BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTANS

Blind Dog is, in my opinion, the final essential Caravan album. Much better than the still-good Cunning Stunts that came before, it's mostly bright and fun poppy tunes, but it absolutely retains the progressive aspect for now at least. I've seen a lot of people say that this is their favourite album of Caravan, which I understand as I used to agree with them, but the problem I have with it is unlike their first 5 albums, it grows less enjoyable over time.

Here Am I and Chiefs and Indians both have excellent instrumental sections and solos, especially the latter which is essentially a minute and a half of soft lyrics about not fitting in and then a ~3 minute instrumental jam with catchy solo followed by catchy solo, with a return of the soft beginning at the end.

The next 4 tracks work as a suite, as there is continuous music throughout, and I wish they had been conceived as one song. Oik showcases the classic Caravan humour, Bobbing Wide is a great laid-back instrumental (the only one on the album), Come on Back is a cute love song (this album's equivalent of Love to Love You) and the Oik reprise isn't really a reprise because the melody is that of Come on Back, and the high-pitched ladies' voiced singing are a bit repulsive.

Jack and Jill is a funk, story-based song, similar lyrically to Hello Hello or Cthulhu Thlu. The "you're in the wrong key" at the beginning always makes me laugh. Great bass tone (I don't play bass, so idk if this is the correct term). The ending with the dog barking is the only truly interesting thing about this song though, but I don't not like it. On my first few listens to the album mid last year, this was my favourite song on it.

Can You Hear Me? is ANNOYING. It's incessant, repetitive, driving funk-pop that is copy and pasted for the first 4 minutes. Good viola solo in the second half however.

All The Way - A stunning, heart-wrenching closer. Sings about lost love and I get close to tears on listening occasionally. The instrumentation is much better than most of the rest of the album too; I can hear the synth used in a lot of Camel songs (eg the opening of Lunar Sea), and the flute and viola coming in at various points keep it together as it's almost 9 mins.

The major irk I have with BDASD is the bright mastering and consistently poppy melodies get quite tiresome after many listens - even though they are much more pleasing if you're listening for the first time, they seem to get worse for me over relistens (something that is the complete opposite for Caravan's first 5 albums). Nonetheless, I'll probably listen to it every 2 or 3 months from now on Best songs: All The Way, Chiefs and Indians, Here Am I

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