-20. Nine Feet rocks.
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
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For what it's worth here is a review I wrote a while back:
I just recently picked up this album and am glad I finally took the plunge. Of the Caravan albums I own I would rate this one 2nd only to “In The Land Of The Grey And The Pink”. “Plump” is certainly one of the band’s harder rocking albums and contains a very nice mix of shorter more commercial songs with longer jamming epics. The addition of Geoffrey Richardson to the band at this point really seemed to breathe some new life into a formula that was starting to tire a bit. To my ears it sounds a lot more “modern” than some of the bands other works from the same period and has aged quite well. Several of the albums tracks remain staples of their live show today including “Memory Lain Hugh / Headloss”, and “The Dog The Dog He’s At It Again”. To my ears there is not a weak track on this one and I really enjoy it.
Probably 7th.
I'm a big fan of The album and Blind dog even though there's one or two daggy songs on each. Blind dog is a long album and without the daggy songs it's still a 40 minute album.
My rankings are:
Grey and Pink
The album
Blind dog
Waterloo
Back to front
If I could
Plump
This was my first Caravan purchase, and it's a favorite along with "If I Could...All Over You" and the live album "New Symphonia" (I have "Fairfield Halls", too; can't decide which is better). Another early purchase, "Grey and Pink", has slipped down from being a favorite; my taste for extended jams has dwindled in recent years, though I still love "Golf Girl". Have several other albums that have a few tracks that I like, too.
This was my first taste of Caravan, and was I ever disappointed. Fast-forward to two weeks later, when I give this another chance and suddenly can’t stop playing it! What didn’t I hear on that first listen? I think “C’thlu Thlu” was the first song I bonded with, but this album is bookended by two of the finest tracks of this band’s career. The “A Hunting We Shall Go” cycle was in particular...possibly their career highlight, and I am not exaggerating! It was all downhill after that.
Grey & Pink I find to be a bit overrated. “Nine Feet Underground” I like fine but it tends to drag at times. “Winter Wine” on the other hand is one of my favourite Caravan songs ever, and possibly the best showcase for Richard Sinclair’s talents. The rest of the album is pretty much fluff.
Waterloo Lily gets my vote for Most Underrated Caravan Disc. I actually rather liked the bluesy feel that Stephen Miller bought to the table, and “The Love in Your Eye” is simply stunning! Minus point to “Nothing at All/It’s Coming Soon,” which is obvious filler.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
One of my favorite tracks of all time, across all genres. It ranks right up there with any of the great Golden Age tracks: "Close to the Edge", "Firth of Fifth", Zappa's "Village of the Sun" suite, "Starless", "Living in the Heart of the Beast", "On Reflection", and whatever else you'd class with those. There's a rare energy and beauty to it, a quality that I've heard in very little other music. Maybe it's just nostalgia - the tune got a bit of airplay on the old WNEW Alison Steele show when I was in school, so it's been a part of my life for decades. But I love that piece.
Last edited by Baribrotzer; 02-03-2015 at 12:03 PM.
I agree. Their finest moment by far, and the "Bernard Herman-rendition" of the Softs' "Backwards" captures just the essence of what made Caravan stick out from many others; that intentional emphasis on pure emotion - and lots of it. I always found them to be a twisted pop band at heart, and this is as skinless as their face ever got I think.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Cecil Rons is simply out of this world... Didn't like it at first, but I think it's now my fave
Excellent album all around... I spent years looking for it as a vinyl in Canada and finally had to settle for the alt reissue...I was pissed off that I couldn't hear it for years after having dicovered the next four.... But it was worth the wait.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
After a bit of a wobble with the patchy 'Waterloo Lily', they got back on track with this one. The sound is again quite different, much rockier and guitar-centric than before, although this was also the debut for Geoffrey Richardson. I think John G Perry's vocals were a very strong addition too. I'm surprised this album didn't make much impact commercially...'Memory Lain Hugh'/'Headloss', 'The Dog The Dog...', 'A Hunting...' are real fan favourites. 'Surprise Surprise' is a lesser-known gem on here too.
I think it's the last great album they made. 'Cunning Stunts' has two of my favourite Caravan songs in 'The Show Of Our Lives' and 'Dabsong', I'm also fond of 'Lover', but the rest isn't great. 'Blind Dog...' is more even and quite decent really, 'All The Way' is my favourite on there. 'Better By Far' wasn't.
This first album is a 5-star classic for me. As with the Soft Machine debut, the production has not aged at all well (in this case more of a sonic murk than flashy production effects on the SM one) but the writing is absolutely first-rate, so strong the production can be forgiven.
It has that wonderful 60s optimism...I can never get enough of that.
“The Show of Our Lives” and “Dabsong” are the clear highlights of CS, coupled with Pye’s “No Backstage Pass.” I like Mike Wedgwood as a bass player and singer, but his compositional contributions to this album are dreary. BDASD is a definite improvement, just one Wedgwood song, and it’s probably his best ever (“Chiefs and Indians”). “All the Way,” “Can You Hear Me” and the “Oik” suite are my faves from this. The standouts on BBF are Pye’s “Nightmare” and Geoff’s stunning instrumental “The Last Unicorn,” with special mention to Jan Schelhaas’ underrated “Man in a Car” (nice use of harp and string-bass on that, Caravan’s orchestrations were always exquisite). Negative points for “Silver Strings,” the first Caravan song to actually make me cringe (see my current avatar: that was my face when first hearing it)!
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Caravan is not a band that comes to mind, if'n I were ever to get the urge to complain about music . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hired on to work for Mr. Bill Cox, a-fixin' lawn mowers and what-not, since 1964.
"Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon. It'll just knock over all the pieces, shit on the board, and strut about like it's won anyway." Anonymous
“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.” George Carlin
The production on this record is excellent. It's recorded and mixed perfectly, IMHO. Crisp and alive sound all the way through. Tasteful use of reverb. Superb performances from all the musicians.
Mongrel dog soils actor's feet
For Girls was the first prog album I bought back in 73. For some freak of nature reason they happened to play a cut on a local rock station and I hunted it down. For what I gathered over the years they did this album to make enough money to do The New Symphonia album.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!
In terms of songwriting and overall production values, I would say it is their best album.
However, I listen to Lilly and Gray much more.
The highlight of Girls, for me, is The Dog, The Dog... A tender love song, with dark, dark lyrics
They're all tied for first place as far as I'm concerned, until "Blind Dog At Saint Dunstans." "Blind Dog..." is a fairly distant second.
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