Live: Canterbury Comes To... [Live] [Import]

Product Description:
1997 release on HTD featuring a live show at the Astoria in London with the line up of Pye Hastings, Geoffrey Richardson, Dave Sinclair, Richard Coughlan, Jim Leverton, Doug Boyle and Simon Bentall. 10 tracks, including 'Memory Lain', 'Headloss', 'Golf Girl' and an 11 minute version of 'For Richard'. The full title is 'Live: Canterbury Comes To London'.

Tracks:

Memory Lain
Headloss
Nine Feet Underground
The Dog The Dog, He's At It Again
Cold As Ice
Somewhere In Your Heart
I Know Why You're Laughing
Liar
For Richard
Golf Girl

Customer Reviews:

Good Live Album.......2006-11-24

This is an outstanding live album recorded at the London Astoria in one take in 1997. The band's lineup at this point consisted of Pye Hastings, Geoffrey Richardson, Dave Sinclair, Jim Leverton, Doug Boyle, Richard Coughlin, and Simon Bentall. The album features twin lead guitars which give the band an overall harder edge on some of the tracks which for me works well. Geoffrey Richardson's viola shines through on several of the tracks that adds a different dimension on a few of the numbers. The album is a mix of old classic Caravan and four songs from the 90's version of the band. Highlights include "Headloss" "Nine Feet Underground" and "For Richard". The vocals on the album are a bit weak at times, but overall I like this album a lot.

Bad new songs.......2003-11-08

This CD has been released with different covers and different titles, all variations on the full title: Cavaran; Canterbury Comes To London: Live from Astoria.

This is yet another reunion live album from Caravan, playing the old songs plus a few new bad ones. This time the group is Pye Hastings, Richard Coughlin, David Sinclair, and Geoff Richardson, with three other musicians. One of the new guys is the old guitarist from Robert Plant's band. So, parts of this album have a harder, guitar-oriented edge, with the dual guitar attack.

The album starts out with a fairly good Memory Lain, Hugh with some nice guitar solos at the end. It's nice to hear Richardson' viola at the beginning. It always gave the later Caravan music a very unique atmosphere.

From there it goes into an OK version of Headloss. But, both these tracks have been done live before and none of the live versions have been that much different than the studio versions. The ones here are slightly unique with the dual guitars.

The Nine Feet Underground here is only 17 minutes, 4 minutes shorter than the original studio version. There is nothing that different for most of the song. Near the end, the group plays it like a lounge act. It's nice to see them change things up, but this new version isn't particularly good.

The album than moves into 4 new tracks from Pye Hastings (songs from albums released in the nineties). There is only one, Cold As Ice that is even tolerable. It has that atmospheric feel, highlighted by Hasting's vocals. The rest are bad lyrically and musically. The last two are rants against people who have done Hastings wrong.

For Richard is on almost every live album Caravan has done. There must be over 8 versions of the song. At 11 minutes, this is one of the shortest ones. What is nice about this version is that is edgier and harder than any of the other versions, with guitars slamming out the tune. However, the famous bassline gets muted and distorted so that it is no longer recognizable.

The CD ends up with a pointless version of Golf Girl. It is not much different than the original, and I never thought that this was one of Caravan's better songs.

So, with this album you get rougher, but interesting versions of Memory and Richard, a number of old songs where nothing new has been added and 4 bad new songs.

Tracks:

Memory Lain
Headloss
Nine Feet Undergound
The Dog, The Dog, He's At It Again
Cold As Ice
Somewhere In Your Heart
I Know Why You're Laughing
Liar
For Richard
Golf Girl

Customer Reviews:

A second listen.......2003-11-06

I reviewed this album after I first heard it and was pretty harsh. I listened to it again, more carefully, and it isn't quite as bad as I first mentioned.

What is nice about this album is that the group did not pull the dinosaur act of playing old hits in the same old way. The group did try to change things around a little and did play some new songs. Unfortunately, in most cases the changes aren't for the better.

The new songs still suck (except for maybe Cold As Ice). They are all from Pye Hastings. He was never the best song writer in the group, and since the eighties, he has lost any edge that he originally had. Also, Caravan had a sound that would envelope you and take you to a different place. That is not apparent in any of the new tunes (except for Cold As Ice, thanks to Geoff Richardson' viola, and Hastings reverting back to his old vocal style).

The other major change, is that group is plays some of the songs with a harder edge. The first two songs are actually played fairly well, with some nice solos. I aways liked the atmosphere that Richardson's viola added to the group when he joined for the fifth album.

