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Pubblicato nel 1971, "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" è l'album che consacra i Caravan come una realtà molto rilevante in ambito progressive e uno dei gruppi principali della cosiddetta "scuola di Canterbury". La mia modesta conoscenza in fatto di gruppi canterburiani non mi consente di fare confronti precisi tra la relativa scena e il restante panorama prog, mi permetto solo di affermare che la scuola di Canterbury propone una variante molto melodica del rock progressivo.
In effetti la musica dei Caravan non è elaborata e complessa come quella di King Crimson e Genesis, sebbene il loro corredo sia costituito dagli stessi elementi: fiati, tastiere, mellotron, richiami al jazz e atmosfere classiche. Rispetto agli standard progressivi, le loro partiture sono più semplici e lineari, le loro melodie sono meno solenni, più serene. Lo si può constatare subito nelle prime due tracce, "Golf Girl", il cui incedere moderatamente allegro porta alla mente il più scanzonato Syd Barrett, e "Winter Wine", campionario di tenue e briosa psichedelia. Seguono "Love To Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly)", solare canzone d'amore in sette ottavi, e la suggestiva "In The Land Of Grey And Pink", anch'essa frutto di una vaga ispirazione barrettiana (il testo contiene tra l'altro un riferimento non troppo vago all'(ab)uso di marijuana: "And when it's dark our boat will park on a land of warm and green/ Pick our fill of punk weed and smoke it till we bleed, that's all we'll need"). Chiude l'opera la lunga suite "Nine Feet Underground" (quasi 23 minuti), divisa in otto atti, summa della loro arte equilibrata e romantica che alterna toni ora sereni e ora vagamente nostalgici e conclude con un sorprendente finale quasi hard rock.
L'edizione in cd comprende anche cinque bonus track: due inediti, "I Don't Know Its Name (Alias The Word)" e "Aristocracy", una versione strumentale di "Winter Wine" chiamata "It's Like To Have A Name Next Week", la versione originale con testo diverso di "Golf Girl", intitolata "Group Girl", e infine "Dissociation/100% Proof", un remix degli ultimi due atti di "Nine Feet Underground". Tutto in nome di un bel prog semplice, melodioso e delicato. Altri tempi.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Golf Girl (05:00)
Standing on a golf course
Dressed in P.V.C.
I chanced upon a Golf Girl
Selling cups of tea
She asked me did I want one
Asked me with a grin
For three pence you can buy one
Full right to the brim
So of course I had to have one
In fact I ordered three
So I could watch the Golf Girl
Could see she fancied me
And later on the golf course
After drinking tea
It started raining golf balls
And she protected me
Her name was Pat
And we sat under a tree
She kissed me
We go for walks
In fine weather
All together
On the golf course
We talk in morse
02 Winter Wine (07:35)
Winter wine...
How you're always flowing, blowing in my mind?
Like a stream...
These magic waters move me to a dream
Of travelling with you, drifting carefree, dropping downward through fresh grasses
Bubbles merrily as it passes, never knowing where you're going
Carry me with you, carry me with you
Be conjured up in a midnight dream, ancient castles dark
As wandering minstrels play tunes of yesterday
When dragons roamed the land, knights in armour cold
Charged on horseback bold
The maids were saved, the dragons slain
Sail scene, sea green - sailing forward to a new land
Treasure waits, paradise gates, for the taking, don't start waking
All you need, but take heed, remember it pays to pay the sandman well
Make no fuss, for you must - in stardust, he puts all the colours in your dreams
Bells chime three times, naked dancers enter slowly
Smoky room, scented gloom, audience eating, fat men drinking
Candles burn, a dull red light illuminates the breasts of four young girls
Dancing, prancing, provoking - dreams are always ending far too soon
Life's too short to be sad
Wishing things you'll never have
You're better off not dreaming of the things to come
Dreams are always ending far too soon
Sounds of a distant melody
Once played, lost from memory
Funny how it's clearer now, you're close to me
We'll be together all the time
03 Love to Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly) (03:03)
I dreamed of all the magic things that be
When we'd ride to a dock on bended knee
But you'd just smile and gently shake your head
And put a hole through me so I was dead
Oh, I'd fall down and I was left alone
With a feeling of you still that was my own
Oh, I would love to, love to love you
Yes, indeed, I do love you, love you
My, my, pigs might fly, that can't be bad
How you have the cheek to smile and tell me I'm mad
A man came through the wall and stood by me
Complete with bag of nuts and fancy free
He said without a tonal fleeting glance
I'd like to get deep down inside your pants
How you opened up his head and smiled
And rubbish from your mouth you ticked inside
Oh, I would love to, love to love you
Yes, indeed, I do love you, love you
My, my, pigs might fly, that can't be bad
How you have the cheek to smile and tell me I'm mad
04 In the Land of Grey and Pink (04:59)
In the land of grey and pink where only boy-scouts stop to think
They'll be coming back again, those nasty grumbly grimblies
And they're climbing down your chimney, yes they're trying to get in
Come to take your money - isn't it a sin, they're so thin ?
They've black buckets in the sky, don't leave your dad in the rain
Cigarettes burn bright tonight, they'll all get washed down the drain
So we'll sail away for just one day to the land where the punk weed grows
Won't need any money, just fingers and your toes
And when it's dark our boat will park on a land of warm and green
Pick our fill of punk weed and smoke it till we bleed, that's all we'll need
While sailing back in morning light, we'll wash our teeth in the sea
And when the day gets really bright, we'll go to sea drinking tea
So we'll sail away for just one day to the land where the punk weed grows
Won't need any money, just fingers and your toes
And when it's dark our boat will park on a land of warm and green
Pick our fill of punk weed and smoke it till we bleed, that's all we'll need
They've black buckets in the sky, don't leave your dad in the rain
Cigarettes burn bright tonight, they'll all get washed down the drain
05 Nine Feet Underground: Nigel Blows a Tune / Love's a Friend / Make It 76 / Dance of the Seven Paper / Hankies / Hold Grandad by the Nose / Honest I Did! / Disassociation / 100% Proof (22:39)
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Altre recensioni
Di uboldri
Un'opera omnia che risulta difficile recensire senza rovinare le ataviche emozioni che riesce a evocare.
Un capolavoro inestimabile. Una perla rara. Un turbinio di emozioni.
Di DaveJonGilmour
In un’eventuale scala dei valori, non esiterei a mettere questo disco sullo stesso scalino di ‘Third’ o ‘Close to the Edge’ o di alcuni lavori di Pink Floyd e King Crimson.
La monumentale suite ‘Nine Feet Underground’, 22.44 minuti di pura estasi musicale, uno sconcertante volo ad occhi chiusi negli ampi e sconfinati cieli del prog.
Di belerofonte
"Un dolcissimo oblio è calato su di me, ventiquattro minuti di abbacinante melodia mi hanno cullato ed ammaliato."
"Quello dei Caravan è sì puro da collocarli di diritto nell’Olimpo del progressive e del rock tutto."
Di tonysoprano
"È una droga più piacevole da assumere, ha effetto per soli 43 minuti, ma in quei pochi minuti puoi intravedere la magnificienza del mondo."
"Nine Feet Underground è una delle massime suite della storia del progressive, orgasmo unico di 22 minuti."
