Camel - "Nude" (1981)

The British band Camel has always been one of my favorite bands from the progressive genre. Their music is relatively easy to access, not too complex and complicated compared to some other bands from the genre. But still something of a challenge for the listener, at just the right level. But when I first put Nude on the turntable, I was horrified. The record opens with a song that sounded like a really cheesy 80's pop song. And the next one sounded about the same. Then I turned off the turntable, put the LP in the shelf and left it there unplayed for many years. That's how disappointed I was. Did the 80's even succeed in corrupting Camel?

When I later on read a few reviews online concerning the album, I was surprised that it got so high grades, often 4s or 5s (on five-grade scales). I decided to give it another chance. Nude is a concept album about the Japanese soldier who remained on an island for many years, believing that WWII was still going on. The soldier was Hiro Onoda, and "Nude" derives from his family name. This was the eighth record from the band and the last one where the drummer Andy Ward participated, he later left the group due to a serious hand injury. It's unclear to me who were members in the band at the time, and who participated as studio musicians on the album, but on saxophone Mel Collins, a giant in the prog genre, is heard.

When I gave the album a second chance, I realized that it actually contained some qualities. Most songs are instrumental, luckily enough, as the few tracks with song are not good at all. OK, Drafted is actually nice, but it's more of an ordinary pop ballad than prog, the other tracks with song are the horrific cheesy 80's pop mentioned in the beginning. Lionel Richie class. The instrumental songs are, however, a bit more as one is used to hear Camel, guitars in harmonies, lots of flute and lots of saxophone. Some odd time signatures. But it's far from the quality the band had on the earlier albums from the 70's. It's as though the music was recorded through an easy-listening filter. The sound is soft and polished, the synthesizers are smooth and the really challenging parts are missing. Easy-listening prog.

So I would rather recommend the band's previous LPs instead of Nude. Much better and more fun. But if you considering buying an album with Lionel Richie, choose Nude instead.


Tracklist

Side A
1 City Life 5:02
2 Nude 0:22
3 Drafted 4:18
4 Docks 3:50
5 Beached 3:32
6 Landscapes 2:36

Side B
1 Changing Places 4:10
2 Pump & Circumstance 2:03
3 Please Come Home 1:12
4 Reflections 2:45
5 Captured 3:13
6 The Homecoming 2:40
7 Lies 4:57
8 The Last Farewell: The Birthday Cake / Nude's Return 4:05

Camel – “Moonmadness” (1976)

For quite a long period in my life I often thought about whether I should get some albums I had on vinyl also on CD, I thought it was so comfortable to listen to CDs. Far too often, I let the convenience guide me and I took a CD from the shelf instead of a LP. Thus, many of my vinyl records were unplayed for a long time. Nowadays it is the opposite. Moonmadness is an album that have followed the path from CD to vinyl. Firstly, I think this is Camel's best album (yes, better than The Snow Goose) and therefore deserves to exist in my collection in both formats. Secondly, I have, thanks to my stay in Quebec (where I currently live), found lots of records with the North American cover. This is fantastic for a European like me.

Above you therefore see the North American cover of Moonmadness, which is totally different than the European one. Some of you may wonder if it really makes sense to buy a record you already own just because it has a different cover, the music's the same. Of course it’s worth it, I answer, especially if you can find the record for five dollars. You should know that serious collectors often buy all the different covers that exist of a record, one record from each country where the record has been pressed, different pressings, and so on. So my purchases of records with North American covers is nothing.

Moonmadness is Camel's fourth album and was the album released after their breakthrough The Snow Goose (it’s strange that you can never write or talk about Camel without mentioning this album). This is also the last album with the original lineup of the band - Andrew Latimer (guitar, flute, vocals), Peter Bardens (keyboards, vocals), Doug Ferguson (bass, vocals) and Andy Ward (drums, percussion, vocals).

The record has a loose concept consisting of songs that personify the four band members. Air Born is about Latimer, Lunar Sea is about Ward, Chord Change about Bardens and Another Night about Ferguson. All songs are written by Latimer and Bardens except Another Night which all band members have been given credit for composing.

As mentioned above, this album is my favorite Camel album and also one of my favorite records all categories. Camel belongs to the progressive school, but always manages to stay on the right side of the border to too difficult and complex. Bands such as King Crimson sometimes becomes too great a challenge for me as their music often is too strange and neurotic. Camel is a challenge just big enough and Moonmadness finds the perfect balance between difficult and enjoyable. They give the listener challenges like long instrumental parts, time changes and odd time signatures, but all the time it’s easy to like what you hear. In contrast to The Snow Goose, Moonmadness has vocals in most songs. Because something always happens in the songs the listener's interest is kept alive at all times, no part nor song is too long, you never grow tired of the music. We are treated to everything from dreamy harmonies to 7/4 time signatures, often in one and the same song.

