Caravan (UK)In the Land of Grey and Pink (1971)Genres: canterburyOn this album it’s – a little out of the ordinary – the four short songs on side A that’s the good stuff, whilst the side-long “Nine Feet Underground” is the weakest track included. There’s, however, one forgettable song also on side A, the “Love to Love You” single. No, it’s not the disco song by Tina Charles. As you may know Caravan plays the kind of progressive rock that were christened Canterbury after the place in England where Caravan, Soft Machine, Wilde Flowers, Matching Mole and others came forth. Caravan took inspirations from jazz and folk-music as well as classical music. Then they play this mix very loose and light with jazzy overtones and with very humorous or strange lyrics. Needless to say, this is not always the truth.
There is plenty of swirling organ and some nice flute and trumpet work on side A and for those of you who likes the mellotron; yes it shows up at times. These side A songs can be too jazzy and light for my taste but they managed to avoid being caught up in the “jazz-machine”. The problems with “Nine Feet Underground” are of a different kind though. This suite is not in style with side A. It’s much heavier and not as jazzy as side A. The saxophone also makes an appearance on side B. The suite is far too repetitious and uninteresting in my opinion even if there are some excellent moments too (it’s kind of hard to make a completely bad song of this length, although, in no way impossible).
Caravan is not a personal favourite of mine, but I apparently thought them good or interesting enough to motivate another shot at them (the “Cunning Stunts” album). Definitive worth checking them out.
At first I thought Caravan, and this my first encounter with them, dry, restrained and boring. When listening to them I waited for something to happen, for them to get carried away, if only for a second. Upon repeated listenings I have however learned to appreciate them. They are not dry, restrained and boring, they are tasteful, subtle, even and really good. There is even a minor freakout, with some heavy guitar playing and drumming, at the end of “Nine Feet Underground”. The evenness goes for the songs as well as the musicians; there are no standout tracks or performances. All are of equally high standard.
There are however some minor flaws. “Nine Feet Underground” is 22 minutes long and a bore according to some. I think it is a good 22 minute track, but it could have been a fantastic 14 minute track. Another thing concerns the instrumentation that consists of drums, bass, acoustic- and electric guitars, organ, piano, brass, flute and mellotron. It would have been nice with some more brass and a little less guitar, even though the guitar playing is good.
A good album and a fine example of the canterbury style: Sophisticated music flavoured with pop melodies.
