Caravan doesn't use guitar as lead instrument, just their signature hammond organ with fuzz. This is one of my favorite bands, and this song is one of the best musical creations ever imo.
Glad to see some others reacting to Caravan! Found them about a decade ago and they quickly became a favorite. A defining feature of the Canterbury scene, and especially of Caravan, is the fuzz organ which is really the main lead instrument for a lot of their early stuff. Pye is a great guitarist though and has some great parts spread throughout their music, and it became a bigger feature later on along with addition of Geoff’s viola. Also that choir you hear is from the good ol Mellotron! Dave Sinclair is a fantastic organist and pianist. Didn’t use a TON of Mellotron like some other bands of the time did, but it occasionally pops up in Caravan’s music.
Bought the record in 1972 purely based on the art work of the cover. I just got a well paid job in Frankfurt at a large news paper for the 6 week summer holidays of high school. Turned out I listened to 9 feet from start to finish every day of the 6 weeks upon returning home from work. The song never left me so to speak in fact it became one of my top 3 recordings. Others of my favorite recordings are Selling England by the Pound, Romantic Warrior of Return to Forever, Eberhard Weber Colors etc. and other stuff from ECM records and later naturally Pat Metheny Group. Caravan was able to transmit a certain very subtle quality / energy here. To this day it brings tears to my eyes. I read several others claiming this was Dave Sinclair's peak performance on the hammond
At 24:00 minutes in this cideo rhe Guitar starts to SHINE! And it starts as a backwards recording 🎸🎶🎶🎶 And yes that is one of the top 5 Voices ever recorded!
Really enjoyed this, it is so chilled and matched my hot summer afternoon perfectly. - No keyboard patches back in 1971 - Think maybe introduced in 1976 but very limited. If you wanted a flute or a sax you had to have someone play them.
Thank God for making Humans to raise to a Level to create PROG! The Highest form of MUSIC. And after hear PROG we realize that MUSIC is the Best rhing HUMANS wver created. It Made the WORLD more BEAUTIFUL than it already was.
