Caravan
Back to Front

What were our beloved Caravan doing in the '80s?

Well, they were making records, or at least they were trying, and during end-of-season sales it was even possible to come across this work dated 1982.

Good old Sinclair must have believed in it enough to gather the old mates in the original lineup, after the flop of The Album in 1980 and the recent divorce from Latimer's Camel who, after a fairly fragmented and colorless record, had more successfully aimed at a very classic thematic album.

So Back to Front is a promising but unfortunate title, and for the big comeback, the real one, it will be necessary to wait a long time when fans' nostalgia will take over the general hangover of the plastic years.

The album as a whole seems very well-crafted and deserves a listen anyway. Dave Sinclair reintroduces their classic unmistakable sounds within a slightly more modern and well-blended sound; enriching it all is Richard's distinctive voice.

The album opens with the waves of the sea introducing the beautiful Back to Herne Bay Front, among others Videos of Hollywood and Sally Don't Change It stand out, while Proper Job is the very long closing track, a classic.

If you are attached, like me, to the land of pink and grey, you might as well forget about this work but always leave a little spot among their discs in case you happen to come across it, you never know.

Tracks

Back to Herne Bay Front
Bet You Wanna Take It All / Hold on Hold On
A.A. Man
Videos of Hollywood

Sally Don't Change It
All Aboard
Taken My Breath Away
Proper Job / Back to Front

Line-up

Pye Hastings - guitar, vocals
Richard Coughlan - drums, percussion, vocals
Dave Sinclair - organ, piano, minimoog, vocals
Richard Sinclair - bass, vocals, guitar
Mel Collins - saxophone