BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTANS

Blind Dog at St. Dunstans is the seventh album from Caravan and the follow up to Cunning Stunts from 1975. Blind Dog at St. Dunstans has many similarities to it´s predesecor who IMO was a very good album which unfortunately had some big flaws too. I gave Cunning Stunts a 3 star rating. There has been a major change in the lineup since Cunning Stunts as David Sinclair left Caravan for the second time. His replacement is Jan Schelhaas who after a couple of albums with Caravan would also jump ship in favour of a spot in Camel. Jan Schelhaas has a style that is a bit different from that of Dave Sinclair, but generally he fits well into Caravan´s sound.

Quality wise Blind Dog at St. Dunstans is a bit of a mixed affair. The first four songs are all very good songs and we even get some real Canterburian clarinet playing in the short instrumental Bobbing wide from Jimmy Hastings. Here am I, Chiefs and indians and A very smelly, grubby litle oik are all excellent Caravan songs just the way I like them. Soft rocking with light jazzy hints and great humour. Had the rest of the album been in this quality I would have rated the album one star more than I´m gonna give. Unfortunately the quality drops to an absolute lowpoint with Come on back and the even worse Oik (reprise). Trivial and a bit too happy pop songs and Oik (reprise) even has a gospel choir which is something I loathe. The last three songs Jack and Jill, Can you hear me? And All the way (with John Wayne's single-handed liberation of Paris) are all good but nothing more. In the lyrics department Pye seems to be in love or something as there are lots of love songs on both Cunning Stunts and Blind Dog at St. Dunstans and without knowing anything detailed about Pye Hastings life my guess is that he met his big love just around this time. I must say I think his love songs are a bit too cheesy for me and I´d much rather enjoy his more humorous song lyrics.

The musicianship is great on Blind Dog at St. Dunstans. As mentioned the big change in the lineup has affected the sound a bit but not much. There is a hideous organ playing in Can you hear me? For instance and a modern sounding synth sound in the beginning of All the way (with John Wayne's single- handed liberation of Paris) that I don´t recall David Sinclair using that much ( maybe a bit on Cunning Stunts). Geoffrey Richardson who was very dominant on Cunning Stunts is superseeded by Pye Hastings this time. Pye even plays guitar solos on the album.

The production is very good, and everything comes out as it should. Really enjoyable.

This is unmistakebly a Caravan album and it could be considered a twin album to Cunning Stunts as the sound of those two albums are very much alike. I will rate Blind Dog at St. Dunstans 3 stars which is the same as I gave Cunning Stunts. There are some really great things on Blind Dog at St. Dunstans but unfortunately the quality isn´t high all the way through the playing time. It´s an album I enjoy on occasion though and I can recommend it to fans of the Canterbury scene.