On the top bar of this site I show My Top 25 Most Important LPs and CDs. But what I don't show is my Top 25 Most Important Albums, which is a bit different if you follow the theme of the above. In the Land of Grey and Pink would be one of them if I did. It was the Christmas break of 1984/85, while in college. I headed over to Dallas' last Peaches record store which was in the process of closing, and they were liquidating their inventory. Among those in the racks was a sealed copy of In the Land of Grey and Pink. I had no idea what it was, or who Caravan were, but at 99 cents I decided I could afford to take chance with a cover like that.
Welcome to the world of Canterbury! This was my first as they say. Another new world was opened that had eluded me to that time. It was love at first hearing. Opener 'Golf Girl' wasn't so convincing on first blush, but once 'Winter Wine' finished, I knew I needed more of this sound! Whatever it was. I had no idea what Canterbury even meant. I'm not even sure I knew it was a region of England back then. A book by Geoffrey Chaucer maybe? As you all know as you're reading this, the best was yet to come for me. Flip the record over, and up comes 'Nine Feet Underground'. Which is about where I found myself (9 feet underground) as I was completely entranced by the sounds therein. I didn't even realize that the solos were entirely performed on an organ, thinking it was a guitar. Which was the point as it turns out, but it was a new sound for me. So much melody - so many great instrumental breaks. Superb vocals. It is the sound of Canterbury. As I state for my Non-Canterbury Canterbury list on RYM: "The sounds of the style are distinctive: Jazzy, highly melodic, pop influenced yet complex, psychedelic, often times instrumental, insouciant, and pleasant to the ear." We are now 37+ years on from that event, and every time I hear this album (including last night), it only gets better. Only Pye Hastings 'Love to Love You' is a bit tedious and it's here he begins his annoying trait of adding his little "ditties" as I called them on my For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night review. In any case, this was David Sinclair's great moment in the sun, as he dominates the recording. And then he left afterward, and Caravan would never be quite the same, even though he did return on For Girls... and The New Symphonia.
Conclusion: In the Land of Grey and Pink is one of the greatest albums of all time.
Ownership: LP: 1971 Deram. Beautiful gatefold original. Picked this up from a local Colorado Springs dealer back in 1997 which replaced the LP mentioned above. That copy was the US pressing on London and was a cut-out.
CD: 2001 Deram (Japan). As with the others in this series, it's exactly the same as the European release but with the papersleeve cover. It's also part of the Disk Union box set. Features fantastic historical liner notes and features no less than 5 relevant bonus tracks including the excellent unreleased 'I Don't Know Its Name'.
1//85; 1//06; 9/18/19; 7/10/22 (new entry)
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