| Artist: | Camel |
| Title: | Camel On The Road 1981 |
| Label: | Camel Productions CP-007CD |
| Length(s): | 58 minutes |
| Year(s) of release: | 1997 |
| Month of review: | 09/1997 |
| 1) | Never Let Go | 7.03 |
| 2) | Song Within A Song | 7.20 |
| 3) | Lunar Sea | 10.51 |
| 4) | City Life | 4.43 |
| 5) | Nude | 0.28 |
| 6) | Drafted | 3.55 |
| 7) | Docks | 4.06 |
| 8) | Beached | 3.35 |
| 9) | Landscapes | 3.22 |
| 10) | Changing Places | 3.32 |
| 11) | Reflections | 2.25 |
| 12) | Captured | 3.20 |
| 13) | The Last Farewell | 4.05 |
To the music now: anyone not familiar with the band should know that Camel has a sound that is rather jazzy and definitely progressive, but can't be labeled plain jazzrock as the band tends to focus on melodic compositions and indeed has made some gems of "songs" (Ice, Stationary Traveller, Rain Dances and Lady Fantasy to name but a few). For me the albums in their mid period were not that good in their entirety. An exception to this is the coherent and melodic concept album Nude, that is less jazzrock(ing) than the early albums, but also more melodic and interesting as a whole than for instance I Can See Your House From Here, Rain Dances or Breathless.
Of course, technically the band is superior to most bands you will encounter in progressive rock and Latimer is a great guitar player who puts a lot of emotion into his playing still (and this is 16 years afterwards). It must be said that the Nude album contains a lot of keyboards as well which shouldn't be too surprising given the fact that we have two keyboardists. One of the problems I always has with Camel is the singing because neither band member has a really good voice or at least a voice that draws attention (note however that only four songs have vocals, so if you're against them for some reason than it should't be that much of a problem).
Some people regard Camel as being either to jazzy or too laid-back and in fact there are only few heavy moments on this album and it is as such only recommended for people who are into progressive and not as much into rock and Nude can be regarded as progressive pop of the good kind also. Note that compared to the studio version of Nude there's not that much of a difference, but the older tracks have some things added to them. With Harbour of Tears I found the shorter live version (when I visited the concert) better, because the band conveys much more in shorter time. I can't really hear that here.
Beached shows that Camel isn't plain accessible as some of you might have wondered by now, with changing signatures and quirky melodies abound, while the following track Landscapes contrasts with its peaceful atmosphere as played by the flute. Changing Places continues with flute and features some nice percussion. Reflections does sound reflective and features the first guitar in three tracks, but still is very quiet.
Never Let Go gives Camel's view on WoMan's progress and the way we are heading and back in 1973 it seems they still had reasons to be postive (in view of the fact the band still plays it, maybe they think it still holds). My personal favourites are Song Within A Song, Lunar Sea (rather long tracks in the jazzrock vein), Docks (exciting track with "seagull" guitars and good melodies) and Captured with upcoming keyboards and that turns into a hectic but melodic track with full featured piano, keyboards and guitar.
Striking is the fact that the CD contains all the lyrics of the songs. In case you wondered what you miss on this album compared to the Nude studio album: Pomp and Circumstance, Please Come Home, The Homecoming and Lies.