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Live at the Fairfield Halls, 1974

By: Caravan
Label: Decca - Pop
Released: 04 Feb 2002
RRP: £8.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

a classic - By: Dr. Michael J. Johnson, 09 Apr 2006
I bought this album in 1980 while interailing on the continent.
I had "In the land of .." , but must admit that wasnt a true Caravan obsessive, being more of a Camel fan.

I was blown away when I arrived home after carting the thing around Europe for 4 weeks.
For Richard & The Love in your eye are personal faves .
The sound quality for a live album of this era , even on vinyl , is superb.
The band are very tight, & the Hammond organ solos still send shivers up my spine to this day.

If you a long time fan, get it, & if you like early 70`s jazzy prog & wish to dip your toe into the Caravan stained water, it is also worth a listen.

It is still one of my alll time favourite live albums, 25 years after buying it.

Caravan at their best! - By: ben hedges, 15 Jan 2004
I was a loyal Caravan fan back in the early 70’s & could never understand why a band with such original musical ideas, & unique sound (just listen to that organ on If I Could Do it Again & Land of Grey & Pink), never made it to the big time. It was left to those of us ‘in the know’ to spread the Caravan message. Now, after many years, I have dug up my Caravan vinyl collection & decided that this music is still as fresh & original as ever & deserves upgrading to CD. Looking on Amazon, I was pleased to find that someone at Decca had persuaded the men in suits to re-master the albums. I was also intrigued to find this Live at Fairfield Hallls CD & the glowing reviews were enough to make me buy it. I was not disappointed. It is Caravan at their best & alll complimented by a technicallly good recording.

Mainly featuring material from Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night, there are other gems here as well, Virgin on the Ridiculous, Love in Your Eye and, of course, For Richard. The band sounds reallly tight & the musical energy is captured magnificently. This CD should have been released in the UK a long time ago rather than just being restricted to being a French release. Anyway, it is now here, great music from a great band - play loud.

Greatest Hits Live - By: , 09 Nov 2003
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 alll downhill from here on in.

The performance is nevertheless an enjoyable one. The band had long ago mutated from the original Canterbury line up & 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 & although there is rarity value in the "L'Auberge Du Sanglier" suite being captured for posterity this & 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" & the old staple "For Richard". The whole album
was recorded professionallly 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 officiallly released I suspect that this performance will, in comparison, soon be forgotten.

Buy this CD Now! - By: , 22 Mar 2002
"For Girls......" for me was the best Caravan LP. Not true to Caravan of old, but Free Form Caravan with Jazz. Live at Fairfield is the Big Brother to "For Girls......". Why this was never released in the UK, I will never know. If you liked "For Girls......" just type in the information, & buy this CD before it is deleted. Superb, great quality, & great music. End of story. What a Band! Decca may be an Old Record Label, but there is one Record Executive who works for Decca who knows what he/she is doing, & has a brain. Who ever it was who said "Yes lets do it" needs to be commended. Roll Back the Years, Hold up the Ears, & in the comfort of your own home do what ever you did when you saw them live!
Caravan - As they were meant to be heard - By: , 21 Mar 2002
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 Halll (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 & 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!