Track Listing

1. Memory Laine, Hugh / Headloss
2. Virgin on the Ridiculous
3. Be Alright / Chance of a Lifetime
4. The Love in Your Eye
5. L'Auberge Du Sanglier / A Hunting We Shall Go
6. The Dog, The Dog, He's At It Again
7. For Richard
8. Hoedown

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14077 in Music
• Released on: 2002-02-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Live, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 80 minutes

Customer Reviews

THE archive release of 2002
The year has barely started and the competition for the best archive release of 2002 is already over. Caravan's "Live at the Fairfield Halls, 1974" is one monster of a live album, a couple of seconds short of 80 minutes of sheer brilliancy from a magnificent group in the peak of its powers.

Previously available only briefly in the early 80's under the title "The Best of Caravan Live" (now complete with "Chance of a Lifetime" and the encore "Hoedown" correctly placed) this is a professionally recorded album with exceptional sound quality. The gig itself has been lauded as one of the finest Caravan performances of the period, and one can easily hear why. The set is brilliant from start to finish. Even the songs usually heard with orchestral backing ("Virgin on the Ridiculous" and "A Hunting We Shall Go") sound superb as quartet arrangements and certainly do not seem lacking in any respect.

This Caravan comes loaded with goods - don't miss out on your share!

Caravan - As they were meant to be heard
The definitive Caravan live album.

OK the official release at the time "Caravan & the New Symphonia" has a novelty value with the full orchestral backing but is not as good as this release.

The band were in magnificent form at fairfield Hall (obviously looking forward to their impending jaunt to the States)and every track is superbly performed - often surpassing the studio versions. Certainly The Love in Your Eye, For Richard and L'Auberge du Sanglier are worth the price alone.

As one of the few who managed to get "The Best of Caravan Live" - the French release that featured much of this concert performance - I was doubtful if I would ever see it on CD so I could hardly have been more pleased to see the full concert released in its own right.

80 minutes of Caravan bliss? Come on - you can't go wrong!

Greatest Hits Live
For anyone who managed to get their hands on the rather rare vinyl version of this album (only released in France) they might wonder what the fuss is about but this has nevertheless long been regarded by other Caravan fans as a bit of a holy grail release. Effectively released then as a live greatest hits package in fact it comprised a single performance from Croydon in September 1974, arguably at the zenith of the band's artistic period with Decca - certainly in terms of studio albums it was all downhill from here on in.

The performance is nevertheless an enjoyable one. The band had long ago mutated from the original Canterbury line up and by late '74 it was effectively a new band playing the old hits (even the last album's line up from earlier in 1974 had not survived long).

Now repackaged as a single live album (it is exactly what it says on the cover) these are nonetheless pretty storming performances, particularly the tracks from the "Girls That Grow Plump in the Night" LP. It is a bit of a strange mix however and although there is rarity value in the "L'Auberge Du Sanglier" suite being captured for posterity this and the New Symphonia track, "Virgin on the Ridiculous", are pretty weak live in my view.

What makes up for these minor shortcomings are great performances of "Love in your Eye", "Memory Lain, Hugh/Headloss" and the old staple "For Richard". The whole album
was recorded professionally on the Pye Mobile recording unit and, as such, sound quality is extremely high.

Most Caravan fans will want this in their collection but if we can get earlier performances from 1970-71 officially released I suspect that this performance will, in comparison, soon be forgotten.