CUNNING STUNTS

This is one of Caravan's better albums, but it is far away from the previous For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night. Cunning Stunts consists mainly of rather lightweight songs with a distinct Pop flavour. Perhaps, not that they are particularly commercial or very memorable, but they are quite accessible and cathcy they somehow lack an edge.

The opening song, The Show Of Our Lives, is more grandiose and symphonic than what we are used to from Caravan. It is a lovely song though, but hardly progressive. The misguided Jazz-Rock/Fusion direction of Waterloo Lily is thankfully not resurrected on this album. Instead they chose here to be a bit more accessible and melodic which benefits their sound much more than Jazz-Rock in my opinion. However, they often sound rather anonymous here and a bit too lighthearted for my taste. The Disco flavoured Welcome The Day would have fitted perfectly, both musically and lyrically, on an Alan Parsons Project album like I Robot or Eve!

The centrepiece of the album is the 18 minute, multipart The Dabsong Conshirtoe. This is clearly the most interesting song on the album and is quite nice. However, it does not compare favourably to the For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night material or the classic Five Feet Underground from The Land Of Gray And Pink.

The conclusion is that Cunning Stunts, while neither particularly cunning nor particularly stunning, is still a good album. However, it is hardly essential listening.

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