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''In the Land of Grey and Pink'' is the third album by English progressive rock band Caravan, released in April 1971 on Deram Records. It was produced by David Hitchcock and was the last album to feature the original lineup of Richard Coughlan, Pye Hastings, Richard Sinclair and David Sinclair 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-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 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 Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson 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'', 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. 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, London. Guitarist Pye Hastings 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 Pigs Might Fly)". Bassist Richard Sinclair 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 in Oxford Street. "Glow Girl" had been tried at Decca Studios but was re-recorded with different lyrics as "Golf Girl", which featured flute and trombone 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 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''. The title was suggested by Richard Sinclair; the "land of grey and pink" refers to the band's home county of Kent. He came up with the phrase after looking at the sky at sunset during rehearsals at Graveney early in the band's career. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「In the Land of Grey and Pink」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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