IN THE LAND OF GREY AND PINK

Ah, "In The Land Of Grey And Pink", one of my favorite albums ever! It also has one of my favorite covers giving you an absolute idea what's inside music-wise. The other album cover that does that for me is Genesis's 'Wind and Wuthering'. The album starts with their most whimsical song, "Golf Girl" has Richard Sinclair's warm and deep voice telling a cute story over what may sound like a simple few chords, but I beg to differ, it's a bit more complicated then it sounds. A great opener! Again Richard shines on the classic "Winter Wine" a total stunner of a song. With his brother David's monumental fuzzed-out keys, Coughlin's wonderful drumming and Richard's phenomenal bass it's one of THEE classic Canterbury songs, just the singing alone gives me goosebumps. I have a soft spot for the next track, "Love To Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly)". I played this once for my then six-year old daughter. She's nine now and it's on her iPod. How's that! Again, a simple song that's quite not, AND with humorous lyrics, (a Canterbury prog trademark if there ever was one). "In The Land of Grey and Pink" is another whimsical ditty that has a very complicated beat. Go ahead and try to tap your toes, it's not easy...yet, the way it's played you would think it was just a minor song. Plus, those lyrics...ah, pure Canterbury. Now we get to the one track that every prog fan in the land must hear at least once. "Nine Feet Underground" has everything a fan of prog is after, killer melody, mind-blowing instrumentals, calm lows and epic highs. It's everything I love about this genre. It's so pure and original. There's times where I'd swear this track can out duel "Supper's Ready" and "Close To The Edge" for best side-long epic ever. It all depends on the mood. Where "Supper's Ready" tells an epic story and "Close To The Edge" takes you to an epic place, "Nine Feet Underground" doesn't want to take you or tell you, rather it wants you to feel it. It has more of an earthy groove. It's a definate child of the early 70's when it wasn't all about the band or the musician, it was about the feeling. That's pretty much how I feel about this song and the whole album in general. I feel really GOOD when listening to this masterpiece of an album. They don't show off. They just play. And no one does Canterbury better then Caravan. Whew! Oh, and the re-mastered version has a track, "I Don't Know It's Name (alias 'The Word') which would have fitted in nicely on this album. Folks, if you are contemplating buying a Canterbury album ever, make it this one first. It has it all and then some. I wish I could give it 6 stars...Oh yeah!!!!