Waterloo Lily is Caravan’s fourth studio album and the first without keyboardist Dave Sinclair. Dave Sinclair joined Robert Wyatt’s Matching Mole and Caravan ended up recruiting Steve Miller, who had previously played in the jazz-rock band Delivery, as their new keyboard player.
Where Miller’s predecessor Dave Sinclair favoured the organ, Miller’s main instrument was a Wurlitzer electric piano which alone changed the overall sound of Caravan greatly. Especially when combined with the band’s clear move towards jazz-rock.
Miller also brought along a couple of guests from Delivery who were both more or less familiar with the jazz world. Steve Miller’s brother, guitarist Phil Miller, plays guitar on perhaps the jazziest track on the album on the 10 minute ”Nothing At All” with a tasty jamming and jamming that recalls Miles Davis’ A Tribute To Jack Johnson (1970). Lol Coxhill, a talented soprano saxophonist who played in Deliverys, also makes a guest appearance on the above track, as well as on the opening title track.
The title track ”Waterloo Lily” is an interesting song because it sounds a lot like Hatfield And The North which was formed by Richard Sinclair and Phil Miller a few years later. The whole album is somewhat in the same vein as Hatfield And The North, but this is especially true of the Sinclair composition ”Waterloo Lily”. The song smoothly blends rock and jazz and is punctuated with naughty (Caravan’s trademark to some extent) lyrics about a brothel matron.
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Technically, Caravan’s playing skills on Waterloo Lily are at a higher level than ever before, the music also feels a little more complex than before. Waterloo Lily probably contains some of Caravan’s most technically skilled musicianship.
In particular, Richard Sinclair’s bass playing is absolutely stunning throughout the album, but Pye Hastings is also at his best as a vocalist on this album. He sings all the tracks on the album this time, except for Sinclair’s own track ”Waterloo Lily”, where he does the vocals himself.
Steve Miller also gets to show off his skills as an electric pianist throughout the album and especially in the form of a long solo on the album’s most daring track, the 12-minute ”The Love In Your Eye”. This track also features a stylish use of strings and a handsome flute solo from Caravan’s regular outside member Jimmy Hastings. The versatile ”The Love In Your Eye” is one of Caravan’s greatest songs.
However, despite its jazz leanings, Caravan didn’t abandon its more pop side entirely and Pye Hastings’ jaunty ”Aristocracy” is an excellent three-minute ”sequel” to the mood of the previous album’s classic ”Golf Girl”. Drummer Richard Couglan , however, does get a bit carried away on this one. Less would have been more at this point.
Waterloo Lily is, in my opinion, one of Caravan’s finest albums, but at the time of its release Caravan fans did not digest the band’s jazzier approach and it did not do well commercially.
The following year, both founding member Richard Sinclair and new arrival Steve Miller defected from Caravan, leaving room for both the return of Dave Sinclair and a certain retreat to a musical style more familiar to Caravan.
Best tracks: ”The Love In Your Eye” ja ”Nothing At All”.
Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI
Tracks:
Side A
1. ”Waterloo Lily” 6:47
2. ”Nothing at All / It’s Coming Soon / Nothing at All (Reprise)” 10:25
3. ”Songs and Signs” 3:39
Side B
1. ”Aristocracy” 3:03
2. ”The Love in Your Eye / To Catch Me a Brother / Subsultus / Debouchement / Tilbury Kecks” 12:31
3. ”The World is Yours”
Duration: 40:06
Caravan:
Pye Hastings: guitar, vocals Steve Miller: Wurlitzer electric piano, grand piano, Hammond organ, electric harpsichord Richard Sinclair: bass guitar, vocals Richard Coughlan: drums
Guests:
Lol Coxhill: soprano saxophone (a1, a2) Phil Miller: second solo guitar (a2) Jimmy Hastings: flute (b2) Mike Cotton: trumpet (b2) Barry Robinson: oboe (b2)
Producer: David Hitchcock
Label: Deram
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