''In the Land of Grey and Pink'' is the third album by English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band Caravan, released in April 1971 on

Deram Records Deram Records was a subsidiary record label of Decca Records established in the United Kingdom in 1966. At the time, U.K. Decca was a different company from the Decca label in the United States, which was owned by MCA Inc. Deram recordings w ...

. It was produced by David Hitchcock and was the last album to feature the original lineup of

Richard Coughlan Richard Coughlan (2 September 1947 – 1 December 2013) was an English musician, best known as the drummer and percussionist of the Canterbury scene progressive rock band Caravan. He was one of the founding members of Caravan in 1968 and remai ...

Pye Hastings Julian Frederick Gordon 'Pye' Hastings (born 21 January 1947 in Tomnavoulin, Banffshire, Scotland) is a British musician. Born in Scotland and raised in Canterbury, Kent, he is the guitarist and vocalist of the Canterbury scene band Caravan and b ...

Richard Sinclair Richard Stephen Sinclair (born 6 June 1948) is an English progressive rock bassist, guitarist, and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene. Biography Born in Canterbury, England, both his father (Dick Sinclair) ...

and

Dave Sinclair David Sinclair (born 24 November 1947) is a British keyboardist (organ, piano, harpsichord, electric piano, Mellotron, Davolisint, etc.) associated with the psychedelia/progressive rock Canterbury Scene since the late 1960s. He became famous ...

until 1982's '' Back to Front''. The album was written and recorded during late 1970 and early 1971, and featured more material from Richard Sinclair. Hastings, who had been the main songwriter on the previous two releases, contributed only one track. Instrumentally, the music is dominated by David Sinclair's keyboard solos, and side two is taken up by a 22-minute suite of songs, "Nine Feet Underground". The cover features a

Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works '' The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawl ...

-influenced painting. The album was critically well received but was not a chart success, which led to frustration within the band and David Sinclair's departure. Nevertheless, it has remained in print and sold steadily, and been recommended by critics as a good introduction to the

Canterbury Scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

genre. The band look back favourably on the album and several of its tracks have remained fixtures in Caravan's live repertoire. It has been reissued several times, including a comprehensive 40th anniversary remix package by British musician and producer

Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosio ...

in 2011.

Background and recording

Though Caravan had yet to achieve strong commercial success in 1970, they had started to build a live following, including an appearance at the Kralingen Pop Festival in the Netherlands to an audience of 250,000 and the 10th Plumpton Festival. In between touring, the group had written several new pieces that they wanted to record. Having had problems self-producing the previous album, ''

If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You ''If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You'' is the second album by Canterbury scene band Caravan, released in September 1970. It was the predecessor to their best-known album '' In the Land of Grey and Pink'' (1971). The album is ...

'', the group decided to collaborate with producer David Hitchcock. Hitchcock had become a fan of the band and had been a key figure in getting them signed to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. He had progressed from the label's art department to production and was keen to work on the album. The group had been apprehensive about Hitchcock working on ''If I Could Do It All Over Again...'' but after discovering his enthusiasm and creative ideas, decided it would be a good idea to enrol him as producer. Recording began in September 1970 at Decca Studios,

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage to ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Guitarist

had written the bulk of material for earlier albums, which led to a backlog of songs composed by the rest of the group; consequently he only offered a single song, "Love to Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly)". Bassist

had written "Golf Girl", a song about his girlfriend and future wife. Both songs were written in a straightforward pop style, in contrast to some longer pieces on the album. Keyboardist David Sinclair had composed a number of different musical segments that he wanted to link together to a suite of songs. The group helped with the arranging and joining of sections, resulting in a 22-minute piece, "Nine Feet Underground". The song was recorded in five separate sections and edited together by Hitchcock and engineer Dave Grinsted. Most of the work is instrumental, aside from two sections with lyrics. David Sinclair played most of the solos on the track, and indeed the entire album, on either fuzztone organ or piano. Most of the album aside from "Nine Feet Underground" was recorded in December at

Air Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as ...

. "Group Girl" had been tried at Decca Studios but was re-recorded with different lyrics as "Golf Girl", which featured

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

and

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

parts. "Winter Wine" had been recorded in September as a rough instrumental with wordless vocals, but was given a second attempt at Air Studios, by which time it had acquired lyrics about dreams and fairy tales. The final version features a folk influenced

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

introduction and included an improvised organ section in the middle. The last track to be recorded was the title track, which featured the sound of Richard Sinclair blowing bubbles. The album was mixed at Decca in January 1971. During the sessions at Air Studios, the band recorded a rough version of "Aristocracy", but it was shelved and re-recorded the following year for the next album, ''

Waterloo Lily ''Waterloo Lily'' is the fourth album by Caravan, released in 1972 on the Deram label. Background The album cover is detail from "The Tavern Scene" from A Rake's Progress by William Hogarth. The track "The Love in Your Eye" has been featured ...

