Golf Girl

Caravan: Jimmy Hastings (tenor sax, flute, piccolo), John Beecham (trombone), Pye Hastings (acoustic and electric guitar, vocals), Dave Sinclair (piano, organ, Mellotron, vocals), Richard Sinclair (acoustic guitar, electric bass, vocals) and Richard Coughlan (drums). From the album In the Land of Grey and Pink (1971).

This album is considered to be the best Caravan ever recorded, with Dave Sinclair’s piano, organ and Mellotron solos prevailing. The Mellotron is a polyphonic electro-mechanical keyboard initially built in England in 1963. Although In the Land of Grey and Pink was well received by critics, it was also a commercial failure and didn’t appear on the UK charts, although it was sold continuously throughout the 1970s thanks to the many fans who attended their live performances. This caused Sinclair to leave the band and found Matching Mole with the singer and drummer Robert Wyatt, that had previously been part of Soft Machine. Sinclair was replaced on keyboards by Steve Miller, bringing the group closer to jazz-rock.

After having trouble producing their previous album themselves, they decided to collaborate with the record producer David Hichcock, who was one of their followers. Guitarist Pye Hastings had been the author of most of the songs in the two previous albums, so in this one the other members wanted to contribute their own compositions. His only song is “Love to Love You (And Pigs Might Fly)”, which along with bassist Richard Sinclair’s “Golf Girl” are pop style. The latter is the kind of catchy song that spins in your head for days and days after you hear it, and it’s about his future wife.

Dave Sinclair had written some musical fragments that he wanted to join with songs, and the rest of the musicians helped him make the arrangements, giving rise to the “Nine Feet Underground” suite. It takes the side two of the album and is an amazing demonstration of how the band members mastered their instruments, including the vocal duel between Richard Sinclair and Pay Hasting. The group’s ethereal glow and combination of jazz and folk instrumentation is reminiscent of Traffic, as can be heard in the psychedelic “Winter Wine”, a fantasy and fairy tales song. Pastoral motifs are frequent and the cover has an image inspired in Tolkien. Also, Dave Sinclair’s lyrics play an important role and the band’s dynamics are well integrated.