BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTANS

Just when I thought CARAVAN sunk to the bottom with "Cunning Stunts", I really felt they rebounded with "Blind Dog at St. Dunstans". The band at this point consisted of Pye Hastings, Richard Coughlin, Mike Wedgwood, Geoff Richardson, and new keyboardist Jan Schelhaas (David Sinclair left, once again pursuing other projects). The orchestrations, luckily were thrown in the trash, plus Mike Wedgwood is relegated back to CURVED AIR status by sticking mainly to just bass, and this time around only contributing one song. A lot of the whimsy has return as well.

The opening cut, "Here Am I" sounds encouraging, where I don't hear the orchestrated mush on "Cunning Stunts". Mike Wedgwood's only contribution here, "Chiefs and Indians" is luckily a more rocking number, which oddly reminds me of the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT (CARAVAN was recording for Arista at that time, just like the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT would soon be). The next song is really a suite consisting of "A Very Smelly, Grubby Little Oik", "Bobbing Wide", "Come on Back" and "Oik (Reprise)", which are stuffed with that wonderful CARAVAN whimsy I'm so glad has returned, same for "Jack and Jill", which harkens back to "For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night". "All the Way" is the only real soft rock number on this album, having an almost ALAN PARSONS PROJECT-like feel to it. This is the kind of album ALAN PARSONS should've produced (he didn't, David Hitchcock did, who produced their previous albums, as well as GENESIS' "Foxtrot"). The new keyboardist, Jan Schelhaas seems to have a more conventional prog rock approach than David Sinclair, as he tended to use Mini Moog, Hammond organ, clavinet, and Solina. Nice album, and definately their best album from the second half of the 1970s.