''If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You'' is the second album by

Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

band

Caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

, released in September 1970. It was the predecessor to their best-known album '' In the Land of Grey and Pink'' (1971). The album is representative of the Canterbury scene genre, featuring representative organ solos and melodic vocals typical of the band's style. The album was released on

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

, as was the title track as a single release.

Background

Caravan had released their debut album, ''

'' in 1968, achieving some live success and had appeared on UK and German television in early 1969. Unfortunately, their label,

Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, ...

shut down their British operations and dropped the band. Guitarist

Pye Hastings Julian Frederick Gordon 'Pye' Hastings (born 21 January 1947 in Tomnavoulin, Banffshire, Scotland) is a British musician. Born in Scotland and raised in Canterbury, Kent, he is the guitarist and vocalist of the Canterbury scene band Caravan and ...

later recalled "that situation really left us in limbo". The band regrouped and continued performing live, eventually finding a manager Terry King. David Hitchcock, an employee of

' art department, saw the band perform at the

London Lyceum The Lyceum Theatre ( ) is a West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand in central London. It has a seating capacity of 2,100. The origins of the theatre date to 1765. Managed by Samuel Arnold, ...

and recommend that his boss,

Hugh Mendl Hugh Rees Christopher Mendl (6 August 1919, London – 7 July 2008) was a British record producer, A&R representative, and manager who worked for Decca Records for over 40 years. Mendl attended Radley College and then University College, Oxford, ...

sign them. Sessions for the album started at Tangerine Studios on Balls Pond Road,

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...

, London in September 1969, with the band self-producing and

Robin Sylvester Robin Sylvester (1950 – 29 October 2022) was an English musician who was best known as a member of the American band RatDog. Although primarily a bass player, he played several instruments, including the guitar and keyboards, and did extensi ...

engineering. Hastings recalled that this caused problems, as every member of the band wanted his instrument to be louder than the others. The band recorded a few tracks, but these were abandoned while the band went out on tour, having become popular on the university circuit in Britain and Europe. They regrouped in February the following year and recorded the songs on the album mostly live onto 8-track tape. The highlight of the sessions was a fourteen-minute

jazz-rock Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

piece assembled from various sections contributed by the band, called "For Richard". Keyboardist David Sinclair composed the basic structure, while bassist

Richard Sinclair Richard Stephen Sinclair (born 6 June 1948) is an English progressive rock bassist, guitarist, and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene. Biography Born in Canterbury, England, both his father (Dick Sinclair) ...

wrote the main tune. Hastings invited his brother Jimmy to guest on saxophone and flute, which would become a regular feature of Caravan's studio work. The album title and title track is a quote often attributed to

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

but equally possibly deriving from a bootlegged

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

song "All Over You" ("Well, if I had to do it all over again/Babe, I’d do it all over you"), later released on The Bootleg Series, Vol 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964. The cover was shot in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road ...

, London and was photographed by David Jupe.

Release and reception

"Hello Hello", backed with the title track, was released as a single in August 1970, which led to an appearance on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. The album was released the following month in the UK, and in March 1971 in the US. According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, "If I Could Do It All Over Again contains significant progressions over the first album." "For Richard" became a staple of live Caravan shows and was typically heard as the set closer. A fully orchestrated, live version can be heard on the 1974 release ''

Caravan and the New Symphonia ''Caravan and the New Symphonia'' is a record by Caravan recorded on 28 October 1973 at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane and originally released in 1974 on UK Decca's subsidiary Deram. Bringing the band and The New Symphonia Orchestra together ...

''. The CD was remastered in 2001, with the addition of bonus tracks, including the abandoned September 1969 sessions, and the out-take "A Day in the Life of Maurice Haylett", written about the band's

road manager In the music industry, a road manager is a person who works with small to mid-size tours (in terms of personnel involved, based on the size of the production). Job responsibilities include (but are not limited to): *advancing show dates *making t ...

Track listing

All songs by

Richard Coughlan Richard Coughlan (2 September 1947 – 1 December 2013) was an English musician, best known as the drummer and percussionist of the Canterbury scene progressive rock band Caravan. He was one of the founding members of Caravan in 1968 and remain ...

and

Dave Sinclair David Sinclair (born 24 November 1947) is a British keyboardist (organ, piano, harpsichord, electric piano, Mellotron, Davolisint, etc.) associated with the psychedelia/progressive rock Canterbury Scene since the late 1960s. He became famous wi ...

. ;Side one ;Side two ;Bonus tracks on 2001 CD rerelease

Personnel

;Caravan *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, 6- and 12-string

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s, 6 string

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

claves Claves (; ) are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony o ...

, percussion (worn leather strap, ashtrays), voice (impersonation of a friendly

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

) *

– vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, hedge clippers * David Sinclair –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

maraca A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were r ...

finger cymbals Zills or zils (from Turkish 'cymbals'), also called finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are called () in Egypt. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pai ...

;Additional personnel *

Jimmy Hastings James Brian Gordon Hastings (born 12 May 1938) is a British musician associated with the Canterbury scene who plays saxophones, flute and clarinet. Hastings was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He has played with his brother Pye Hastings in Caravan, ...

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

– engineer * David Jupe – photography and graphics * Terry King – manager * Maurice Haylett – road manager

References

Citations Sources *

External links

Caravan - ''If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You'' (1970) album review by Lindsay Planer, credits & releases
at

AllMusic.com AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Caravan - ''If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You'' (1970) album releases & credits
at

Discogs.com Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...

* {{Authority control Caravan (band) albums 1970 albums Decca Records albums