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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

The Show of Our Lives

1981 compilation album by Caravan

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 18, 2022
Entity authorityQ2409570 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Show of Our Lives is a compilation album of radio broadcasts, released in 1998 by Caravan.

A more extensive release of Caravan BBC recordings was issued in 2007 as The Show of Our Lives – Caravan at the BBC 1968–1975.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Show of Our Lives” as 1981 compilation album by Caravan. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Show, Lives and compilation.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1998, 2007, 1968, 1975—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1981. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Show, Lives and compilation providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Show of Our Lives”, the useful work is to connect “1981 compilation album by Caravan” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 18, 2022. The linked authority identifier is Q2409570. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998, 2007, 1968 and 1975.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Show of Our Lives”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Show of Our Lives primary sources, The Show of Our Lives archive and Show research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Show of Our Lives”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Show of Our Lives” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.