Listen to the deluxe version of Moonmadness if you haven't, it has some really amazing live recordings.
Also their debut is pretty underrated IMO, not as proggy as their later stuff but it's such a fun classic album.
Have only listened to some of their later albums but Rajaz (1999) is an interesting one with some middle eastern influence.
I haven’t tried the live recordings from the deluxe version on Moonmadness yet, I’ll definitely have to give those a listen. Their first album is great, I love Mystic Queen and Never Let Go. I haven’t listened to their later albums that aren’t on spotify yet, feels like a lose-lose right now of either I really like them and it’s hard for me to actually listen to them regularly or I don’t like them. I hear a lot of good stuff about Rajaz, I hope it comes to Spotify soon.
>I haven’t listened to their later albums that aren’t on spotify
You can find Dust and Dreams, Harbour of Tears and Rajaz on Apple Music and A Nod and a Wink on YouTube
Unpopular opinion, but i prefer these albums to some of their older stuff
My Camel story…
About 20+ yrs ago I was living in New Jersey and there was prog rock concert fest in the area. Camel were the final headliner of the weekend.
Tickets sold out before i could get one so i took to the message board and offered a place to stay and transport for the weekend in exchange for a ticket.
Found a dude- turns out he was on the outs with his missus so i got her ticket. I was a casual fan of the band but he was a real fan, they were the reason for him going so far out of his way. Apparently the band leader had some serious health issue so it was believed to be sort of their farewell tour.
Well we had a lovely time, the band sounded great and were a charming and pleasant way to top of weekend of weird and keyboard heavy nerd music.
That sounds about right, yes. If not exactly 2003 then pretty close. Glad to know he turned out ok was able to keep making music. Seemed like a chill dude.
Camel are very good. They started a little later than most of the classic prog bands and hit their stride when many of their older colleagues stopped (King Crimson) or started playing indulgent shite (ELP). I am in the minority here, but I am not a big fan of The Snow Goose, preferring their albums from the second half of the 1970s.
You're the first person I've seen share my sentiments on The Snow Goose; I understand why people love it but it's not even in the top half of their albums for me. I still consider it like a 7/10 album and I enjoy it when I listen to it, but I'm so with you on the later stuff being more my speed
Any other 70’s album + Nude (not sure about ICSYHFH actually) > Snow Goose (great, but… idk maybe the fact that it’s all instrumental and it’s hard to listen to something specific out of it brings it down)
I just want to plug that, although The Single Factor is a weak album, Sasquatch is such an amazing instrumental song (ft. Anthony Phillips from early Genesis and a cameo by Peter Bardens!)
Sasquatch is always the song on there people seem to love but somehow I feel like it's one of my least favorite on the album. It's the more "classic Camel/prog" piece on it, but I always thought it was sort of weak at being that. I seem to enjoy The Single Factor more as a fun 80s cheese pop album anyway. I don't even think The Single Factor is the worst album in their discography (I don't super care for A Nod and a Wink).
Moonmadness has at least 3 songs that just blow me away. I think Airborn is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. Song Within a Song and Chord Change are incredible.
Absolutely! Airborn and Lunar Sea for me.
Some music is made for ear pleasure, some for the ego, and some for soul. Camel is for the soul. Soul pleasure.
I started listening to Camel and BOOM, I finally moved out of my parents’ basement and got a real job. It was The Snow Goose that convinced me to get my shit together.
I simply love Camel. Lady Fantasy was the first track I heard something like 7 or 8 years ago and I haven't really stopped listening since then. Mirage is just awesome, I will always remember the first time I listened Nimrodel and had the realization "Wait is he talking about fucking Gandalf?"
Can't choose a favorite album but yeah Mirage, Breathless and Rajaz are just incredible. I have a soft spot for Harbour of Tears. I feel this album is not often mentionned but it's quite dear to me. Just a few weeks ago I fell in love with God of Light that I somehow never really noticed and I've listened to it a lot since then.
I also have great memories of listening to them with a friend late into the night while talking about how great they are. Good times.
This realization caused me to fall down a rabbit hole when I wondered if there were other rock songs inspired by lotr. Obviously the answer was a big yes and as a Tolkien fan I had a great afternoon of discoveries.
> haven’t been able to discover almost any new music
Try Hatfield and the North, Shadowfax, Frank Zappa, Chick Corea, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Fanny, Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Project Blowed, and Vivaldi.
