground You Can Make It”, the least memorable of them but still very powerful from every point of view.“

“If I Could Do It?” is a wonderful example of a Canterbury album of a band that still has to fully blossom, but still looks quite exemplar and is already faithful to a few canons, without on the other hand bending some rules.“ Nick Leonardi, www.prog-sphere.com)

Richard Coughlan, drums, congas, bongos, maracas, finger cymbals
Pye Hastings, vocals, guitars, claves
David Sinclair, keyboards
Richard Sinclair, vocals, bass, tambourine
Brother James, sax and flute

Recorded 1970 Tangerine Studios, London
Produced by Terry King and Caravan

Digitally remastered

Caravan
was formed in Canterbury, England in 1968 by Pye Hastings (guitar/ vocals), Dave Sinclair (keyboards), Richard Sinclair (bass/vocals) and Richard Coughlan (drums).

The four had previously played at various times with a local band, The Wilde Flowers, which also featured Kevin Ayers and future Soft Machine members Robert Wyatt and Hugh Hopper.

Caravan was the first UK act to sign with American label MGM/ Verve and their debut album, entitled ‘Caravan’ was released late in 1968. It was favourably received by the critics and the debut single, Place of My Own was described as having a ‘gripping compulsion’ with ‘scintillating organ work’. John Peel played the album regularly on his radio show ‘Top Gear’.

A second album saw a move from Verve, as they had closed down their rock/pop division and Decca took up the cause. September 1970 was the release date for ‘If I Could Do It All Over Again, I’d Do It All Over You’. At this time relationships within the band were strong. They got on well and they looked on course to succeed as a band.

Still together as a unit, the band recorded ‘In the Land of Grey and Pink’ which was released in September 1971. By now a loyal fan base was developing and they were playing some prestigious gigs, for example in front of 250,000 in Rotterdam. The album was described as ‘virtually faultless’ and the band looked set fair for national and international recognition. At this crucial point, Dave Sinclair decided to leave. As Pye Hastings explained, ‘Dave was developing faster than the rest of us and I think he was getting frustrated at seeing other bands of dubious talent getting greater financial reward. The management must have been beside themselves: the band were getting somewhere, a new album is released and the main player decides he is off.’

Steve Miller came in as a replacement for Dave: he had been recommended to Richard Sinclair by Phil, Steve’s guitarist brother. This line up did not go down so well with fans who saw a change to a jazzier feel based around Steve’s piano- orientated keyboards. This style dominated the next album release, Waterloo Lily, released in May 1972. No longer was Dave’s unique keyboard sound – based around his Hammond organ – in evidence. Even Pye’s older brother Jimmy Hastings appeared to be surplus to requirements, appearing only on ‘Love in Your Eye’ on sax and flute, the bulk of this work going to Lol Coxhill.

It was no surprise when the line up disbanded, leaving Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan to pick up the pieces and decide whether to carry on. A change of direction resulted with the addition of Geoffrey Richardson on viola. The line up was completed by Welshman Stu Evans on bass and the well travelled Derek Austin on Keyboards. No album was released by this version of Caravan, although they toured extensively, including a series of dates in Australia, accompanying Slade, Lindisfarne and Status Quo. The reissue of this album on Universal in 2001 does include versions with the Evans/Austin line up, including a completely new track, ‘Derek’s Long Thing’.

In February 1973, another shake up occurred. John Perry, who Pye had previously invited to join the band, signed up on bass and Dave Sinclair agreed to rejoin to make an album and take part in the tour to follow. The album, ‘For Girls That Grow Plump in the Night’ was a return to form, with practically every track written by Pye Hastings. The New Musical Express described the album as, ‘Superior pop music, full of taste, craftsmanship and hard work.’ Melody Maker pitched in, ‘There’s no track that’s less than satisfying. A chart album I hope: the band deserve a break.’

The band then got the chance to try something a little different and recorded an album with the New Symphonia, for which Pye wrote a couple of new tunes. Simon Jeffes of Penguin Cafe Orchestra arranged some of the music, with the bulk of the ‘charts’ arranged by Martyn Ford, with contributions from Don Gould. Martyn was the conductor. Rehearsal time was 6 hours only! The album showed the band in full flight and gave Geoffrey Richardson to show his talents and for him to expand on the earlier versions of the songs. By July 1974, John Perry had moved off to play with Quantum Jump, to be replaced by Mike Wedgewood who had played previously in Curved Air.

With Dave Sinclair firmly re-established in the band, an album was put together. This was originally to have been titled ‘Toys in the Attic’, but they were beaten to it by Aerosmith and had to make do with ‘Cunning Stunts’, which featured Dave Sinclair’s songwriting far more heavily. Two tours of America took place and at one stage the album was the fastest selling import in San Francisco.

Once again wanderlust got the better of Dave Sinclair and he was replaced by Jan Schelhaas who had played in the ‘National Head Band’. An album ‘Blind Dog at St Dunstans’ resulted, with positive reviews again. Melody Maker gave a detailed review of the recording and added, ‘This is a distinguished work, with Coughlan’s driving drums revealing his painstaking craftsmanship. Caravan possess all the attributes: good musicianship, strong songs, an imaginative stage show. They remain one of our most competent bands and eventually will be recognised as such even if takes them another decade.’ Soon after this Mike Wedgewood departed to be replaced by Dek Messecar, and Dave Sinclair returned temporarily to play on a tour to help promote a ‘best of’ compilation from Decca. For more visit: www.officialcaravan.co.uk

This album contains no booklet.