I have to add that "Fox Hill" is a delightful track and a great contrast to the quieter, introspective songs on "A Nod and a Wink."
Fox Hill has great energy, tells a fun story, has a great middle section (the chase), and yet, always seems to choke me up at the end due to the sweet lyric.
The track is quintessential Camel. The combination of energy, beauty, and emotion is a hallmark of their work.
Well for me, I really like the compositional coherence of the album. It's an extremely well conceived and executed work that sidesteps much of the bombast and flash of most prog rock of its time. The arrangements both prefigure aspects of what people now refer to as chamber rock and at times recalls the "Baroque rock" sound of 60s bands like The Left Banke, The David and others.Originally Posted by interbellum
There's a quiet dignity to this album that's fairly unique for its time and genre, imo.
A Live Record is one of my favorite live albums. Its a great collection of early Camel with the bonus of the full Snow Goose live. Its hard to top the best of Camel. But that shouldn't limit you in exploring more Camel. There are a lot of great Camel songs interspersed among the albums that follow this one, like Echoes from Breathless, Who We Are and Ice from I Can See Your House From Here, and the two concept albums Nude and Dust and Dreams are excellent as well.
In all seriousness, I had never heard of Camel until Mikael from Opeth namechecked them in an interview about 10 years ago (or more?). I have just in the last year or so started listening to their musis thanks to Spotify and YouTube. I have their first few CDs on my want list.
Please spare me the stick for championing "Nude" as Camel's greatest work.
I love various Camel tracks from the early years. I liked a couple of tracks from the Snow Goose but find the album as a whole kinda sleepy. The live versions are only a little less sedate.
Agreed with this take but A Nod and a Wink does have a few great tracks. Rajaz has some stellar tunes. Having said that and getting back to the original question... Snow Goose is great, both the live version and studio LP. For that matter the recently re-recorded version is great as well but I think the Live Record version is the best version. I think the version of Never Let Go on the live LP is amazing. It makes every compilation cd I make to get newcomers into prog/fusion. Pete's organ solo is amazing. One of the greatest Live Records period... pun intended!
Now I was into Camel in the mid 70's and saw them as well at that time but to me Dust and Dreams is every bit as good as anything in the 70's. For those who don't know it was inspired by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Brilliant LP!! That might be a great second or third listen for a newcomer. Harbor of Tears has a special place for me as I am Irish so I may be biased!
Getting back to the 70's they had a great 4 LP run with Mirage, Snow Goose, Moonmadness and Rain Dances. Rain Dances was different, a new band with the addition of Mel Collins but that LP killed. Can't go wrong with any of these but of the LP's I mentioned the Goose would be in the middle of that pack at least to my taste.
Last edited by rich; 04-26-2017 at 01:02 AM.
Not really. For me it is their best record and the studio version one of the masterpieces from the golden age of prog.
Mind that "Mirage" and a decent part of "Moonmadness" come close, so consider both, candidates for future acquisition.
A live record was my first Camel, and I have to say, I prefer the first disk, especially on de CD-version, over the second one. I rather would hear The snow goose without orchestra.
I will tell you they are on my bucket list to see live!!!!
I discovered CAMEL by a mere coincidence in 1977: a friend of mine who also loves Prog, asked me to buy him the Raindances album during a trip I made to the US (we were living in isolated Guatemala). That year I was crazy about Seconds Out and went to NYC to see Led Zeppelin for the first and only time. I brought a few more albums for myself. When I returned, I was curious and borrowed the Camel LP from my friend. Man, I loved it and was hooked ever since, I later bought Breathless (sadly, Pete Bardens last album with Camel). As I continued to buy their complete catalog or should I say Camelog, I never got the chance to see them live. My closest chance to see them live was in 2002 when I even had a ticket and they cancelled their show in Mexico City.
Highly recommended: NUDE (my all time favorite), Rain Dances, Breathless, Snowgoose (original version) Coming of Age Live, Dust and Dreams, Rajaz of course and Harbor of Tears.
Good but not essential: Single Factor, I can see your house from here, Stationary Traveler, A Nod is as good as a wink, Camel, Mirage (a fan classic but not my favorite).
I may be older but, I saw live: Led Zeppelin, Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Fish, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Marillion, IQ, UK, Saga, Rush, Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Genesis with Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Triumph, Magma, Goblin, Porcupine Tree, The Musical Box, Uriah Heep, Dio, David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Queen with Freddie Mercury, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood, Steely Dan, Dream theater, Joe Satriani, you get the idea..
The only three Camel LP's I go back to regularly are Mirage, The Snow Goose and Moonmadness.
Those three are terrific.
The Prog Corner
Interesting. While I am very story-oriented, and I assume that there is a story to "The Snow Goose," I have no idea what it is. What I like about it, pretty much in order:
1) The melodies
2) The way it fits together as a musical whole despite its divergences and diversions - it is basically a very well done tone poem
3) The best live integration of rock band and orchestra I have ever heard
4) The musicality and musicianship
Thanks for asking!
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
Wow. Some interesting discussion here. Based on what I'm seeing I'm tempted to pick up The Snow Goose and Nude as my next adventures in this direction...
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
If you like Nude then get "On the Road '81" form the Nude tour. Fantastic!!!!
I'd definitely grab the studio version of Snow Goose, but I wouldn't personally be too hasty on Nude. Similar to Snow Goose (which is is based on Paul Gallico's book, you can see a plot summary on Wiki if you want), Nude does tell a story. But there, to me, the similarities end. On Nude, there's little integration repetition of themes, no orchestral stuff, and far less musicianship, save in a few sections. It's a nice sort of "Alan Parsons-like" album, very safe, and not really much like the early Camel, imo.
Obviously opinions on this will differ widely, so I'd encourage you to sample Nude on Youtube or somewhere before shelling out any cash for it. If you found Lunar Sea to be "generic Proggery," I can't imagine you'd be that excited about Nude. But who knows. I'd just encourage trying before you buy, is all.
Bill
The Snow Goose is a war story, written by Paul Gallico. I just noticed there's an LP on which the story is narrated:
But of course you can also read the book (or better novel, it's very short): http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvin.../snowgoose.pdf
If by "sleepy" you mean beautiful, melodic, comfortable, soothing, uplifting, gorgeous and familiar, I'd agree with you.
I wouldn't advise Nude, unless you don't mind the typical 80s keyboard/drums sound. To my ears they sound horrible and destroy the decent compositions...
Check below:
I love this post!
I would add "sublime" to the list of adjectives.
I think a huge part of the credit goes to Andy Ward. His precise and tasteful drumming perfectly anchors Snow Goose. He adds meaningful punctuation to even the most beautiful and delicate portions of the album. He was such a musical drummer.
Another thumbs down on Nude here.
A sleepy camel is a happy camel. I like Camel's sleepiness.
I'm actually not a big fan of the book, but I AM a fan of Paul Gallico - he also wrote The Poseidon Adventure and a lot of other interesting and different books.
Sleepy camels and "generic proggery."
Hilarious stuff, kids.
The only thing I have by Camel is A Compact Compilation. It's pretty good. Haven't played it in 10 years or more. Agree that Andy is a hell of a guitar player. He reminds me of Carlos Santana in some ways.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks