If I Could Do It All Over Again/And I Wish I Were Stoned-Don't Worry/As I Feel I Die/With An Ear To The Ground- Martinian-Only Cox/Hello Hello/Asforteri/Can't Be Long Now-Francoise-For Richard-Warlock/Limits
The follow up album from the Canterbury progressive band Caravan, that achieved critical plaudits but only limited commercial success. It was quite an achievement that such a relatively small city could produce such a wealth of creative musical talent in such a short period of time.
“Caravan's second album shows a startling amount of growth since their debut. In the two years since they issued that psych-pop charmer they'd honed their craft, improved their songwriting, developed a taste for epics, started flirting with a little jazz-rock, and become the tight unit seen on this album. The band had gone from psychedelic followers to innovators in their own right, presenting a vision of psychedelic jazz-influenced prog with a mellower and sunnier attitude than the Softs, with the occasional outbreak of more energetic playing.”
“If you enjoy a psychedelic lilt to your music, then this is definitely the Caravan album to begin the exploration of their sound. There are some long songs, like little sonatas that have lovely dense texture. I believe that the keyboard player overdubbed his parts, with a guest artist providing very jazzy sax and flute melodies. Their lead guitar player also provides a lot of punch, and other nice touches, to the mix.”
“Caravan's psychedelic sound is all gone on this album: the organ and the guitars are now always hand in hand, the musicianship is more elaborate and the overall sound is of a pretty noticeable change. The structure of these songs are much more complex and studied, making this record one that leaves all innocence behind and heads towards the epic pathways of progressive.”
“An underrated band with a capacity for turning out insanely catchy pop melodies that most prog groups simply don't possess.”
“We all know that the Canterbury bands produced sounds that were a little whimsical. Among all of the bands in this genre, the music of Caravan is the most entertaining. They truly developed a way to merge the prog with the pop elements and make the mood appealing.”
“I believe that this is one of the best Canterbury prog rock albums, and also one of the best English rock records. Something magic happened during these sessions and Caravan never made another one quite like this.”
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