Caravan - In The Land Of Grey & Pink CD (expanded)
SKU
28-POLK882983.2
Fantastic remaster with bonus tracks. They boast improved sound, excellent liner notes, rare photos and tons of rare bonus tracks that have never before been heard! You just can't do better than these! If you don't know Caravan, this is THE album to start with.
THE BONUS MATERIAL - DETAILED REVIEW (by Aymeric Leroy)
* I Don't Know Its Name (alias The Word) (6:12)
One of this set of reissues' most enjoyable revelations - a totally unknown Caravan song written and sung by Richard Sinclair. Being quite similar in structure to Winter Wine, and not a major departure from Caravan's style at the time, it's understandable why it was left off the album, although on the other hand it's a minor tragedy that it has remained unheard until now. Classic Caravan, and along with A Day In The Life Of Maurice Haylett, one of the two major album outtakes from the original line-up.
* Aristocracy (3:42)
This is one of Pye Hastings' shorter songs on the subsequent album Waterloo Lily, heard here performed a year earlier with Dave Sinclair still in the line-up. The arrangement is quite similar apart from the obvious difference in keyboard instrumentation, but the overall performance, vocal and instrumental, is less assured than on the WL version, as exemplified by the final collapse.
* It's Likely To Have A Name Next Week (instrumental demo of Winter Wine) (7:48)
While not as fantastic as the released version (especially in the organ department - Dave's solo on it seemed to capture the very best of hundreds of improvisations, which is not the feeling you get here), this is interesting since it featured Richard humming the tune rather than singing the lyrics, which were penned sometime later. The opening section is totally different to its final incarnation, but other than that the structure of Winter Wine is already in place, only waiting for the extra touch of Caravan perfection to become the classic it remains to this day.
* Group Girl (first version of Golf Girl with slightly different lyrics) (5:04)
Very similar to the final version, with the exception of the wind instruments (John Beecham's trombone on the intro - who remains uncredited for his performance except for the Canterbury Tales compilation which restored his credit - and Jimmy Hastings' flute and piccolo) and some early lyrics that were later considered too personal and abandoned in favour of a more 'universal' story (of the "Pat" in the song, Richard sings that she "became a Missus", and that they "had a son... called Jason"). An interesting alternate take, in much the same way as a lot of the stuff on the Beatles"'Anthology" series.
* Disassociation / 100% Proof (new mix) (8:35)
This is an attempt to illustrate the amount of instrumental contributions committed to tape during the sessions for Nine Feet Underground, the final result being assembled from countless different takes in order to create the best possible performance (an easy process nowadays with the computer technology, an unbelievable mess of master tape thirty years back!!). Even Richard Sinclair's vocals are slightly different, with a couple of minor changes in the lyrics. The most obvious addition in the final jamming section is an energetic guitar solo by Pye, which is fine but certainly not up to the level of Dave's organ solos, but still an interesting alternative to the version we know so well.
- LabelDecca
- UPC0452288298328