by Mott the Dog
5 Stars *****
Camel was formed in late 1971, when veteran keyboard
wizard (previously with Rod Stewart in “Steampacket”, Peter Green and
Mick Fleetwood in “Peter B’s Loonies”, and Van Morrison in
“Them”), Peter Bardens joined forces with power trio “The Brew”.
Their third album, ‘The Snow Goose’, really established the band as a
force to be reckoned with. Released in 1975, after the first two albums
had been released to great critical acclaim but very weak sales, leaving
the band scratching their proverbial heads wondering in which direction to
go.
Nobody would have put money on a forty minute
instrumental covering both sides of the vinyl record based on Paul
Gallico’s short story ‘Snow Goose’. But The ‘Snow Goose’ turned
out to be The Golden Goose as it rocketed up the charts on both sides of
the Atlantic. By the end of 1975, Camel had been voted brightest hope by
Britain’s prestigious weekly rock journal Melody Maker. There followed
two equally successful follow-up albums. Only this time both albums had
some vocals on them. (‘Moon madness’ in 1976 and ‘Rain dances’ in
1977).
It was on the ‘Rain dances’ tour that most of this
live album was recorded. Five of the first seven songs on this CD are from
that album, and were not released at the time because of their similarity
to their recently released studio versions. But with this digitally
re-mastered double CD they have been faithfully restored, and a wonderful
addition they are too.
By 1977 Camel had really got into their stride (don’t
get the hump - no pun intended). Original bass player Doug Ferguson had
left the band acrimoniously before the recording of ‘Rain dances’ and
was replaced by the musically superior Richard Sinclair, previously with
Canterbury Prog Rockers ‘Caravan’. With Sinclair’s whimsical voice
to go with the Camel songs, it was a match made in Rock ‘n’ Roll
heaven.
Legendary wind instrumentalist Mel Collins, who had
joined the band in the studio for the recording of the last album, decided
to join them on the road, augmenting the sound further with wonderful
flourishes from his saxophones and flutes. Collins declined an offer to
join the band full time as he preferred to keep his options open for his
very lucrative session work. However, he satisfied his road dog emotions
by touring with Camel right up until 1981.
Although all of the songs on this collection are
recorded live, they are not all from the same concert. In fact, they are
not even all from the same year or line-up. The songs kick off with nine
from the ‘Rain dances’ tour with Sinclair and Collins on board. Then
we are whisked back to 1974 for two epics (‘Lady Fantasy’ is nearly
fifteen minutes long) recorded at the Marquee in pre Snow Goose days. But
the real feather behind this Camel’s ear is on disc two, which includes
the whole of ‘Snow Goose’ recorded by the Virgin mobile studio at a
memorable concert with the London Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal
Albert Hall on October 17th 1975, with David Bedford taking up the
conductor’s baton in a version of Camel’s Magnum opus that even
exceeds the studio version. The music is then brought to a close by two
fine numbers from 1976. In all, nearly three hours of sumptuous music.
You can only marvel at the skill of all these musicians
at work. You do not need words to explain the story of ‘The Snow
Goose’ as you can literally hear the waves against the side of the
little boat as it ploughs back and forth across the English channel,
plucking the men from the beaches of Dunkirk as the ‘Snow Goose’
circles overhead
So what happened? I hear you ask. Unfortunately this
Camel does not really have a happy ending. Within one year Peter Bardens
had left the band, citing musical differences. (Tragically Peter Bardens
died of cancer in January of 2002, following a distinguished solo career.)
After one more tour Richard Sinclair was asked to leave the band, and
later Andy Ward would succumb to alcoholism, being unable to cope with
life on the road. Original bass player Doug Ferguson never re-joined the
music industry, such was his disillusionment with the whole business side
of things, while Andy Latimer still carries his guitar in the dromedary
cause to this day leading his herd down the rocky road of Progressive
Rock.
Tracks
First light
Metrognome
Unevensong
Skylines
A song within a song
Lunar sea (gettit?)
Raindances
Never let go
Chord change
Ligging at Louis
Lady Fantasy
‘The Snow Goose- ‘The great marsh, Rhayader,
Rhayader goes to town, Sanctuary, Fritha, The snow goose, Friendship,
Migration, Rhayader alone, Flight of the sow goose, Preparation, Dunkirk,
Epitaph, Fritha alone, La Princesse Perdue, The great marsh
The white rider
Another night
Musicians
Andy Latimer: Guitars and vocals
Peter Bardens: Keyboards and vocals
Andy Ward: Drums
Doug Ferguson: Bass and vocals
Richard Sinclair: Bass and vocals, first nine songs
Mel Collins: Saxophone and Flute, first nine songs
To contact Mott the Dog email: [email protected]
Book Review: Waiting for the Lady
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