The Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings Artist: Caravan
Label: Castle Us
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 602923652023
EAN: 0602923652023
ASIN: B00001OHAI


Release Date: 2002-06-11

The Battle of Hastings


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Tracks:

  1. It's A Sad Sad Affair
  2. Somewhere In Your Heart
  3. Cold As Ice
  4. Liar
  5. Don't Want Love
  6. Travelling Ways
  7. This Time
  8. If It Wasn't For You Ego
  9. Its Not Real
  10. Wendy Wants Another 6 Inch Mole
  11. I Know Why You're Laughing

Similar Items:

  1. Waterloo Lily
  2. If I Could Do It All Over Again I'd Do It All Over You
  3. Cunning Stunts
  4. Caravan & the New Symphonia

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars Not the classic Caravan you know but ..........2004-06-19

Out of fairness to Caravan, I first reviewed this album after 1-2 listens. Since then, I've had a chance to listen to it another 5-6 times. My initial review was "**" and I'm bumping it up to "***" and that's the best I'll ever be able to do with this album. It's sitting right at the lower echelon of "***". "Wendy wants another 6-inch mole" (the best track on the cd as it follows suite to the whimsical lyrics/music that fans of Caravan love them for), "I know why you're laughing" and the catchy tune "Sad, sad affair" still show that Caravan still has something left. Yes there are some overly-syrupy songs on this album but there's still a little bit of good mixed in. I'd say out of a 10 point max, this cd would rate a 5.5 or 6 at best. It's nice to see Caravan recording during the 90's and into the millenium. I hope they're around for a long time.

If you're a fan of just Caravan's pre-"Cunning Stunts" period only, you'll want to skip this. If you loved "Cunning Stunts" and did not mind "Blind Dog at St. Dunstans" and was able to tolerate the "Better by Far" and 1980-effort, then you'd probobly want to check this out to see for yourself.

2 out of 5 stars Collection of bad songs with a few goods mixed in.......2003-12-16

The title is appropriate, because at this time, Caravan had become Pye Hasting's band. He wrote all the tracks on this album, except one. And the album is dominated by Hastings sound and vocals. The album consists of mostly shorter songs (around 3 to 6 minutes) and is 50 minutes long.

The album cover has been changed. The original cover was grey and pink and looked like a variation of the cover from In the Land of Gray and Pink.

This time the group includes Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlin (as always), David Sinclair, Geoff Richardson and Jimmy Hastings. But, Sinclair and Richardson have very little impact on this album. There is none Richardson's viola and the rest of his playing is relegated to the background. Sinclair's one composition, Traveling Ways, is one of the worst things he has ever written. Only Jimmy Hastings's flute and saxophone are featured beyond Pye Hastings's guitar work. And, for some reason, Pye Hastings never really opens up on guitar.

Other than Jimmy Hastings's playing at the end of some so of the songs, there is no emotion or energy on this album. The songs are just boring and tedious. But, Jimmy Hastings does have some wonderful moments.

There are a few good songs, like Emily, Don't Want Love, and It's Not Real.

After this album was released, Caravan went on a tour to support it. There is a CD from that tour called Live In London at the Astoria (or some variation...it has been released with several different titles and covers). I didn't like the live album either. There is also a video of the concert, but I haven't seen it. A better live album to get is called simply, Caravan Live and is from 3 years earlier and features the complete original band.

3 out of 5 stars Very Nice, But May Not Please Old Fans.......2002-01-16

Caravan, led by original member Pye Hastings and apparently still going strong, released this album of all new material back in 1995. It certainly is not another "Land of Grey and Pink", but then, it's not 1971 anymore, either. What it we have here is a beautifully performed and produced collection of mostly mid tempo pop/rock songs. Pye Hastings always excelled at writing this kind of material, and has retained his writing, playing, and singing skills over the years. There is very little jamming, but brother Jimmy Hastings provides several nice flute and sax solos. The graceful arrangements feature organ, piano, violin, acoustic and electric guitars. Frankly, this isn't a "progressive" rock album, but a pleasant listen it is none the less.

2 out of 5 stars What a disappointment!.......2000-08-09

Caravan is one of my favorite bands of all time (to find our why, you might want to read the reviews posted on their best album, In The Land Of Grey And Pink).

Until comparatively recently, I though that Caravan had gone nine feet underground ages ago. Not so: occasionally, some of the members of the band get together and release a new CD.

This is one of those CD's. It boasts a great line-up, including Pye Hastings, Richard Coughlan, David Sinclair and Jimmy Hatsings... Names instantly familiar to Caravan fans.

So all seems to bode well for this recording, doesn't it?

Well, don't you believe it. This is a very sorry - and frankly, very dull - effort. All the magic of Caravan (all the whimsical lyrics, the wonderful organ solos, everything) is missing. This is just a painful, sad and utterly unremarkable collection of middle-of-the-road pop songs.

Stay away from this recording if you like the "real" Caravan. Instead, go forth and multiply - No, sorry, that's another issue, I mean buy Richard Sinclair's "The Caravan of Dreams". Yes, you can get that through Amazon as well! Hurrah!

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