If I have a musical favourite genre, it's the so-called "Canterbury Sound", and Gong, Soft Machine and Robert Wyatt have already featured. Caravan are, of course, the authentic Canterbury sound, formed in the city and pretty much stayed in the area while trying to break through.
My first Caravan purchase was a 2LP compilation, Canterbury Tales, bought while still at school, and I had mixed feelings. This had been a considerable pocket money investment, but I was disappointed and convinced myself that I liked it more than I did.
But obviously, since I own CDs, I've gone back to Caravan, and 1971's In The Land Of Grey And Pink is probably my favourite. Golf Girl opens the album, a little piece of whimsy from Richard Sinclair, followed by the more mellow Winter Wine, with extended keyboard work by Dave Sinclair. Love To Love You, Pye Hastings' only composition on the album (all tracks actually credited to the whole band) sounds bland and weak compared with previous songs, then the title track, a psychedelic flight of fancy presents a pleasant time capsule.
But the highlight of the album, possibly of Caravan's whole career, is the 23 minute epic Nine Feet Underground, an extended, mostly keyboard based piece with two short vocal sections - pretty much the only major composition Dave Sinclair did with the band, and still an audience favourite.
I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Richard Sinclair's songs, and Nine Feet Underground - by far the best thing Caravan did.
4* - As a snapshot of the back end of English psychedelia, this album works very nicely.
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