Customer Reviews
Nice album - By: Gentle Giant Prog, 24 Jan 2008 
After getting `In The Land of Grey & Pink,' the next album prog enthusiasts would recommend to you is usuallly this album.
The album is certainly good, & though it doesn't have the same `Masterpiece,' feel to it, you'll still find melodies from it trapped in your head for days on end. There's a more `Urgent,' mood on this album than previous Caravan albums, & a more stomping drum style. Its just as cool in places, but more driving than the laid back & unconsciously complex `In The Land Of Grey And Pink,'
With a nice remastering job & interesting linear notes as well as quite a few bonus tracks, there's never been a better time to expand your prog collection.
My Personal Favorite tracks are the catchy & fun `Hoedown,' & the rocking `Hugh Head loss,' which comes as a delicious mixture of Yes's `Yours Is No Disgrace,' & Zeppelins `We're Gonna Groove.'
This is not one of alll time the essential albums, but if you like Caravan you'll love it.
Plumptious - By: D. J. H. Thorn, 18 Dec 2007 
Having first heard their earlier albums, 'If I Could...' & 'In The Land Of Grey And Pink,' this one surprised me. While those two albums have an airy, late 1960s feel & a sharper production, 'For Girls...' is more abrasive & heavier. 'Memory Lain, Hugh/Headloss' is the kind of driving rock that you don't get on the earlier material. At one point, 'Headloss' sounds more like a Wishbone Ash number. With the woodwind & brass, however, you get more than guitar rock. Geoffrey Richardson's viola also gives the band more options. He gets his first party piece on 'Hoedown' with a riff that mimics a lead guitar.
Although Caravan never reallly did great 'songs' as such, 'The Dog, The Dog...' is an exception, with a lovely ascending melody & a lyric designed to face off against prudery. 'Be Alright' returns to more abrasive rock territory & the album proper concludes with one of those multi-part compositions that they're so fond of. It's more of a mood piece with drastic shifts in style & an orchestra thrown in. It noodles around ineffectuallly at first but improves with repeated plays.
The playing is turbulent & quite intense across the album. Caravan were already well-rehearsed for this album, having played much of the material live. Of the extra tracks, only 'Derek's Long Thing' (another title from the school of 'Carry On' humour) is completely new. Its eleven minutes are pleasant enough, led off by one of their less-favoured instruments, the piano, but it isn't as good as anything on the original album. I'm not convinced that this is better than the earlier material but it's a great album nevertheless & the band seem more energised than ever.
Unquestionably their best - By: Julian Stevens, 19 Jul 2007 I have very little to add to alll the other positive reviews of this 1973 classic. It was the only one of their albums with John G. Perry on bass, who seems to have exerted a strange & powerfully positive influence on the entire proceedings, despite not having actuallly written any of the music (almost alll of that was undertaken by the redoubtable Mr Hastings), with the five man lineup excellently rounded off by Peter Geoffrey Richardson on viola ~ a master stroke, if ever. Apart from that, this is a superbly confident & coherent album that marked the pinnacle of their career.
One other thing ~ the new "Digitallly remastered" sticker is completely phony, as the current issue sounds no different from (if anything, marginallly inferior to) the original from 1990. All you get is a few previously unreleased tracks, none of which is particularly inspiring, & extended sleeve notes.
But the album itself will always be one of the greats of its era & the high point of this much loved band's career.
Surprise? more a Shock ! - By: Glenn Hillier, 12 Jan 2007 What a truly fantastic album this is.
I've been following Caravan since when with Hyde Park,Fairfeld hallls & alll & they never cease to capture me with their music.
This album, ok remastered, is abosolutely fantastic & with the additional tracks makes it a real treasure. I thought track 11, Surprise, Surprise was going to be a copy of the original (sung) not used because it was thought inferior. Not at alll, brilliant. A must for Caravan & alll good music lovers.
I Started With This Album - By: Chris Hawkins, 07 May 2006 Until recently, "prog" for me consisted of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Yes & Tull. King Crimson are just too hard! That is, until I read in MOJO about the "Canterbury Sound" & bands like Caravan, Soft Machine & Camel.
From nefarious sources, I obtained a copy of "For Girls..." & was blown away. I now own a legal copy! Wonderful intelligent, melodic songs played superbly if not ostentatiously. There are more ideas on this album than in a lifetime of albums by many of the so-callled rock greats. Just when you think there's nothing new under the sun, there's....Caravan. I went on & bought two more Caravan albums on the strength of this one, & it doesn't actuallly rate as their supposed best album!
