For those who want to see some live-footage of Watkins playing with Camel it might be interesting to know he on both Curriculum Vitae (a couple of songs) and Camel Footage (just one track). I'm not sure if he's featured on Camel Footage II (although the website mentions he is).
Nude is by far my favorite Camel album (but I chose Rajaz as my avatar/user name being a less anatomical name lol)
I highly recommend the Nude expanded edition with the full Nude concert and of course On the Road '81 is a a true gem.
I've never heard On the Road 1972, and wonder how good it is?
Kit is unique.
I am a big fan. I enjoy his work with Camel.
If you really want to hear the man, play Happy the Man CDs and his solo CDs. (And yes, many folks--including me--are very much looking forward to the Frank Wyatt CD with all the old HtM and PGA alums...)
For years I preferred his playing to his writing with Happy the Man, but now my favorites by them are "The Moon I Sing", "While Chrome Yellow Shine", "Morning Sun" and "Mr Mirror's Reflection in Dreams."
Plus, my favorites from the Muse Awakens are the ones where it sounds like they were trying to replicate that mysterious, airy mood of Watkin's contributions.
Surely one of the great music bargains out there you can get Kit Watkins' The Works for $65 for over 27 hours of music. Most of it is what might be categorized as soundscapes/ambient but as far as I'm concerned there's ambient and then there's Kit Watkins "ambient" which is a world all its own. The collection includes Labyrinth, Frames of Mind, In Time (with Coco Roussel), and Azure which many regard as his best albums but really as far as I'm concerned there's no weak Kit Watkins album.
http://www.kitwatkins.com/
An essential slice of keyboard prog imo
https://www.discogs.com/Kit-Watkins-...release/556081
It's also available as part of the Early Solo Works cd
I really enjoy his later 80s & early 90s releases like In Time, Azure, Sunstruck. Probably classified as new age but I like new age from that era. After a while he gravitated toward less composed and more improvisational moods and I am less interested in that type of music.
A soundboard-recording from a concert in Japan, 1980, featuring Kit, will be released this month as "Kosei Nenkin Hall Tokyo January 1980". The label is Retroworld, I guess a not so official one.
Track List
01 Echoes
02 Hymn To Her
03 Neon Magic
04 Rhayader/ Rhayader Goes To Town/ Migration/ Preparation/dunkirk
05 Wait
06 Nobody Knows
Something about this last track:
Nobody Knows
This is, in fact, not a Camel track at all.
The song is a Neil Larsen track called 'Jungle Fever'. Camel used it at the end of a set during the '79/80 tour because they liked this song. It was only a jam on someone else's material. At the time no one could remember the song title, so when they announced the song as: "Nobody knows the title".
(source: http://www.magenta.co.il/camel/misc/rarities.htm)
I have this vey concert as a bootleg since years back and it actually is quite good. I think Camel's version of Nobody Knows is just Amazing. I love the guitar and keyboard interplay of Andy and Kit and the soloing. Amazing drumming as well by Andy Ward.
I can't believe that's a full set.
Quite surprised to see 'Neon Magic' in the set. A dud of a song but the keyboard bridge is majestic.
Here is the typical set for Japan 1980:
Echoes
Unevensong
Song Within a Song
Hymn to Her
Neon Magic
Rhayader
Rhayader Goes to Town
Migration
Preparation
Dunkirk
Rainbow's End
Ice
Who We Are
Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine
Never Let Go
Wait
Jungle Fever
Lunar Sea
Only time I can see "Nobody Knows" played was a secret gig in Holland later that year.
What's wrong with it? I think is looks great. One of the first vinyls I ever owned. Spent many an hour listening to it an poring over the artwork.
It's actually a reference to a joke that was doing the rounds back then, but works for me any way.
Unlike the album itself. For me it's quite poor, except "Ice" (of course), their finest work.
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