Many people compare Moonmadness with Pink Floyd's creations, personally I don’t think they belong in the same category. 70s Pink Floyd was more about epic albums with big soundscapes. Compared with PF Camel no doubt belongs to the more classic progressive music genre and I suspect that the members of Camel are more skilled as musicians (maybe Gilmour uncounted) but perhaps not as songwriters. This means the music of Camel is a bit more difficult (but not too difficult), more complex (but not too complex) and probably a bit more technically demanding for the musician. The sound is also "smaller" than PF's often larger soundscapes.

I highly recommend this album to everyone on planet Earth. I believe that even those who usually don’t like progressive music can appreciate this LP. Since it was purchased, it has been played a lot on my stereo and it will continue to do so. It is one of the few albums where all of the songs (almost) are fantastic. The two examples of the songs below from YouTube are two songs my then 1 ½-year-old son liked a lot. As a responsible father I thought the musical education must begin early. For a long time these two songs were his favorites along with a Lee Hazlewood song. I thought I had succeeded, but unfortunately he has a seven-year-old gone lost. Perhaps he can find his way back home again.

Finally, following the Moonmadness recording Mel Collins (saxophone, flute) became a new member of the band and Ferguson was replaced by Richard Sinclair (ex-Caravan).

Favorite Songs

Air Born

Lunar Sea

 

Tracklist

Side A

1. Aristillus 1:56

2. Song Within a Song 7:16

3. Chord Change 6:45

4. Spirit of the Water 2:07

Side B

1. Another Night 6:58

2. Air Born 5:02

3. Lunar Sea 9:11

 

 

Camel (1973)

To travel into the progressive landscape of the musical world is by some a step down, others mean it’s at least three leaps upward. Personally I think that progressive music can range from fantastic to too difficult. This album does not belong to the difficult but is in fact an example of a relatively accessible creation from the 70's progressive scene.

Camel is one of many great bands that emerged from the so-called Canterbury scene. This LP is their first, the group was formed the year before and consisted at the time of the recording of Andrew Latimer, Andy Ward, Doug Ferguson and Peter Bardens. Andrew Latimer has been in the band from its beginnings until today, apart from him, quite a few members have come and gone throughout the years. The album was released by MCA Records, it’s the only album the band recorded under that company.

Honestly I don’t remember how I discovered Camel, but this album was not the first one I bought with them. I had a number of CDs with them before I found this LP in a store for used records. An opportunity I of course couldn’t resist. The songs are a mix of both instrumentals and with vocals, and as said above, I find the album quite accessible. I think that Camel in general makes accessible progressive music which is probably one of the reasons that I hold them as one of my favorites in this genre.

Many of the songs with vocals have, as it should in this genre, long instrumental sections where both the guitar and keyboards play the lead role. Some prog lovers may miss the strange time signatures, time changes, unusual instruments and generally strange (and difficult) songs or parts of songs. The album has instead a fairly straightforward music, which I like. So why is it called progressive, you might ask yourself. A reasonable question. Definitions are a difficult area and I'm not going to dwell deeper on this issue, but I think since Camel is regarded as a progressive band, this album also automatically is put into this genre. Right or wrong, I don’t know. The last song Arubaluba is probably the one which is closest to what we generally consider classic progressive music. What the listener do get, though, is a bunch of great musicians!

The album is OK, I don’t think it's the best one Camel has done but I recommend it anyway. People who are frowning at progressive music and think it’s only music for other musicians should listen to the album. I think most people can appreciate this LP and enjoy what comes out of the stereo's speakers, even those who normally would never buy an album with King Crimson, Gentle Giant, or by all means Camel.

Lastly I can mention that Andrew Latimer in recent years has been incapable of playing music due to undergoing chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation which has had some physical consequences. His health is now much better and the recording has started (or is about to start) of a new Camel album in 2010.

 

Favourite tracks

Mystic Queen

Arubaluba

 

Tracklist

Side A

1. "Slow Yourself Down" 4:47
2. "Mystic Queen"  5:40
3. "Six Ate"  6:06
4. "Separation"  3:57

Side B

1. "Never Let Go"  6:26
2. "Curiosity"  5:55
3. "Arubaluba" – 6:28