Caravan is a:

1. British progressive rock band from Canterbury, United Kingdom

2. Thai "folk-rock" band, active in the 70s.

3. Japanese singer songwriter.

1. Caravan is a British progressive rock band from Canterbury, United Kingdom, founded by former Wilde Flowers members David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan. Caravan rose to success over a period of several years from 1968 onwards into the 1970s as part of the canterbury scene which also included Soft Machine. Caravan still continue a part-time gigging existence into the present. A feature of the Canterbury sound is the blending of psychedelia.

A regular cult favourite, the band's chart performance in the UK and US was minimal, charting one album, "Cunning Stunts" at US#124. In the UK "Cunning Stunts" (#50) and "Blind Dog at St. Dunstans (#53) were their only hits.

A loyal following has ensured steady back catalogue sales and a lengthy live career for the band, who continue to this day featuring founder members Pye Hastings (guitar, vocals, songwriting) and Richard Coughlan (drums). Caravan's best known recording is the 1971 set "In The Land of Grey and Pink", their second album for Decca. The All Music Guide states that it 'showed off a keen melodic sense, a subtly droll wit, and a seductively smooth mix of hard rock, folk, and classical, intermingled with elements of Tolkien-esque fantasy.' A fair summary of Caravan's late sixties to late seventies work. Prolific and inventive, the band appeared to have too many ideas to produce direct radio-friendly singles. 21st century reissues of their albums featured lengthy tracks, previously unissued, demonstrating the huge amount of releasable material that had failed to make their 1970s albums.

The band were largely dormant in the eighties until a 1990 reunion, planned as a one-off for U.K. television's "Bedrock" show, which restarted their career. Latterly they have also achieved steady sales and a fan following with the support of the more eclectic corners of radio, like BBC Six Music's "Freak Zone" and the growing re-emergence of progressive rock.

2. Caravan is a Thai "folk-rock" band from the 70s. They are the progenitors of the เพลงเพื่อชีวิต (pleng puea chiwit) or "songs for life" genre. Their music is loosely adapted folk-rock rhythms and melodies from American & British protest songs of the time and interlaced them with Thai folk idioms and instrumentation.

The band was founded in the early '70s by student protest leaders surachai chanthimathon & wirasak sunthonsi. Their tunes & lyrics were a vital force for bringing the messages of urban student activism out to the provinces. In the wake of the massacre at thammasat university, the band fled bangkok, some heading into the mountains of the northeast to join the communist insurgency in armed struggle. Needless to say, their music was banned from radioplay for quite a while, broadcast only from pirate stations in the hills.

3. Caravan is a Japanese singer songwriter who started out in a band during his high school days, playing as the guitarist. In 2001, he left the band and decided to go solo. He handed out copies of his independent demo titled "Homework#1" during his live shows.

In 2004, he released his first indie album "RAW LIFE MUSIC" from the label AARON FIELDS, he followed this up with releasing another indie album in November titled "Trip in the music".

With the help of his Promotion Video of "Soul music" being played frequently on SPACE SHOWER TV, Caravan gained some popularity and in 2005, he was signed with rhythm zone (of avex label) and released his first single "DAY DREAM". In 2006, Caravan released his first major album "WANDER AROUND" and since then, he has managed to produce a album each year (2007: PANORAMA VISION, 2008: Yellow Morning, 2009: Luck and Pluck) and in 2010, he released two best of albums titled "The Planet songs: vol1 + 2."

Official Website (Japanese): http://www.caravan-music.com/

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.