Caravan: It’s None Of Your Business

Like many things that have been absent for years, it’s only when a Caravan album arrives that you realise that you’d kind of already presumed it was something you’d never actually receive. Well, here we are some nine year on from the luke-warmly received Paradise Filter and Caravan have returned. You may ask what the album is called but it would appear that It’s None Of Your Business and with that you are already assured that the much missed Caravan sense of humour is still very much in order.

Four of those from the previous album remain in place, ever present guitarist and singer Pye Hastings, guitarist and violin player Geoffrey Richardson, keyboard player Jan Schelhaas and recently added (well, 2010 is recent for a band that’s been going for 53 years!) drummer Mark Walker still in evidence. But with the departure just prior to the album being recorded of bassist Jim Leverton, it’s man of many bands (and much talent) Lee Pomeroy who takes on that responsibility.

The album opens with “Down From London�, a bright, violin led piece that immediately raises the spirits and gets you onside. With tell-tale tongue in cheekness also in place, it’s also the perfect way to involve the listener as Hastings shows he still has the vocal delivery, if not quite the authority, behind the mic - but rest assured, his word play is as sharp as it ever was! Known for their torch carrying adherence to the Canterbury Sound, that undoubtedly quaint Englishness still steers this particular vehicle and as the percussive swish of “Wishing You Were Here� inveigles a jazzy edge underneath a more straight ahead formation, so we know we remain in safe hands. Interestingly, as with all of this album, I’ve found that listening through headphones reveals layers I hadn’t previously picked up on and here especially the guitars bite a little deeper, while the clank of a cowbell pops with just a touch more urgency.

And that too is something I found to be true whether experiencing the smooth passages of the title track or indeed the engagingly warm “Every Precious Little Thing�, which really does ask you to look within to see out with. Add in some wonderful flute asides as this track’s gentle acoustic strums swaddle your heart and if you’re not deeply touched, then you’re not listening. Admittedly however, while you wouldn’t necessarily expect a thrash of guitars to follow it, that “If I Was To Fly� is quite as polite as it is, could lead you to believe that It’s None Of Your Business can be just a little too one paced, and I wouldn’t disagree.

That said, albums by bands at this stage of their careers and who don’t regularly regale us with new music, really can be something of a disappointment. It’s None Of Your Business certainly isn’t that. Neither is it going to displace any of your favourite Caravan albums from the special place they have in your heart. That, however, says more about how good those albums were and less about just how involving this one is.

Track Listing
1. Down from London
2. Wishing You Were Here
3. It's None of Your Business
4. Ready or Not
5. Spare a Thought
6. Every Precious Little Thing
7. If I Was to Fly
8. I'll Reach Out for You
9. There Is You
10. Luna's Tuna

Added: October 15th 2021
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Caravan online
Hits: 2476
Language: english

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