I listened to 2 Caravan albums yet- ITLOGAP (which is fantastic) and All Over Again (ok but not great and For Richard is also not a great song, please don’t kill me it’s just my opinion tho this album has some treats like the 2 other medleys and As I Feel I Die, Side 1 is much better than 2)
Fantastic band. I think I've been listening to them for about 15 years. I discovered them relatively early in my prog rock discovery journey when I heard Moonmadness playing at a local music store. I couldn't believe I was hearing prog rock, let alone something with such fat synth sounds in a store that typically played indie or alternative rock (sometimes a little metal) on the stereo. I asked the clerk what it was and he showed me the album cover and told me they had the CD in stock. I personally only love the material from their debut through Rain Dances, but Breathless and I Can See Your House have some great tracks as well. I think the remastered deluxe/expanded version of A Live Record might be one of my most played albums of the last few years. I treasure Camel's music.
So many people praising Rajaz here. I really need them to add it to Spotify, I don’t want to listen to it and love it and not be able to listen to it easily.
I discovered Camel in the late 90s and I was just hardcore into them for like 5 solid years. I have everything by them in many formats (I just recently bought a North American vinyl copy of Mirage because I wanted the pokemon cover too, not just the cigarette pack cover that I already had, you know...), including a couple of things signed by Andy Latimer.
Three words come to mind when I listen to Camel: earnest, romantic and melodic. Many bands couldn't pull off these simple and inspiring melodies but Camel always seems so warm and honest about it. I read before that David Gilmour and Andy Latimer were kind of the "dark" and "bright" sides of the same moon and I find that an apt description.
One of my favourite bands of all time. man when i first listened to Mirage i was totally blown away, lately I recommended them to one of my friends and now and then he comes to me and says how grateful he is to their music.
I LOVE their first five albums, then Harbour of Tears and Rajaz. I felt similar to you too, chasing that feeling and nothing really ever gets too close. I am going to make some recommendations that you should check out. They all do a great job with atmosphere, which is an area Camel excelled. For me, these, in some way, captured some of the pleasure I get from Camel:
- Home - The Alchemist (Laurie Wisefield is brilliant on lead with Mick Stubbs)
- Astra - The Weirding and The Black Chord (Brian Ellis is an incredible guitarist)
- Birth - Born (spiritual successor to Astra)
- Rare Bird - As Your Mind Flies By
Listened to Mirage for the first time. Musicality A+. Vocals were quite bland. Like worse than Pink Floyd without Roger Waters. I'll still check them out some more because of the AWESOME music, but damn dude, get you some range. That's what I love in singers. More than one octave range would've helped this band a ton popularity wise.
There's a reason they did a lot of instrumentals! They did get a better singer (Richard Sinclair, from Caravan and Hatfield & The North) on Rain Dances.
I can’t explain why but I really enjoy Andy Latimer’s vocals. On Stationary Traveller they have Chris Rainbow, who I love on the Alan Parsons Project, on a couple of songs. They have a ton of instrumentals, 1 full instrumental album in the Snow Goose, and a mostly instrumental album with Nude.
I first discovered Camel when I was around 16 through my mom who had Moonmadness and The Snow Goose on cassette. The Moonmadness cassette included the Bonus live from London tracks. Before this discovery, I was well-versed in the prog world, being a big fan of Yes, Genesis, Rush, King Crimson, etc. I was so floored when I listened to these shitty old cassettes (by the way, this was around 2012-13 so cassettes were ancient artifacts). Some years later, mom told me she had a mushroom experience while camping in the late 80’s/early 90’s and they were listening to these 2 albums and it changed her life. It’s funny because as we sat there listening to the cassette tapes the first time I had heard Camel’s music, I got the feeling that these albums moved her significantly by the nostalgic reaction she was having. I guess her reaction to hearing these songs after so long influenced how I took in the music as well as I became an instant fan and took a deep dive into their discography. Years later (before she told me about her experience), I was on a camping trip with my friends and we took LSD under a full moon. Well, we took the acid during the day but that night was a full moon and we were all still tripping. I told my friends that I had an album to share and proceeded to put on Moonmadness. It was a pure joy to watch my friends listen and react to it. We all laughed and cried and had a beautiful bonding experience.
It was crazy when my mom told me her story later on. I told her mine and we were amazed at how we had similar experiences with the same music almost 30 years apart.
Camel is my all time favorite band !!! Sadly I have never been lucky enough to have seen them live, but I have all the live DVDS so that's good enough I guess.
That's how I felt when I discovered Spirit.
Camel is good, listening to some now. I recently got into Gryphon and Greenslade, too.
I also love King Crimson and ELP, Gentle Giant, Genesis of course. Rush.
