Rare Footage! Caravan Live in Montreux 1972 (Youtube)

[Bruno Sampaio Barbosa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRVh1baN3KY



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRVh1baN3KY

[chalkpie]

Wow...amazing!

[Trane]

had never seen this before

Is this the only film with Miller on KB?

[JJ88]

There's not much footage of them from the 70s, period, so this is quite a find. And this is a line-up not well documented by BBC sessions as well.

Fascinating- a very atypical period for them, heavy on instrumental workouts. The opening track (a variation on 'Nothing At All', I suppose) is entirely instrumental and well over 10 minutes long.

[arturs]

JHC! Every year it seems some new amazing archival footage from Canterbury bands drops from the heavens. Last two years its been Soft Machine and we recently got a new Hatfields clip.

But this I believe is the longest continuous Caravan film from the 1970s in existence. And I've certainly never seen a Steve Miller clip before.

Musically this is hugely enjoyable: Caravan as a first-rate jam band. I guess I can see why the lineup didn't last but they are no slouches within the genre.

My question: Pye's Camel button. Is this in reference to the band? or maybe his favorite smokes?

[JJ88]

^I was wondering about the Camel thing! It's a year before the band's first album was out.

I've always found Waterloo Lily a bit of an odd (though not bad) album, a band pulling in different directions. Live, it seems they went even further down a 'jam band' road, as you say. Very interesting.

You do wonder what else is lurking in European TV archives, hitherto unknown.

[chalkpie]

Pye needs to check his flye

[mozo-pg]

Pretty impressive find! Watching it on the big screen in stereo.

[Bytor]

Last two years its been Soft Machine and we recently got a new Hatfields clip.

The Hatfield stuff you are mentioning, is it the Hérouville clip?

[calyx]

JMy question: Pye's Camel button. Is this in reference to the band? or maybe his favorite smokes?

Obviously the latter. It's the Camel cigarettes logo, which hadn't yet been adopted by the band Camel as their own in April 1972, when this was fllmed. Camel had barely started then anyway. The story goes that someone, in late 1973 or early 1974, came up with the idea for the "Mirage" cover, which toyed with the imagery of Camel cigarettes, and for fear of getting sued they reached an agreement with the cigarette brand, whereby in exchange for this free publicity, the band members would get tons of free cigarettes. And for a while they had a logo similar to the cigarettes'. I think this was told by Andy Ward in one interview. So Pye's Camel badge was well ahead of any of this happening.

[calyx]

Fascinating- a very atypical period for them, heavy on instrumental workouts. The opening track (a variation on 'Nothing At All', I suppose) is entirely instrumental and well over 10 minutes long.

It's based on "Nothing At All" and "It's Coming Soon", the Steve Miller tune that's in the middle of it, but with extra riffs that went on to form Hatfield's "Rifferama". It's quite similar to how "Halfway Between Heaven And Earth" and the 6/8 Jam from "Tenemos Roads" both started as adjuncts to the "Yes-No Interlude".

[Trane]

The Hatfield stuff you are mentioning, is it the Hérouville clip?

I don't know how widely available the Hérouville film was available, but I'd seen it quite a while ago (anywhere between 6 to 12 years, is my guess)

Obviously the latter. It's the Camel cigarettes logo, which hadn't yet been adopted by the band Camel as their own in April 1972, when this was fllmed. Camel had barely started then anyway. The story goes that someone, in late 1973 or early 1974, came up with the idea for the "Mirage" cover, which toyed with the imagery of Camel cigarettes, and for fear of getting sued they reached an agreement with the cigarette brand, whereby in exchange for this free publicity, the band members would get tons of free cigarettes. And for a while they had a logo similar to the cigarettes'. I think this was told by Andy Ward in one interview. So Pye's Camel badge was well ahead of any of this happening.

I guess Pye thought it fun to wear it in echo of their name (no caravan without camels) and the camel on the horizon in the background of their first album's sleeve

[TCC]

Great and thanks B.S.B.: really appreciate it !

[markwoll]

Very nice. You have got your cleanup process worked out.

[moecurlythanu]

Just wonderful. Watching this and the Hammill footage in the other thread just drives home what a Golden Age this was for music. Probably never to be seen again.

[Paulrus]

Live, it seems they went even further down a 'jam band' road, as you say.

