FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT

I remember being dazzled by a couple of Caravan albums already and going into this one thinking that I was going to get the same brand of Cantebury. Boy, was I wrong, but I really didn't care because I really liked (and still do) what I heard. Right from the opening guitar lick of ''Memory Lain, Hugh'', I was thrown off guard. I wasn't sure that this was a Caravan album until Pye started singing; guitars are never that hard sounding or to the forefront on Caravan albums before. The surprise happens to be pleasant until the band meanders around viola solos; then ''Headloss'' brings the band back to exciting territories, reminding me of ''I've Seen All Good People'' from the group we all know and love.

The band offers a couple of country-esque surprises in the next two tracks, ''Hoedown'' sounding exactly as you're thinking only in 7/8. ''Surprise, Surprise'' has more pop leanings, but it's one of the stronger sounding songs of the album. Typical Caravan aspects (notably Pye's voice) are still here in pockets, but only in ''The Dog, the Dog, He's at it Again'' do we get a traditional sounding Caravan tune; even then, the synth in the middle throws you off, yet it's so good you don't care.

''Chtulu Thlu'' is the weirdest Caravan tune because it sounds so close to heavy metal in the verses and instrumental middle, but it's so haunting that you cannot resist playing it. The more classical tunes can be found on the last two numbers, but this classical-influenced-rock is sprightly and won't lull you to sleep. Particularly ''A Hunting We Shall Go''; that number might just cause you to grip your chair wildly due to the exuberance and intensity of the piece, only to withdraw to a calm halfway through. It reminds me of that ''Awaken'' epic we all know....four years before ''Awaken'' was unleashed to the public.

The one drawback that Caravan fans might have is that the intangibles of Richard Sinclair aren't here; Perry is a good bassist and singer in the prog rock sense, but Sinclair had something about him that gave earlier Caravan albums a charm. But the fact that this album totally surprised me in a good way, the stack of great tunes and the underrated feel GWGP has is enough for me to brand this as a prog album that is both excellent and isn't on your mind right now.