Caravan gets a chance to “do it all over again” with their new album It’s None of Your Business – and thankfully, they “do it all over again” really quite well.
A general comment for all fellow fans: This album is a mature (and melodically progressive) glance at all the music between For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night and Night and Blind Dog at St. Dunstans — with a bit of the better part of Better by Far. And please permit a personal perspective: I’m an avid Caravan fan of all these late-’70s albums – and, of course, ditto for the first four — with In the Land of Grey and Pink being among my Top 5 all-time prog favorites.
Still, the regrouped Caravan’s 1995 LP The Battle of Hastings was rather flaccid (AKA ho-hum). Although, in fairness, I was relieved to find that the song “Cold as Ice” was not a Foreigner cover! And 2003’s The Unauthorized Breakfast Item, even with its cool title and the energetic “Head Above the Clouds,” didn’t (let’s just say) make the “seven paper hankies dance” very much.
With It’s None of Your Business, however, Caravan is back and “bobbing wide.” The opening “Down From London” simply jumps with Geoffrey Richardson’s viola joy and Pye’s voice, the latter of which is laced with his urgent oddly melodic delivery. And there’s a really nice guitar solo, to boot.
Then “Wishing You Were Here” really gets back to “Memory Lain, Hugh/Headloss” territory. There’s another dramatic and spidery guitar solo, which is followed by Jan Schelhass’ organ finale. Yes, the same is true for the strident “Ready or Not,” with its pulsing latent rock aggression. And Geoffrey Richardson does get really melodic in a “silver strings” sort of way. It’s a nice juxtaposition.
Now, big time: Caravan’s epic (almost 10-minute) title track begins with a breezy quick guitar, viola, and piano Canterbury tune, but at the six-minute mark, “It’s None of Your Business” erupts into an absolutely bouncy bass and drum groove that’s as catchy as Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night’s perfect and weird pop “Surprise, Surprise.” This is a wonderful extended prog rock piece, with keyboards wandering here and there and just a hint of the epic “Nine Feet Underground” sound. Odd, the song ends with a prog-perfect organ swirl and more of that bouncy bass and drum groove, Thank you very much, Lee Pomeroy and Mark Walker!
Now, another big time: The ultra-catchy “If I Was to Fly,” is joy personified and then pumped with helium. It’s yet another jaunty Chaucer on his way to Canterbury tune. The pulse on It’s None of Your Business slows for “Spare a Thought,” which is another “Love Song with Flute,” with Pye’s brother Jimmy adding his gentle flute stroke (and viola playing second fiddle!) to a thoughtful melody. Sometimes, indeed, pigs do manage to fly and sing a nice tune.
Then, there’s more of brother Jimmy’s flute with the rock-tour song, “Every Precious Little Thing.” The song gets (sort of) jazzy with full-band euphoria and once more, Jan Schelhass’ expansive keyboards. And great melodies persist: “I’ll Reach Out for You” could be an outtake from Blind Dog at St. Dunstans, with a really nice mandolin bit, more warm organ, more flute, and yet another Pye Hastings’ urgent and oddly melodic vocal delivery.
“There Is You,” is lovely, a bit maudlin, and is a universe away from “The Dog, The Dog, He’s at It Again.” But this is Caravan, circa 2021, who still serve up a pretty good “unauthorized breakfast item,” without (sadly, I suppose!) all those “legs and thighs, hellos and goodbyes” – or for that matter “all those girls who grow plump in the night.” But it’s a lovely song, so just enjoy the passionate sentiment — without an already-referenced flying pig in sight.
And finally, “Luna’s Tune” is an instrumental that probes the Canterbury Cathedral universe with Geoffrey Richardson’s viola and Jan Schelhass’ keyboards. The tune is a stone tossed across Margate seaside waters that settles, softly, into its final skipped and very melodic resting place.
Indeed, “surprise, surprise” and “hold granddad by the nose,” because It’s None of Your Business is a pretty great record which thankfully and against all odds proves – even after all the convoluted Caravan years – that Nigel can still blow a pretty great tune.
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