Which according to what I've read only widened the gulf between RS/SM and PH/RC. They lasted just a couple more months after this before breaking up (after a gig with Genesis apparently!)

Interestingly there is no info online about Steve Miller. What was his story? I wonder if Caravan could have become an English version of Steely Dan with him in the band.

[alucard]

That´s great!
I love the way it´s filmed with slow movements and zooming in on the necks or keys....I realized for the first time that Pye played his 12 string as a 6 string. Did he ever used it as a 12 string? Between 7:30 and 8h30 Steve Miller plays a chord progression that sounds like ´Porkpie Hat´ by Charlie Mingus. A pity it stopped so early.....hopefully there will be more to come

[alucard]

Pye needs to check his flye

Actually the zip is closed, it´s the part that covers the zip that stands out a bit. I had a similar bell bottom model. They were VERY tight on your private parts.... :-)

[JJ88]

'Songs And Signs' at the end was a nice surprise, I've always liked that track. I guess Miller was associated with the likes of 'Nothing At All' within Caravan, but he could write a good tune as well.

Always good when a new live 'discovery' fills in a gap.

Interestingly there is no info online about Steve Miller. What was his story? I wonder if Caravan could have become an English version of Steely Dan with him in the band.

He appears on some early recordings of Robert Plant with Alexis Korner- 'Operator' and 'Steal Away'. It's just the three of them playing acoustic blues.

[happytheman]

Actually the zip is closed, it´s the part that covers the zip that stands out a bit. I had a similar bell bottom model. They were VERY tight on your private parts.... :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB0MxBMMKHM

[Trane]

Which according to what I've read only widened the gulf between RS/SM and PH/RC. They lasted just a couple more months after this before breaking up (after a gig with Genesis apparently!)

Shame too, cos both Pye (maybe a but surprisingly so) and Coughlan (maybe les surprising, since he's a jazzy drummer) seem relatively good at it

This film has awaken me to Pye being a better guitarist back then than I had given him credit for.
Part of this confusion is also due to the fact that his guitar parts on the studio albums were drowned in or fuzzed in and didn't sound much like guitar parts (other than the rhythm guitars), so it was difficult to see what he brought to the instrumental parts.

That´s great!
I love the way it´s filmed with slow movements and zooming in on the necks or keys....I realized for the first time that Pye played his 12 string as a 6 string. Did he ever used it as a 12 string?

sadly the only other filmed time piece available (so far and to my knowledge) is the German footage (Beat Club?) and I don't remember much of his playing.

On the other quartet (+ Brother Jimmy) footage, the 1991 Nottigham gig, Pye plays a six string Strat and the arrangements are different, so you can clearly hear more distingly what he brought to the whole scheme.

[alucard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB0MxBMMKHM

"nothing left too imagination"

[arturs]

Shame too, cos both Pye (maybe a but surprisingly so) and Coughlan (maybe les surprising, since he's a jazzy drummer) seem relatively good at it

This film has awaken me to Pye being a better guitarist back then than I had given him credit for.

Agreed. Pye is indeed very good at the jamming/jazz-rock. He's no speed demon but his ideas are strong.

Part of this confusion is also due to the fact that his guitar parts on the studio albums were drowned in or fuzzed in and didn't sound much like guitar parts (other than the rhythm guitars), so it was difficult to see what he brought to the instrumental parts.

Also because they subsequently hired Geoff R, who took many of the leads (or at least I assume so, unless on live material I can hear a viola playing at the same time...). And then when I had the opportunity to see them, Doug Boyle did all the lead work.

[Paulrus]

This film has awaken me to Pye being a better guitarist back then than I had given him credit for.

I know, right? He's a FAR more accomplished soloist in this film than I would have ever imagined.

[RaelWV]

.I realized for the first time that Pye played his 12 string as a 6 string. Did he ever used it as a 12 string?

I dug around and found this at EquipBoard:

This a video of Caravan, led by Pye Hastings, performing on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' in 1973 on the BBC. He can be seen using the Fender XII, starting from 0:25 in the video. It is important to note that the inside of the album 'For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night' also shows Pye with the instrument and that he used it for recording some of the tracks on the album.

It has been said that when Pye asked Terry King (Caravan's Manager) for a Fender Strat, he replied "Why do you need another Fender guitar? You already have one.". Pye explained that he wanted a 6-string guitar too, and Terry advised him to remove six strings from his original Fender XII, which he did.