IN THE LAND OF GREY AND PINK

Caravan's mature style can roughly be summed up as follows: upbeat pop/rock songs and gentle ballads, interspersed with fairly simple bass riffs over which Pye Hastings (electric guitar), Jimmy Hastings (flute), David Sinclair (typically Canterbury "fuzz-box" organ) and/or others perform extended solos. Even a 23-minute suite like "Nine feet underground" doesn't deviate from this pattern.

For some proggers with Oh So Sophisticated Tastes this style may seem a little simplistic. Pye Hastings' songs are too chirpy, the band's suites aren't intricate enough and the instrumental solos sound too placid.

Well, I too like complicated music, but I find Caravan an incredibly likable bunch who are impossible to resist. Virtually all of the melodies on GREY AND PINK are fresh and charming. The instrumental solos (splendidly accompanied by Richard Sinclair on bass and by Richard Coughlan, a superb drummer) are exhilerating, and they all reach proper climaxes. Over the past thirty years I've played this album innumerable times, and invariably enjoyed it. Caravan may be a modest band, but this album deserves to be heard.