Caravan and the New Symphonia

Caravan and the New Symphonia was recorded on October 28, 1973 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on the Pye Mobile Recording Unit, and produced by David Hitchcock for Deram, a Decca subsidiary. Martyn Ford conducted the New Symphonia, and Ford and the bassist John G. Perry brought band and orchestra together. The original runs 43:18; a 2001 expanded reissue runs 78:14. The band was Pye Hastings (guitar, vocals), Geoff Richardson (electric viola), Dave Sinclair (electric piano, organ, synthesizer), John G. Perry (bass, vocals) and Richard Coughlan (drums). The orchestra's leader was Richard Studt, and it included Irvine Arditti, Jimmy Hastings, Morris Pert, Wilfred Gibson and Gavyn Wright, with backing vocalists including Liza Strike, Vicki Brown and Tony Burrows.

Dave Sinclair had returned and Perry and Richardson had joined after Richard Sinclair left, following For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night (Deram, October 5, 1973), so the live "For Richard" features Dave Sinclair but not Richard Sinclair, the author of its tune. AllMusic's Lindsay Planer gave the album four stars. Wikipedia's pages variously date it 1973 and 1974; the album article gives April 19, 1974.