Delightful album and one of the best from the Canterbury Scene. The record has wonderful melodies, witty lyrics, and fantastic arrangements. The music is a hybrid of psychedelic, jazz, pop, with folk influences.
Golf Girl is the first tune and it begins with a brilliant trombone intro. The track is very catchy, upbeat, and really gives off that British feel. There is some great mellotron, cowbell, piccolo, and of course the silly innuendo-laced lyrics to top it off.
Winter Wine is a very beautiful track featuring fantasy imagery. Richard Sinclair's vocal performance is outstanding and his lyrics and bass line are just as solid. The highlight of the song is the unreal fuzz-organ solo by Dave Sinclair.
The slight drawback to the record is the Pye Hastings contribution, Love to Love You. It's not a terrible track, but it's more pop and feels out of place. The song would have been more fitting on either of the first two Caravan albums which had the psychedelic pop vibe. This aside, the song is catchy and has a great flute solo towards the end.
The title track is another solid fantasy number with some amusing lyrics about "grumbly grimblies" and "picking our fill of punk weed and smoke it till we bleed - that's all we'll need." A lovely song with a dreamy piano piece around the 2 minute mark.
Nine Feet Underground is the last track clocking in at 22 minutes. The musicianship is tight, with solid grooves from drummer Richard Coughlan and superb bass playing from Richard Sinclair. Pye Hastings and Richard Sinclair each contribute a vocal section to the song which is a nice touch. Dave Sinclair once again gets to shine, performing several fuzz-organ solos that intertwine nicely with the lead guitar. Truly an epic jam with beautiful melodies, killer instrumentals, flawless grooves, excellent tempo changes, and an elegant psychedelic atmosphere.
|
