Caves - Betterment

I've got a lot of time for Caves, which means it's unfortunate that they make such short records. Betterment was the second of the four LPs they put out and a brilliant follow up to Homeward Bound. From the off, the "woah"s and "oh"s are there and it keeps the momentum throughout. Work has possibly one of their best choruses, the combination of Lou and Minto vocals on Rubino makes it even more frantic. Betterment deserves a particular call-out for being an unexpected acoustic song that is wonderfully bare and strangely uplifting, despite the lyrical content; almost like a turning point. 

All in all, it's a great Caves record, but I enjoy all of them really - they were a remarkably consistent band - they did what they did and they did it well. If you quizzed me on which Caves song was on which album, I'd struggle for the most part, but I don't see that as a bad thing. Betterment represented a subtle improvement on Homeward Bound in a few ways, but I can't fault either. Like I said, consistent and consistently great.

I can't remember exactly when that year this album came out, but I got a copy for my birthday from my brother - he usually has a budget of a tenner, so I have to keep certain records in mind for ideas for him. I happened to be at my sister and brother-in-law's house when my brother gave it to me (in fact, my sister, my dad and I were running the Birmingham half-marathon the next morning - it's all coming back to me now). Turned out my brother-in-law is friends with Dave, the Caves drummer, which was unexpected. Nice milky/clear vinyl.

Format: 12", a4 insert

Tracks: 10

Cost: £0 new

Bought: Gift

When: 19/10/13

Colour: Clear

Etching: none

mp3s: Download code

Caves - Concert a Paris

I was thinking the other day about how long it's been since I last saw Caves. I think the last time might have been last summer - it was in The Fighting Cocks and I bought a t-shirt which I managed to lose almost straight away in all the mess of moving house. I don't think I've seen them since then. They've probably played London in that time, but if they did I missed it. Maybe I was away. Anyway, this record is quenching my thirst for Caves very nicely today.

Back in January, Caves put an offer up on their website of this live LP and their two cds (Homeward Bound and Collection) for a tenner. I'd seen this record about and thought about buying it before then, and I didn't yet have a copy of Collection. I'd bought the LP of Homeward Bound a while beforehand (and wrote about it in an early post for this blog - see here) but was happy to get the cd too so that I'd have a decent copy of the mp3s. The parcel arrived quickly and included a hand-written note of thanks from the band, which was a nice touch (which, re-reading now, tells me they have indeed played London recently and I was away at the time).

The record is very nice and features all my favourite Caves songs. Once again, I'm Not Sorry and Water Wings are my favourites, although Desperate Times Call for Double Measures (from the Sundials split 7") and 200 Miles (from the Collection cd) are excellent too. The sound is pretty good too. As a package, someone has put some effort in to make it a nice one - the vinyl is orange and goes well with the black-and-orange photos on the sleeve (and we all agree that black sleeves for the record itself look much cooler than white ones). On top of that, there's a 20-page book of photos from the gig inside too. Nice stuff all round.


Format: 12", 20-page book
Tracks: 11
Cost: £7 new
Bought: band's website
When: 10/01/13
Colour: Orange
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Caves - Homeward Bound

There are a lot of great punk-rock bands in the UK at the moment. Bands that tour constantly, playing little sweaty shows to 50 people who know all the words and buy all the records. I spend a lot of time going to those shows and I always have a good time. Caves are one of the core bands in this scene as far as I'm concerned. The first time I saw them was supporting The Doublecross in Cardiff but I've lost count how many times I've seen them since; they get some pretty good support slots and I've ended up seeing bigger bands because Caves were supporting.

When they released their LP Homeward Bound, I made sure to pick it up fairly soon after. I bought this on my first trip to Banquet after moving to Kingston (along with a RVIVR LP). The tunes are catchy, as I knew they would be. One of the most noticeable things is that there's a lot of repetition (with slight changes) in the lyrics, and the other being the large amounts of "woahs" and "ohs" (I remember one of the guys from Above Them joking about the "Caves LP drinking game" - a drink for every "woah-oh"!). But these are the staples of Caves songs it seems and I like them. I think I'm Not Sorry is my favourite both live and on the record. Water Wings is pretty awesome too. It's a good record, but with songs as great as theirs they'd have had a hard job to make a bad one.

I'm always pleased that these bands get to play so often and make these records. They work hard for it. I may not know many of the people at the shows, but it is a lovely scene full of bands who all adore playing and listening to each others music.


Format: 12", A3(ish) poster insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Banquet
When: 11/08/11
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no