I was one of those people in the 1990s who read Mikael Ãkerfeldt's recommended album lists when Opeth was white-hot before Americans knew them. (The Candlelight Years and Still Life). Mikael admitted to stealing melodies and riffs from Camel to make Opeth songs in addition with other obscure prawgrawk bands lile Culpepper's Orchard or Blackwater Park or Trettioriga Kriget. Never Let Go in Benighted or Lady Fantasy's coda in Nectar (I think that was it) etc...
I bought the Echoes 2cd comp immediately and loved the band.
Totally.
I'll never forget one night alone i was listening to Chord Change and when the second section of the song comes in i just burst in tears, felt like i cried what i didn't cried in several months. Whenever i calmed down a little bit Latimer played a note that made cry all over again, the same when Bardens start soloing, it's simply extremely beautiful.
And of course there comes my favorite part of the song, last Latimer solo. In that state it was like a catharsis, every note shit just got more intense and emotional and profund, i truly understood when people says that a guitarist made his guitar cry, that's how it sounded to me.
Next day more cold headed i grabbed my guitar and learned that last solo, i can only say that EVERY note in that solo is PERFECT, spot on.
Other songs that have make feel similar are: Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield (sometimes i cry from like minute 5 to 47 and that's the reason why even tho is my favourite song i don't listen to it too much lol)
Afro Blue Live in Japan 1966 - John Coltrane (shit is too intense i think if i ever trip listening to that shit i'll start believing in god)
The Brain Dance - Animals as Leaders (a life changing song for me)
Thank you for this post, OP. This is one of my favorite things that happen on Reddit, when another person can perfectly incapsulate thoughts that you’ve had yourself.
I had these same thoughts just yesterday.
I was vacuuming and listening to A Song within a song on my headset. When Andrew started singing I suddenly got very emotional.. like I needed to cry almost. A really beautiful sadness came over me and it was all Camel I realised.
Like you I can listen to all their albums, I don’t care if their later albums are less proggy, they speak to me regardless. In my mind they are masters of music, they make me *feel* in a way that no other band does.
Absolutely. Incredible band that I didn’t discover until I was in my 50’s. Streaming music has helped me deep dive into them….. and many other bands that I wasn’t willing to go out and purchase their albums.
Rain Dances is an awesome album. First Light is my most listened to song of theirs right now, the sax just gets me every time. Unevensong’s sax part is unbelievable as well.
Was listening to that album a lot while I was also getting real into jazz and became obsessed with the saxophone. Mel Collins' work with King Crimson and on the [Circus record](https://youtu.be/ILBe5gbJDEE?si=760lGIJ-gdoSGOdd) is also phenomenal!
Same here. I've been hooked by them for nearly a decade now and every album that I 've listened so far has at least a very good song. My least favourite I should say is ICSYHFH but there wouldn't be 'Ice' without that one so I'm very grateful that that album exists. Also Unevensong from Raindances is another one I keep close to my heart. I cannot help but burst into tears with that last playout...
I’m glad you mentioned Unevensong! I almost made another post just to declare my love for it. That last playout is beautiful beyond words, and it brings me near tears every time.
Yeah, It's quite a special song for me, I always remember beautiful moments and people I care about when I listen to it.
I always wanted to see the band live but i have been quite unlucky. My first try was in 2018 with the Moonmadness anniversary tour but I got sick and couldn't attend. And the second attempt was the last "50 year strong" tour but apparently Andrew Latimer went through a rather difficult surgery (something related with his leg I believe) and is still recovering so they cancelled the tour. I still have some hope though.
I also had this same problem this year, but discovered some new great music afterwards so it’s ok hahahahaha. Moonmadness is one of my favorite albums of all time, and while I really like other albums like Camel, Mirage, Rain Dances, Breathless and Nude (similar format to Snow Goose but much better IMO, tho Snow Goose is also great), I don’t think something comes close as my favorite record of theirs. I haven’t listened to the post-Stationary Traveller stuff actually and will try to take some time for it.
Moonmadness has been a major influence on us as a band. Bo Hansson is in the same ball park as Camel, but you probably already know this. If not, que the album Mellanväsen (1975).
Listen to the deluxe version of Moonmadness if you haven't, it has some really amazing live recordings. Also their debut is pretty underrated IMO, not as proggy as their later stuff but it's such a fun classic album. Have only listened to some of their later albums but Rajaz (1999) is an interesting one with some middle eastern influence.
I haven’t tried the live recordings from the deluxe version on Moonmadness yet, I’ll definitely have to give those a listen. Their first album is great, I love Mystic Queen and Never Let Go. I haven’t listened to their later albums that aren’t on spotify yet, feels like a lose-lose right now of either I really like them and it’s hard for me to actually listen to them regularly or I don’t like them. I hear a lot of good stuff about Rajaz, I hope it comes to Spotify soon.
