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A change of label to Arista produced an album, 'Better by Far'. Despite a good deal of promotion, Caravan were now struggling to maintain the level of support they had previously enjoyed and the advent of punk was rendering bands such as Caravan surplus to record company's requirements. Even the loyal Geoffrey Richardson decided to go as session work began to come his way- he left on April 14th 1978.

Terry King the band's old manager signed them up to his own Kingdom Records and a tour and album followed: 'The Album', which was released in November 1980. With Dave Sinclair in tow and Geoffrey Richardson guesting, they managed a few prestigious dates including a full house at London's Dominion Theatre.

All went quiet again however and the band went to ground, although a reunion album was released in July 1982 entitled 'Back to Front', featuring the original line up augmented on some tracks by Mel Collins on saxophone. No longer were the band members in music full time. The only dates of any significance were an appearance at the Marquee in 1983 for the club's 25th celebrations and a 'final' gig in Canterbury in 1985.

And so that was that..........or was it? In 1990 Central TV were putting together a series of concerts to focus on bands from the 1970's and through the efforts of Richard Sinclair, the original bass player, the very first line up got back together to record a set. As a warm up, Caravan played the Canterbury Festival in June 1990, followed by the concert recording at Central Studios in July in front of 400 fans who had discovered what was afoot.

The most unlikely outcome was a gig held that September at Old Buckenham High School in Norfolk where, through persistent and determined advertising, 650 people attended, with many others unable to get tickets. A small number of successful gigs followed, including of course a triumphant return to Old Buckenham in 1991.

With the band members concentrating on other pursuits, it was inevitable that things would quieten down again and the departure of Richard Sinclair on other musical projects added to this. The discovery of old tapes left over from a recording session in 1977 (with Richard Sinclair on Bass), led to a revival of interest and the release of this material under the title of 'Cool Water' in 1994. Pye Hastings and Dave Sinclair had done some live dates with a band called Mirage and were therefore 'up for it' at the suggestion by HTD records to record a brand new Caravan album.

'The Battle of Hastings' emerged in the Autumn of 1995, with the participation of Pye Hastings, Richard Coughlan, Dave Sinclair, Geoffrey Richardson, plus Jim Leverton on bass- an old friend of Geoffrey's. This marked a true return to form for Caravan, with the songwriting of Pye Hastings back to its very best and the contribution of Dave Sinclair on keyboards, plus his songwriting ability evident on a cracking song, 'Travelling Ways' which ultimately gained radio airplay in Britain as well as turning up in Ireland's Top 40 as a charity single recorded by a group of High School students. A further Caravan recording was released in April 1996, a remake of early classics entitled 'All Over You'.

To show that the band meant business this time, an Autumn tour was set up, but Geoffrey Richardson was unavailable. This resulted in the return of Jimmy Hastings on saxes and flutes and the addition of Simon Bentall on percussion and Doug Boyle on lead guitar. Jim Leverton, who had already appeared on 'Battle of Hastings' was still on board. It was evident from the first rehearsals that this new line up was giving the band a real kick: Simon was bringing out the best in drummer Richard and the stunning guitar work of Doug Boyle was giving Pye a new lease of life. As Pye said at the time, 'This will give us the chance to extend and vary our songs: Doug Boyle is a powerful player who will add so much and it's like a breath of fresh air. I'm just the rhythm guitarist and my position is as leader, songwriter and co-ordinator- I'm not the star of the band!'

The concerts took place to a mixed reception. The promotion of the gigs was appalling, which resulted in the cancellation of three of the gigs. However the reception elsewhere was good and the London Astoria had around 1,000 fans calling for more. Confidence was growing and in 1997 a return to the Astoria was accompanied by two successful gigs in Holland organised by Jasper Smit who runs the European Fan Club, plus a date in Dublin. Geoffrey Richardson was now back in the fold.

In 1997 a live album of the Astoria concert was issued and a storming gig took place at the Park Hotel in Diss, Norfolk in May 1998 to a full house, as well as visits to Holland and Germany. Hux records also issued two volumes of live material recorded at the BBC in the 1970's. Return concerts to Diss and to the Astoria in 1999 confirmed the rise of Caravan, most notably in the number of new and younger fans now following the band. The resurgence continued and in the summer of 2002, Caravan made a triumphant return to the US, playing a gig at Nearfest, New Jersey in front of a sell- out, adoring audience. This was followed by two gigs in Quebec, one of which featured Caravan playing a version of For Richard alongside an orchestra conducted by Martyn Ford.

The departure of Dave Sinclair in late summer 2002, mid way through recordings for a new album, was not a happy situation for either the band or Dave. The 're-arrival' of Jan Schelhaas after an absence of 23 years did at least give the band a new impetus, which led to the completion of the new album, 'The Unauthorised Breakfast Item' for release in February 2003.

(Photos: supplied by various including Richard Aldridge, Liz Martin, Chris Coutts)
Ralph Cross - December 2002