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Rating: Published in 1971, "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" is the album that establishes Caravan as a very significant force in the progressive scene and one of the main bands of the so-called "Canterbury school". My modest knowledge regarding Canterbury bands doesn't allow me to make precise comparisons between the related scene and the remaining prog landscape, but I dare to state that the Canterbury school offers a very melodic variant of progressive rock.
Indeed, Caravan's music is not as intricate and complex as that of King Crimson and Genesis, although their toolkit consists of the same elements: brass, keyboards, mellotron, jazz references, and classical atmospheres. Compared to the progressive standards, their scores are simpler and more straightforward, their melodies less solemn, more serene. This can be immediately heard in the first two tracks, "Golf Girl", whose moderately cheerful pace brings to mind the more carefree Syd Barrett, and "Winter Wine", a sampler of gentle and lively psychedelia. Next come "Love To Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly)", a sunny love song in seven-eighths, and the evocative "In The Land Of Grey And Pink", also a product of a vaguely Barrett-inspired influence (the lyrics even contain a not-too-vague reference to the (ab)use of marijuana: "And when it's dark our boat will park on a land of warm and green/ Pick our fill of punk weed and smoke it till we bleed, that's all we'll need"). The work concludes with the long suite "Nine Feet Underground" (almost 23 minutes), divided into eight acts, the summa of their balanced and romantic art which alternates between serene and vaguely nostalgic tones, ending with a surprising almost hard-rock finale.
The CD edition also includes five bonus tracks: two unreleased, "I Don't Know Its Name (Alias The Word)" and "Aristocracy", an instrumental version of "Winter Wine" called "It's Like To Have A Name Next Week", the original version with different lyrics of "Golf Girl", titled "Group Girl", and lastly "Dissociation/100% Proof", a remix of the last two acts of "Nine Feet Underground". All in the name of beautiful, simple, melodious, and delicate prog. Different times.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Golf Girl (05:00)
Standing on a golf course
Dressed in P.V.C.
I chanced upon a Golf Girl
Selling cups of tea
She asked me did I want one
Asked me with a grin
For three pence you can buy one
Full right to the brim
So of course I had to have one
In fact I ordered three
So I could watch the Golf Girl
Could see she fancied me
And later on the golf course
After drinking tea
It started raining golf balls
And she protected me
Her name was Pat
And we sat under a tree
She kissed me
We go for walks
In fine weather
All together
On the golf course
We talk in morse
02 Winter Wine (07:35)
Winter wine...
How you're always flowing, blowing in my mind?
Like a stream...
These magic waters move me to a dream
Of travelling with you, drifting carefree, dropping downward through fresh grasses
Bubbles merrily as it passes, never knowing where you're going
Carry me with you, carry me with you
Be conjured up in a midnight dream, ancient castles dark
As wandering minstrels play tunes of yesterday
When dragons roamed the land, knights in armour cold
Charged on horseback bold
The maids were saved, the dragons slain
Sail scene, sea green - sailing forward to a new land
Treasure waits, paradise gates, for the taking, don't start waking
All you need, but take heed, remember it pays to pay the sandman well
Make no fuss, for you must - in stardust, he puts all the colours in your dreams
Bells chime three times, naked dancers enter slowly
Smoky room, scented gloom, audience eating, fat men drinking
Candles burn, a dull red light illuminates the breasts of four young girls
Dancing, prancing, provoking - dreams are always ending far too soon
Life's too short to be sad
Wishing things you'll never have
You're better off not dreaming of the things to come
Dreams are always ending far too soon
Sounds of a distant melody
Once played, lost from memory
Funny how it's clearer now, you're close to me
We'll be together all the time
03 Love to Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly) (03:03)
I dreamed of all the magic things that be
When we'd ride to a dock on bended knee
But you'd just smile and gently shake your head
And put a hole through me so I was dead
Oh, I'd fall down and I was left alone
With a feeling of you still that was my own
Oh, I would love to, love to love you
Yes, indeed, I do love you, love you
My, my, pigs might fly, that can't be bad
How you have the cheek to smile and tell me I'm mad
A man came through the wall and stood by me
Complete with bag of nuts and fancy free
He said without a tonal fleeting glance
I'd like to get deep down inside your pants
How you opened up his head and smiled
And rubbish from your mouth you ticked inside
Oh, I would love to, love to love you
Yes, indeed, I do love you, love you
My, my, pigs might fly, that can't be bad
How you have the cheek to smile and tell me I'm mad
04 In the Land of Grey and Pink (04:59)
In the land of grey and pink where only boy-scouts stop to think
They'll be coming back again, those nasty grumbly grimblies
And they're climbing down your chimney, yes they're trying to get in
Come to take your money - isn't it a sin, they're so thin ?
They've black buckets in the sky, don't leave your dad in the rain
Cigarettes burn bright tonight, they'll all get washed down the drain
So we'll sail away for just one day to the land where the punk weed grows
Won't need any money, just fingers and your toes
And when it's dark our boat will park on a land of warm and green
Pick our fill of punk weed and smoke it till we bleed, that's all we'll need
While sailing back in morning light, we'll wash our teeth in the sea
And when the day gets really bright, we'll go to sea drinking tea
So we'll sail away for just one day to the land where the punk weed grows
Won't need any money, just fingers and your toes
And when it's dark our boat will park on a land of warm and green
Pick our fill of punk weed and smoke it till we bleed, that's all we'll need
They've black buckets in the sky, don't leave your dad in the rain
Cigarettes burn bright tonight, they'll all get washed down the drain
05 Nine Feet Underground: Nigel Blows a Tune / Love's a Friend / Make It 76 / Dance of the Seven Paper / Hankies / Hold Grandad by the Nose / Honest I Did! / Disassociation / 100% Proof (22:39)
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Other reviews
By uboldri
This is an album that captivates the listener and brings them back to reality only at the end of the last note.
If we were indeed in that place, this would undoubtedly be the music we would hear, a muffled sound to which the flute-like voice of the singer perfectly harmonizes.
By DaveJonGilmour
It captivates you on a full listen and enters you immediately without asking permission.
'Nine Feet Underground' is 22.44 minutes of pure musical ecstasy, a shocking flight with closed eyes in the vast and boundless skies of prog, jazz-rock, and melody.
By belerofonte
"Twenty-four minutes of dazzling melody have cradled and bewitched me."
"Caravan’s work is so pure that it rightly places them in the Olympus of progressive and rock music as a whole."
By tonysoprano
If I were asked, during a medical check-up, if I take drugs, I would answer yes, but it’s a more pleasant drug to take, it lasts for only 43 minutes.
'Nine Feet Underground' is one of the greatest suites in the history of progressive, my eternal love for this genre that has long since conquered me with its greatness and expressive complexity.
