IN THE LAND OF GREY AND PINK

Ah, In The Land Of Grey And Pink. I believe this was my first excursion into the world of Canterbury. Honestly, this seems like the ideal world for me - it's a silly, goofy, intelligent, naive and carefree place where little hippies drink their tea with a constant smile on their face while enjoying the sunny view (not that I've ever been to Canterbury, but the music does paint this image quite vividly). Caravan as a band is totally devoid of pretentiousness which makes this all the more entertaining, but understandably their approach might alienate some "hard-core" proggers who need their music to be serious and potentially dry. However, do not let this tag scare you, Caravan are certainly capable of pleasing the most demanding listeners as well as creating memorable, real compositions instead of relying on plain silliness. "Nine Feet Underground" is the perfect example of this. Quite possibly Caravan's "magnum opus", this epic composition showcases all the things that I love about them, it's mostly dominated by the legendary fuzz-organ, with TONS of extended soloing and jamming, but it's still a perfectly balanced composition with those melancholic, nostalgic overtones that the English folks seem to master like no one else. The first side is comprised of shorter, infectious pop songs with whimsical lyrics. While they don't necessarily reach the level of "Nine Feet...", they're still mightily fine songs on their own. I can't emphasise enough how good - and most importantly FUN - this album is. That said, I still think their previous effort was just a tiny bit better, but that's another story, I guess. Join the Caravan! 4,5 stars