Nine Feet Underground is only 17 minutes and is 4 minutes shorter than the studio version. Another reviewer said that it was a nice run through. And for the most part, it is a run through, with nothing special added. But, you do have to give the group credit. Near the end the group does try to change things up, by singing and playing the piece as if they were a lounge act. I applaud change, but in this case it really doesn't work.

For Richard is on almost all of Caravan's live albums. There are over 8 versions of the song. This one is played completely different than the rest. After a light rock intro, the group switches to a heavy metal, guitar crunching sound. I can't decide if I like it better than the other versions, but it does have some punch to it.

The album ends with a pointless version of Golf Girl, which doesn't sound much different from the original, except for some annoying percussion in the background. It wasn't one of Caravan's best songs in the first place.

So, with this album, you get a different, harder rocking version of For Richard, a couple of other OK tracks, some pointless music that isn't much different from other versions, and a bunch of bad songs.

Much better choices include the 1995 "Live" which contains the original quartet (plus Jimmy Hastings) or Songs for the Oblivion Fishermen (what a horrible title), which features live performances from the earlier days.

Note that this CD has come out in different covers and with different variations of the complete title Canterbury Comes to London: Live From Astoria.

Solid 1997 live album.......2003-01-21

The seminal British prog-rock band Caravan has released several live albums in recent years. This 1997 effort includes guitarist Pye Hastings, keyboardist Dave Sinclair, violist Geoffrey Richardson, and drummer Richard Coughlan from the classic Caravan lineup, along with a second guitarist, bass, and percussion. The highlight is a great run-through of "Nine Feet Underground", which shaves a couple minutes of jamming off the original while keeping the full intensity and splendor. There are good versions of "Memory Lain, Hugh", "The Dog, the Dog, He's at It Again", "Headloss", and the eternal novelty "Golf Girl". I found the addition of congas to songs like "Memory Lain" to be off-putting. The version of "For Richard" here isn't as good as the live version included in the "Canterbury Tales" package. There are also four recent songs, of which the only good one is "Cold As Ice". These weak songs cut this to a 3-1/2 star album.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

Get "Caravan Live" instead.......2001-02-26

This is a live album from 1997. It features most of the original Caravan and one long standing member: Pye Hastings on guitar, Dave Sinclair on keyboards, Richard Coughlin on drums and Geoff Richardson viola and flute. There are three additional musicians I have never heard of.

This CD is surprisingly bad. The old songs are played with no innovation, energy or spark. Nine Feet Underground at 17 minutes is three minutes shorter than the studio version. For Richard has already been overplayed to the max, being on all 8 of Caravan's live albums. This is the worst and shortest version of them all. The new songs are just plain terrible. Although Richardson and Sinclair are in the group, they do not contribute any material. Hastings basically dominates the band now, and his writing has gone stale.

Caravan lost it in the early eighties, with some bad albums. They showed promise in 1990 when the whole original group reunited. They put out a great live CD, simply called Caravan Live. That is the CD to get. But, the reunited band didn't really hold together and Hastings continued on, putting out boring music. Sinclair and Richardson just appear again, mostly as guest musicians and not part of the band.

Get "Caravan Live" instead.......2001-02-26

Tracks:

Memory Lane
Headloss
Nine Feet Underground
The Dog, The Dog, He's Doing It Again
Cold As Ice
Somewhere In Your Heart
I Know Why You're Laughing
Liar
For Richard
Golf Girl

Album Description

1997 release on HTD featuring a live show at the Astoria in London with the line up of Pye Hastings, Geoffrey Richardson, Dave Sinclair, Richard Coughlan, Jim Leverton, Doug Boyle and Simon Bentall. 10 tracks, including 'Memory Lain', 'Headloss', 'Golf Girl' and an 11 minute version of 'For Richard'. The full title is 'Live: Canterbury Comes To London'.

Customer Reviews:

Not one their best.......2004-07-01

This CD has been released with different covers and different titles, all variations on the full title: Cavaran; Canterbury Comes To London: Live from Astoria.

The CD ends up with a pointless version of Golf Girl. It is not much different than the original, and I never thought that this was one of Caravan's better songs.

So, with this album you get rougher, but interesting versions of Memory and Richard, a number of old songs where nothing new has been added and 4 bad new songs.

Solid 1997 live album.......2003-01-07

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

great live CD.......2002-11-18

Caravan in great form playing their most popular songs.
The concert is tight with top performances from Dave Sinclair,
Pye Hastings and Doug Boyle on lead guitar.
A CD not to be missed

Canterbury Comes To London: Live From The Astoria

Average customer rating:

Canterbury Comes To London: Live From The Astoria
Caravan
Manufacturer: Sanctuary
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000LX0JPM

Music Album:

Music Album