IN THE LAND OF GREY AND PINK

The great band Caravan's third offering is a beautiful record that invites you to relax, take some tea and join the trip. This is a happy album, even joyous, and eagerly celebrates all things sweet, giddy and fun. A lovely, carefree release at a time when the majority of rock bands were trying to either impress or depress. In the Land of Grey and Pink is melodious, unassuming and gently recorded. And the songs... let's just say these guys could write. Jimmy Hasting's piccolo and brass give life to 'Golf Girl', but it's 'Winter Wine' that really sets the standard this group consistently lived up to, adding the grey to a land otherwise pink, and culminates in a vamp guaranteed to bring any house down. Viewed in the context of "Prog", Caravan may seem naive and dated but when heard as an ingenious set of popular music, this album begins to reveal its rewards. And as with all great pop records - Sgt. Pepper's, Pet Sounds, Dark Side, Ziggy, Graceland - Grey and Pink was and is progressive. The whimsical title cut skips along past some very big mushrooms and the second half is 22-minute epic 'Nine Feet Underground' with tons of twisting changes, jazz, riff-rock, and more vamping to die for.

Comforting and friendly but always musical, this is a special record, to be cherished, protected and passed down.