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Rating: What happened in the world of Canterbury Sound at the turn of the '60s and '70s is now a well-documented fact in several already published reviews. What I wanted to achieve with this review is to push a little further and fill in some temporal gaps.
The record that kicks off the new Caravan era is this "Waterloo Lily", and the elements that distinguish it from previous productions are not many, but they are crucial. First and foremost, the great David Sinclair leaves the group and is replaced by former Delivery Steve Miller, not to be confused with the American rocker, but rather the brother of the more famous Phil, guitarist with Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North, etc.
This change proves decisive for the different stylistic approach of the two, more prog in the strict sense for Sinclair, more jazz and avant-garde for Miller (widely demonstrated also in subsequent works with Lol Coxhill - present on this album as a guest on the sax). The compositional phase of this work, therefore, begins to lean heavily in favor of Richard Sinclair and Pye Hastings (respectively bass and guitar) and the generated album assumes a form that leans more towards powerful and structured jazz-rock, rather than the more classic Canterbury sound of the two previous works. Thus essentially what is lost, though not completely, is the psychedelic component. We are still talking about an enormously high-level record, even if alongside the main tracks, which are longer and of more elaborate composition, are shorter tracks with a more immediate approach.
Leaving aside the reissue with some unreleased tracks, which were left out of the recording and in my opinion inferior, I would like to focus on the original album, which, as an immediate impact, presents another splendid cover and whose listening starts decisively with the title track, the track that most ties this work to the splendid preceding "In The Land Of Grey And Pink". This "gentleman" track, besides being the hypothetical link with the previous album, is also what one might define the most cerebral, convoluted and in some respects challenging thing ever done by Caravan, which under an apparently rather direct melodic line carries a truly underground arrangement. Richard Sinclair's voice is among the warmest and most dreamy in the prog scene and in this track, it penetrates you, convincing you that he is what you want to hear from Caravan, nothing else. But there is more... certainly. Two other masterpieces present themselves to the listener's ear: "Nothing At All": a jazzy pulse with a deadly bass, a saxophone development at the top of the genre, and a central jazz piano break by Miller, simply perfect. And yet again "The Love In Your Eyes" which, in its construction, is somewhat reminiscent of that stroke of genius three years prior "For Richard": a melodious start, arpeggios, and singing leading to an explosion of jazz-rock soundscapes of flute and complex rhythms.
Encircling these jewels are three short tracks "Songs and Signs", "Aristocracy", and "The World is Yours" which, as mentioned, are more immediately accessible while maintaining great mastery of intent and use of sounds.
In conclusion a different episode from the previous ones but great in its perfect prog balance. The edition with additional tracks could have been easily spared, and I advise anyone who wants to purchase it to look for the original digital DERAM first edition. Better for those who manage to find the vinyl, so they can fully enjoy the entire cover and the many inner notes, which found no space on the CD.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Waterloo Lily (06:48)
The view – Sixth Avenue
The legs of Waterloo Lily
Black tights for dark nights
On a trip through Picadilly
If you knew the kind of glue
She gums her eyelids with
Realise, on those eyes
That's a gum you'd rather not use
From a jar, in the house of Waterloo Lily
Painted red, the double bed
The biggest in the city
Especially sprung, hung undone
To stimulate delight
Sex machines seem but clean
She does things, you call her true
Waterloo Lily's got enough to turn us all on
Got a bra to fit a car
A port upon her back you warm your feet on
A corset keeps her in
So when you pull a string it lets it all out
Lily Waterloo, Piccadilly blue
Pint of white on Lily's lip
The daily upper door
Down the caff, a cup of char
Double dogwalk, brown and British
Imagine you and Lily too
Aboard a double bunk
Riding two, it's out of view
All the things your sister won't...
Waterloo Lily's got enough to turn us all on
Got a bra to fit a car
A port upon her back you warm your feet on
A corset keeps her in
So when you pull a string it lets it all out
Lily Waterloo, Piccadilly blue
04 Aristocracy (03:03)
You talk of all the many things that you have
And you smile from day to day
But no one has ever seen any of these
And those smiles just fade away
Someone keeps shouting out 'I want to know'
Well I can't help singing this song
When they tell me that the devil is a gentleman too
I know I can't go wrong
I have to slip away today
I've been invited down to stay
Yes I feel my going down
They say that eight fishes call men in the sea
And use man-made for the bait
And shoots all the people that fly in the sky
That chance on his estate
That feeds on salmon, that just has to be seen
And none but he can do
They tell me this and they tell me that
And tell me this is always, always something new
You'd better believe it's so
I made up my mind to go
A whole world waits for you
I'll sit with my head thrust down on your knees
And smile for you again
And you won't have to worry about anything now
I'll be halfway there by ten
It only takes a moment to decide on the move
It all seems so absurd
Still I know that the devil is a gentleman too
Who never keeps his word
I made up my mind to go
You'd better believe it's so
A whole world waits for me
05 The Love in Your Eye / To Catch Me a Brother / Subsultus / Debouchement / Tilbury Kecks (12:32)
06 The World Is Yours (03:40)
The world is mine but for a time
Please hear the love I bring for you to follow
Come with me, with diamonds in the sea
And stare the hearts of men whose fight in sorrow
It's foolish to suppose you know me well, I know
Everything that I touch won't turn to gold
Money's not my way although your own lost soul's
Waiting for the day to break that hole
And I love you
I've never loved someone like I do
I love you
The world is yours if you want me to
I love you
I've never loved someone like I do
Whisper please some scandal to the trees
I'm sure they would enjoy themselves enormously
Will you and I sit up in the sky
And chase our minds through space and time relentlessly?
Circumstances indicate for you and I
If the time is right, we bid a fond farewell
Some friends of mine, the world they take on for a while
Then seldom find the time they know so well
And I love you
I've never loved someone like I do
I love you
The world is yours if you love me too
I love you
I've never loved someone like I do
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