''. The title was suggested by Richard Sinclair; the "land of grey and pink" refers to the band's home county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. He came up with the phrase after looking at the sky at sunset during rehearsals at

Graveney Graveney is a relatively small but widely dispersed village located between Faversham and Whitstable in Kent, England. The main part of the village is located along the intersection of Seasalter Road, Sandbanks Road and Head Hill Road (at the rail ...

early in the band's career.

Release and reception

The album was released on 8 April 1971 and featured a

influenced cover, drawn by Anne Marie Anderson. It did not chart in the UK, but sold steadily throughout the 1970s, remaining in print, with "Nine Feet Underground" becoming a popular track on late-night FM radio. The group became frustrated with their lack of commercial success, which they blamed on Decca's lack of promotion. In August 1971, David Sinclair accepted an offer to join former

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...

drummer and vocalist

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

in a new band,

Matching Mole Matching Mole were an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Robert Wyatt formed the band in October 1971 after he left Soft Machine and recorded his first solo album, '' The End of an Ear'' (4 December 1970). He c ...

. The album was reissued in 2001 on CD with bonus tracks, including early takes of "Winter Wine" and "Golf Girl" at Decca Studios. A new edition of the album, remixed in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound by British musician and producer

was released on two CDs and a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

to coincide with its 40th anniversary in 2011. As well as the original album, the reissue included outtakes,

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

sessions, and a television performance on the German music show ''

Beat-Club ''Beat-Club'' is a West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, West Germany on ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'', the national public TV channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its ...

''. The album was also available in a limited edition of 500 copies on 180g vinyl, remastered by Pascal Byrne. It was reissued on vinyl in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in September 2014. Extended remixes of "Golf Girl" and "Love to Love You" were included in the 2000 anthology, ''Where but for Caravan Would I?''. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' listed the album as No. 34 on their list of 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time, saying it evoked "a Middle Earth sunset, with the music wavering between medieval folk melodies and jazz-savvy musos". According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer Dave Thompson, the album is "one of the most beloved, and eccentric prog albums of them all" and "probably Caravan's finest hour". He also said that "Nine Feet Underground" was "the most for the dynamic chemistry that blended the band together" and that "Golf Girl" "emerges as the kind of song that remains stuck in your head for days after you hear it, no matter how many more records you play immediately after". Progressive rock author Stephen Lambe has said that "Nine Feet Underground" is "not just the archetypal Caravan piece but a symbol of a whole movement." Marco Rossi, writing in ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'' said "Canterbury Scene initiates are strongly advised to start here." In the '' Q'' and''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

'' Classic Special Edition ''Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock'', the album came No. 19 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums". ''Mojo'' also said ''In the Land of Grey and Pink'' was "the quintessential Canterbury album". The band look favourably on the album. Hastings later said the group "began to peak in many ways" and praised in particular David Sinclair's playing and Hitchcock's production skills. Caravan continue to perform songs from ''In the Land of Grey and Pink'' in their live repertoire, particularly "Nine Feet Underground" and "Golf Girl".

Track listing

All songs by

and

(except "Aristocracy", by Coughlan, Hastings and Richard Sinclair). ;Side One ;Side Two

Personnel

;Caravan *

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, vocals *

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s, acoustic guitar, vocals *

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

, harmony vocals *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and percussion ;Additional personnel *

Jimmy Hastings James Brian Gordon Hastings (born 12 May 1938) is a British musician associated with the Canterbury scene who plays saxophones, flute and clarinet. Hastings was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He has played with his brother Pye Hastings in Caravan, ...

–

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

* Dave Grinsted –

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

, bell and wind * John Beecham –

on "Golf Girl" ;Production * David Hitchcock – production * Dave Grinsted – engineering * John Punter – engineering * Derek Varnals – engineering * Julian Hastings – production for bonus material on 2001 CD reissue.

Release information

Cover versions

"Golf Girl" was covered by

Nigel Planer Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, comedian, musician, novelist and playwright. He played Neil in the BBC comedy '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in ''Filthy Rich & Catflap''. He has appeared in many West End mu ...

(in his guise as hippy Neil from '' The Young Ones'') on his album ''

Neil's Heavy Concept Album ''Neil's Heavy Concept Album'' is a 1984 recording of songs and spoken comedy routines by British actor Nigel Planer, in character as the long-suffering hippie Neil from the BBC comedy series '' The Young Ones''. Production, arrangements and ke ...

'', and featured a cameo from

Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...

as a policewoman.

Annie Whitehead Lena Annie Whitehead (born 16 July 1955 in Oldham, Lancashire, England) is an English jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ...

played the song's trombone part as arranged on ''In the Land of Grey and Pink'' and longtime Caravan collaborator

played on the album. The song was also covered by German band M. Walking on the Water.

References

Citations Sources * * *

External links

Official press release for 2011 re-issue of 'In the Land of Grey and Pink'
{{Authority control Caravan (band) albums 1971 albums Deram Records albums Decca Records albums Island Records albums Universal Records albums London Records albums PolyGram albums Albums produced by Dave Hitchcock Albums recorded at AIR Studios