Curious about your Camel-top 3.. I love the band and most of their Music, but ICSYHFH has a few not-so-good songs but also a few real gems. Love Ice, Who We Are, Survival, Hymn to Her, Wait and Eye of the Storm.. The rest are among my least favourite Camel songs. Stationary Traveller is great though!Originally Posted by interbellum
I agree. Andy L. and or Colin B. obviously had a high opinion of “Drafted,” as it remained a staple of their setlist for years, but I’ve always found it to be a pretty poor song. It has its moments, mostly the stuff Kit and Jan (neither of whom was even in the band anymore) contributed to the songwriting, but most of it was meandering, ambient prog of little distinction. I think a lot of folks really want this to be an updated Snow Goose, but it so isn’t!
I found it to be quite weak. I loved the instrumental “Pressure Points” but it was all downhill from there, really hitting the skids with the gruesome MOR ballad “Long Goodbyes.” The Drumulator is no substitute for a flesh-and-blood skins-pounder, Andy W. is much missed here.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Not underrated, not a classic. It's only saving grace is that it isn't as bad as what comes after.
Compact Disk brought high fidelity to the masses and audiophiles will never forgive it for that
That was the bugaboo with ST. The material was pretty good, better than they'd done with the previous few, but the drum programming killed it.
Well, the order is not always the same, but mostly it are Moonmadness and The Snow Goose with Mirage, Nude, Ragaz (if it had been fully instrumental) and Raindances as the ever changing number three.
But I must confess that if I was allowed to play just one track it would be.... Summer Lightning from Breathless.
1T. Mirage
1T. Moonmadness (always my #1 tied albums)
3. Camel
4. The Snow Goose
5. On The Road 1972
Rajaz and Nude are my favorite post 70s.
WANTED: Sig-worthy quote.
the debut skips your two tied albums for me, but the rest is roughly the same in my top list
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
The debut is hit and miss for me. Some of the material like 'Six Ate' is really generic, and the production is poor. Granted, things like 'Never Let Go' buy back a certain amount of goodwill.
I've owned all the Camel albums except Harbour of Tears, Rajaz and Nod and a Wink. At this point I don't own anything post Rain Dances. I honestly did try with all of these, and I've even re-sampled them periodically when threads about them came up, Breathless and ICSYHFH in particular. Sadly I've just never found enough to draw me back to either. To me, there's some OK stuff like Ice and Echoes, but I'm not as ga-ga over these pieces as many people here are. And then there's a lot of stuff that's just a total turnoff for me, like Remote Romance and Down on the Farm, which I just hate. I'm not even sure I could cobble together a single album that I really enjoyed from these two, so for me ICSYHFH is not by any means underrated or a classic. Yes, mileage varies, but just make sure you don't drive these two turkeys near me.
Unlike Breathless and ICSYHFH, Nude doesn't have songs that annoy me. But I agree with you, other than Drafted/Beached it sounds pretty mediocre to me too. The fire of that early Camel is just gone, never to return. Nude just plays it way too safe for my tastes. It was the last one I ditched, but once I did I've really never missed it.
Bill
No need to apologize. I didn't know who Camel were until about 1994 or so. I was in a used record store and the clerk (who later became a good friend of mine) suggested I purchase the 2CD compilation "Echoes". I wore the (digital) grooves out of that thing and always had a reference point in checking out the albums that were post Raindances because of it. I was also a teen in the 80s, so the kind of pop music being cranked out from the late 70s through the 80s never bothered me all that much.
But even though I can find something to enjoy from all the material, that sweet spot (as you can see above) ends with Raindances and A Live Record. Everything after that would "make a great compilation disc" in comparison.
Of course I tend to feel that way, come to think of it, with most of the big daddies talked about here - and I'm no "stuck in the 70s curmudgeon" by a long shot. It's probably a subject for its own thread, but I'd have to struggle to think of any of the "Big 5 (to Big 10)" in which I would label an album in the 90s through today on par with their 70s works.
WANTED: Sig-worthy quote.
^Fwiw Bill, if you have any affinity for Irish/Celtic music, it might be worth checking out Harbour Of Tears. There's really only a smidgeon of that present, but for my taste, it and Rajaz (with it's Middle Eastern motifs) are really the only post 80s albums to get.
Totally agree. Much as I love the big name 70s bands, their output post a certain point holds no charms for me save a few songs. I'd much rather invest my time in newer bands who still seem to have the fire in the belly.
What I've sampled from Harbour of Tears has not attracted me. I don't think I've been as thorough with Rajaz, so I'll try that one out. I know a lot about Lawrence of Arabia, so that's an extra draw if they can delver something that really captures what he was all about during the Arab Uprising. But I've always been a bit skeptical, and frankly given Camel's latter output a little apathetic. But I'll give it a listen.
Bill
Agreed with Rajaz. I think it's as good as anything they did in the '70s. I'll add that I'm not the hugest Camel fan.
As far as others, I think that Thrak is better than a couple of KC's '70s albums.
I think that most of Magma's post-reformation music in the 2000s is as good or better than most of the '70s stuff.
A Nod and A Wink is a very quiet album, so it may fall under the "apathetic" category, but I feel it has a special charm, a nostalgic and pastoral sweetness that makes it a pleasant listening experience for me everytime.
Are we now talking Rod Stewart and the Faces here?
I guess I'll say it. I've been listening to this album a lot in the last week. I'm going to call it my favorite Camel album. Even "Remote Romance" is okay though I could skip it if I wasn't in the mood for that kind of pseudo-Gary Numan goofiness.
You take my prog cred when you can pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
"Arf." -- Frank Zappa, "Beauty Knows No Pain" (live version)
Well, I like Gary Numan well enough when Gary’s doing it. When a bunch of old prog dinosaurs are doing something they think kind of sort of sounds like it that they threw together with a couple of sequencers in 15 minutes because it’s what the label boss wanted, it’s not quite so charming.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Personally, I really like the debut's immediateness, energy and urgency.... something never present in their next albums, as all of them appear "too thoughtfully all thought-out" (too much for my tastes anyways)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
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