Get well soon Andy.
Get well soon Andy.
There's a CP update now, and he is in the "early stages of pneumonia" unfortunately. Despite this, he's still looking to continue the tour. I wish he wouldn't. If Camel fans really care, they wouldn't want this either.Originally Posted by JKL2000
I have tickets for the saturday show in Utrecht. I'd rather see a healthy Andy in half a year then a struggeling Andy in two days.
Well said!
Me to.
So get well soon Andy, but take your time.
At 8:23am EDT this morning SiriusXM played The Sleeper from Breathless on Deep Tracks. Never thought I'd hear that coming out of a radio.
That makes up for the WASP and Poison (and another Hair Band whose name escapes me) tracks they played yesterday morning.
(They never used to play that stuff on Deep Tracks)
I 100% agree!!..... No need to rush.... Get well soon!!!!!
They played those on Deep Tracks? I’ve never heard anything like that on there.
According to update today, the tours back on again.
Hope all goes well and Andy's ok.
Yes. Absolutely. They have quite dramatically added several sub-genres to Deep Tracks that they never played before. I have restrained myself several times here when I was tempted to say...bad words.
I just don't understand it. XM/Sirius has what, 15 or so stations for metal, hair metal, aggressive rock, nasty rock, crazy-cookie-monster-vocals rock, etc. There are many places you can find the 80's-90's rock variations. Deep Tracks has historically been a "deep" version of Classic Vinyl. They did not play hair bands and Metallica and all that sort of thing. Now they do.
And they can do whatever they want. It is only radio. But it is a business so as a businessman and a customer I have a right to examine it and have an opinion. I gave up on them as far as my personal money goes**. Why? Because back in 2004 they had the wonderful channel called The Music Lab (progressive Rock), they had the Jazz-Fusion channel, they had a fine Latin Jazz*** channel. And then they dumped them all less than two years later.
It is not like it is Terrestrial radio. In their case, you do whatever is necessary to get people to listen to your one channel. I understand why Terrestrial radio plays the same crap over and over. It makes good business sense. What I don't understand about the XM biz model is that all that should matter is that someone plays their money every month, right? Why does it matter if 98% of listeners listen to one channel and the other 2% listen all the other channels. They get their money as long as they keep people satisfied (and for some of us, that might mean that we only have one station that we highly value). They have many, many stations that probably have small amounts of people listening. But they keep them. Why kill stations that are acknowledged as being reasonably popular genres? Do you mean to tell me that no one listened to the progressive rock channel, the jazz-fusion channel, and the Latin Jazz channel?
I guess we really need 30 pop channels, 20 Rap-related channels, and ALL those talk channels. And we really need to hear the Beach Boys channel 24/7. And the Eagles channel. And the U2 channel. And the other temporary, single-band channels. Yeah, yeah, I know...that crap is what the vast majority of sheep want. But they make a point of claiming that they cover all the bases for all music. They talk the talk but no longer walk the walk.
So yes, once in a while they play a cool track that many of us love. Once in a while I get turned onto a new-to-me band that I would not have known about. That is good.
***I gave up my car subscription years ago but my wife insists on having it at home. As well, my boss is REALLY nice and pays for XM in my company vehicle so I do know what is going on. I know because I often spend 80% of my entire 35 minute commute constantly changing channels to find something worthwhile. I find that stunningly stupid on their part. It is not like I only listen to one or two genres. I have over 2000 CDs and it would take me 10 more minutes to list all the genres in that collection. I am an omnivore, musically.
**Yeah, I know they have at least one channel that is sort of Latin jazz but it is nothing like the old one used to be.
There. I feel better after that rant. LOL
Last edited by Gizmotron; 06-07-2018 at 02:42 PM.
Wow!! Back in the day, there was a Seattle station KZAM-FM that used to play Camel several times a day. Specifically the tracks 'Breathless', 'A Wing And A Prayer', 'Summer Lightning' and 'One of these Days I'll Get an Early Night', and occasionally other tracks.
I agree Andy should recover. I'm sure he's passionate on behalf of waiting fans, but of course most of us care more about his health than anything else.
Andy and "the boys" did a fine job in Hengelo (The Netherlands) last night. The crowd enjoyed it a lot and so did the band.
But yes, you could see his pain, the trouble with his back and lungs.
Thanks for the report. A shame to read of Andy's pain though.
Thursday (the gig in Hengelo) was the second one on this tour I have seen. First one was Groningen a week earlier, before the pneumonia bug hit him, and that gig I thought was pretty good. But Hengelo ... man, that one was on a whole other level. Might be because it wasn't in a big hall but in a nice cosy club but the band really went out with all guns blazing. Yes, you could still see that Andy was frail but if you closed your eyes you really couldn't tell from his playing. In fact, he was on fire several times during both sets. In a way this mirrors my experience with Camel on the Rajaz tour in the Netherlands where Andy got vocal chord problems and where they had to change the setlist on almost every night (subbing vocal songs for instrumental ones, having Guy LeBlanc sing Lady Fantasy etc.) where at one particular very hot night in Amsterdam Andy voice finally gave way .... only then to put all of his very obvious frustration with him not being his best into his playing and playing a blistering Ice. Something similar happened in Hengelo on Thursday night it seemed.
Andy is amazing!..... Seems they have a plan B, if nothing else!.... Would love to see an album though!!......
Andy certainly was on fire yesterday evening in Utrecht. Also quite liked the new guy Pete Jones. What is his own stuff like?
Have two of his - Cocoon and the latest (Winter one). The latest is good but the programmed drums put me off it a bit. Great voice - songs are in the Genesis style (he has done a lot of Genesis cover versions - see his bandcamp page - Tiger Moth Tales - for samples etc).
His stuff is excellent. If you see Pete Jones on an album, you know it's good!.... Also check out Colin Tench's stuff
Yes, Andy is amazing!Andy is amazing!..... Seems they have a plan B, if nothing else!.... Would love to see an album though!!......
It's still a shame to hear of him looking frail and in pain though. Would spoil a gig for me. Really hope he rests up now. All the best to him. xx
He looked okay yesterday. His voice was ok and he seemed in a good mood. He was still sitting during the gig but it certainly did not hamper his playing.Yes, Andy is amazing!
It's still a shame to hear of him looking frail and in pain though. Would spoil a gig for me. Really hope he rests up now. All the best to him. xx
I was referring to the Hengelo gig, when Chris said he looked "frail", but you couldn't tell if you closed your eyes. Probably playing is cheering him up, despite being ill. Still not keen on the idea, but wish him well.
Get well soon Andy. Please don't rush this.
Props to Carol Miller and Earle Bailey for picking some great prog material on mainly Deep Tracks. Meg Griffen occasionally pulls a killer track out her arse.
Recent memory of Camel, Can, Aphrodites Child, Flash and deep cuts from Tull, ELP, Yes, Genesis (like Epping Forest and Stagnation).
Worth the $150/yr I have to fight them for every year to cover 2hr/day in my car.
JG
"MARKLAR!"
Seen him on three nights on the Dutch leg of this part of the tour and I would not say he looked okay. Groningen he had real trouble with walking on stage, Hengelo he was having serious coughing fits in between songs but by the time they reached Utrecht he was looking as good as possible under the circumstances. I do think he was doing these shows on adrenaline buoyed by the incredible support from the audience.
The concert in The Hague will be on August 29th, which is not good for me, because I have to take care of cats in that period and with these cats I have to go there in the evening.
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