Caravan - Cunning Stunts (1975) LP

The album that gave Caravan brief acquaintance with chart success and transatlantic fame has never been the favorite of the band's die-hard fans. This low esteem is largely unjustified. Granted, Cunning Stunts doesn't have the intense level of English whimsy of some previous albums, but neither does it have the sterile polish of subsequent releases. This is a solid, varied, and interesting album with plenty of character. The anthemic opener, "Show of our Lives," rocks with a curious elegance, propelled by excellent viola work and an unusually impassioned vocal from Pye Hastings. This track and the up-tempo "Stuck in a Hole" managed to get quite a bit of radio airplay on American progressive stations, and were both good showcases of the symphonic progressive rock that Caravan did so well. That said, Cunning Stunts also has distinct elements of jazz fusion and even funk scattered around, notably in the "Dabsong Conshirtoe" that takes up the whole second side. This sprawling track is not really a unified work, but a series of separate pieces with interesting transitions that make it one of the better extended efforts in the band's career. Only the repetitive closing passage is tedious, despite the band's attempt to enliven things with random sound effects. At the other end of the scale, Caravan showed that the group could still create a lovely little work like the "Fear and Loathing in Tollington Park Rag," a charming little acoustic statement that sounds like something John Fahey might have written while in a buoyant mood. The band was still taking chances on this album, and most of them paid off very well.