FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT

For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night is a unique experience from everything Caravan has made. There is something I realized when listening to "Waterloo Lily" and "If I Could Do It All Over Again...", and it's that the unusual-ness of some instrumental passages, which are all well-loved by I and other prog fanatics, can sometimes lead to usual-ness. That is not the case with this album.

I have to admit I was scared before first listen, because I had loved so much "In The Land of Grey and Pink" and Richard Sinclair's wonderful voice missing here had me lose a little hope. I was wrong, and I was pleasantly surprised by Pye Hastings' wonderful performance. Instead of having a competition between two singer-songwriters (ala Supertramp, or even The Beatles), it really feels like a group performing together harmoniously without separation being noticed. Some of the catchy-but-still-progressive choruses prove this, with multiple vocals coming in together: It really has a charm that is completely new to them. This is the first reason why I consider this album better than "In The Land of Grey And Pink".

The second reason is that it seems the band has now a maturity not known before. Grey and Pink was innocent, naive and beautiful; Plump in the Night is mature, majestic, graceful, splendid. They are both amazing for their own reasons. They are also very different! Plump in the Night has a focus on guitars, but also violin, and it really gives it a Folk feeling to it. The solo on "Hoedown", for example, could almost be danced to. Passages between harder progressive rock and softer folk-ish choruses make a refreshing feeling when mixed together, and this album is very good for that. Starting from the epic "Memory Lain, Hugh/Headloss", you can tell it has an unusual happy feeling while still proving to contain magical parts. Singing to the songs here proves the harmony of it. The band also does not fear to be a little offensive in the song "The Dog..." but even there they have a charming harmony while singing together.

The whole plot changes once you hit "L'Auberge Du Sanglier...". This ten-minute instrumental is not only the longest one on the album, but once you get past the rocking "A Hunting We Shall Go" part, we get one of the most beautiful and magic-invoking pieces in all of progressive rock. I'm a sucker for these, and naturally got blown away on my first listen (And pretty much all listens of it).

I could go on, but I think you got the point. This is a must-listen for all progressive rock fans, and even if you generally do not like Canterbury, this is arguably much closer to Symphonic prog than Grey and Pink. Now that I think about it, this album could be in my top ten favorite...