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Camel - Rajaz

Artist:	Camel
Title:	Rajaz
Label:	Camel Productions
Length(s):	58 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1999
Month of review:	12/1999

Line up

Andy Latimer - guitars, vocals, flute, keyboards, percussion
Colin Bass - bass
Ton Scherpenzeel - keyboards
Dave Stewart - drums, percussion
Barry Phillips - cello
Susan Hoover plays her part in the composing.

Tracks

1)	Three Wishes	6.58
2)	Lost And Found	5.39
3)	The Final Encore	8.07
4)	Rajaz	8.15
5)	Shout	5.15
6)	Straight To My Heart	6.24
7)	Sahara	6.45
8)	Lawrence	10.46

Summary

Not a concept album this time, it seems. However there are quite a lot of desert/Arabia inspired tracks so there are links, but there is no story this time. Ton Scherpenzeel, who also featured on Stationary Traveller, also plays a part again.

The music

Three Wishes opens this new Camel record. Soft keyboards, a wailing guitar and then a bluesy sounding guitar reminding me of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. All kinds of sounds are hidden somewhere in the back making for an atmospheric intro. Then the drums come up from behind and we go back in time a little (as "promised" by Colin Bass) to Camel of the seventies. However, the guitar solo is more of the nineties type. Again a break, now into a frolic piece and the guitar part returns quite forcefully with lots of organ. Flute and old fashioned keyboards are surprising ingredients here. A thematic instrumental where the Arabic influences are coming in through an Arabic styled guitar solo and handclapping. As you can see quite a lot of different passages, but there's nothing unnatural about it. A very nice beginning, although the theme could have been a little less mellow. Lost And Found opens with a repetitive acoustic guitar and then the vocals of Latimer. The cello is featured here for the first time. This song is rather in the style of Harbour Of Tears. The style of this track is quite folky, but with plenty of room for meandering keyboards. Later the guitar also lends a helping hand. The Final Encore (find the Camel titles!) opens with a monotonous drum and some nice edgy guitarwork, which then becomes more melodic and then returns to a meandering guitar solo on a march rhythm. Quite suddenly we come to an Arabic sounding merry keyboard part after which Latimers guitar continues the Caravan. The lyrics are sung in a very somber way and you may be reminded of French accordeon music here. There's some playing around later in the track. What strikes me most is the low pace of the track. The title track is next up. Opening with acoustic guitar this is a very peaceful track with the monotonous vocals of Latimer. The cello and flute dominate the first instrumental part. Then the plodding drums and the bluesy guitar set in. Nice vibrational effect here. The effects stays, but the guitar is set aside for a minute for the last of the vocals. The vocal melody is quite nice and quite distinctive (reminding me of Nude), but Latimer unfortunately has never been the greatest of singers. Shout is not a Tears For Fears cover, although in view of the lyrics of the chorus I was thinking of The Style Council just now. This is singer songwriter music with a country guitar, mellow (bit too for me) and moody. Straight To My Heart is better. The vocal melody and the guitar convey a feeling of longing and the final guitar solo is very emotive. Sahara is an instrumental, a slow one. Again, the guitar is in blues mode with soft percussion. Very moody. After this introduction, the guitar starts to let loose a bit and the tempo is also somewhat higher here. Of course, the song has the necessary desert ingredients. A synthetic string quartet opens the closing track, the 10+ minutes of Lawrence. A filmic opening up to the slow drums. The music is very much in the style of the earlier songs. The vocal melodies are a bit better and the guitar solo at the end shines (but not as much as the one in Straight To My Heart).

Conclusion

For a band that has given rise to a lot of very good music and some of my favourite tracks in progressive rock, the harvest is not great on this new Camel album. Latimer is a great guitarist with a lot of feel (lots of blues on this record), but the way everything has been recorded, it works very much as a tranquilizer and I'm the kind of guy who wants some dynamics in his music. The first track is certainly okay, but after that I had to look hard for a shining moment (such as the solo at the end of Straight To My Heart) or a rough edge. Not unpleasant, but I expect more.