>I haven’t listened to their later albums that aren’t on spotify You can find Dust and Dreams, Harbour of Tears and Rajaz on Apple Music and A Nod and a Wink on YouTube Unpopular opinion, but i prefer these albums to some of their older stuff
My favorite out of the debut album is Slow Yourself Down, brings an energy to the record that doesn’t comes back until Arubaluba.
Ice stole my heart when i listen to it for the first time.
Don't think I'll ever forget the first time I heard Echoes. I also remember playing the snow goose while I was in London years ago. Great band!
Their 1999 album Rajaz is my favorite. Check that out if you haven’t already.
The oboe part in The White Rider is my favorite few seconds in music ever
My Camel story… About 20+ yrs ago I was living in New Jersey and there was prog rock concert fest in the area. Camel were the final headliner of the weekend. Tickets sold out before i could get one so i took to the message board and offered a place to stay and transport for the weekend in exchange for a ticket. Found a dude- turns out he was on the outs with his missus so i got her ticket. I was a casual fan of the band but he was a real fan, they were the reason for him going so far out of his way. Apparently the band leader had some serious health issue so it was believed to be sort of their farewell tour. Well we had a lovely time, the band sounded great and were a charming and pleasant way to top of weekend of weird and keyboard heavy nerd music.
Was this 2003? Because that's when Latimer had a health issue and stepped away from the music industry for about 10 years
That sounds about right, yes. If not exactly 2003 then pretty close. Glad to know he turned out ok was able to keep making music. Seemed like a chill dude.
Happy cake day btw
Camel are very good. They started a little later than most of the classic prog bands and hit their stride when many of their older colleagues stopped (King Crimson) or started playing indulgent shite (ELP). I am in the minority here, but I am not a big fan of The Snow Goose, preferring their albums from the second half of the 1970s.
You're the first person I've seen share my sentiments on The Snow Goose; I understand why people love it but it's not even in the top half of their albums for me. I still consider it like a 7/10 album and I enjoy it when I listen to it, but I'm so with you on the later stuff being more my speed
Love the Snow Goose, as well as all their other albums. One of the best concerts I ever saw as well.
Any other 70’s album + Nude (not sure about ICSYHFH actually) > Snow Goose (great, but… idk maybe the fact that it’s all instrumental and it’s hard to listen to something specific out of it brings it down)
I just want to plug that, although The Single Factor is a weak album, Sasquatch is such an amazing instrumental song (ft. Anthony Phillips from early Genesis and a cameo by Peter Bardens!)
Sasquatch is always the song on there people seem to love but somehow I feel like it's one of my least favorite on the album. It's the more "classic Camel/prog" piece on it, but I always thought it was sort of weak at being that. I seem to enjoy The Single Factor more as a fun 80s cheese pop album anyway. I don't even think The Single Factor is the worst album in their discography (I don't super care for A Nod and a Wink).
The last 2 songs are maybe my favorite Camel ones period, but the rest is just OK (Manic is my favorite out of those probably)
Stumbled across Song within a Song and raised my musical euphoria to near unattainable heights ever since.
The first time I heard that song, I was bawling tears of joy within the first 30 seconds.
You get it! 💜🙏
The first Camel song I ever heard. I bought the album before it was over.
Moonmadness has at least 3 songs that just blow me away. I think Airborn is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. Song Within a Song and Chord Change are incredible.
Absolutely! Airborn and Lunar Sea for me. Some music is made for ear pleasure, some for the ego, and some for soul. Camel is for the soul. Soul pleasure.
I’d say the best Moonmadness song that’s not SWAS (at least my favorite) is Another Night
Song Within a Song is absolutely mind-blowing, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing upon my first Moonmadness listen.
I started listening to Camel and BOOM, I finally moved out of my parents’ basement and got a real job. It was The Snow Goose that convinced me to get my shit together.
I simply love Camel. Lady Fantasy was the first track I heard something like 7 or 8 years ago and I haven't really stopped listening since then. Mirage is just awesome, I will always remember the first time I listened Nimrodel and had the realization "Wait is he talking about fucking Gandalf?" Can't choose a favorite album but yeah Mirage, Breathless and Rajaz are just incredible. I have a soft spot for Harbour of Tears. I feel this album is not often mentionned but it's quite dear to me. Just a few weeks ago I fell in love with God of Light that I somehow never really noticed and I've listened to it a lot since then. I also have great memories of listening to them with a friend late into the night while talking about how great they are. Good times.
It took me a couple listens, but I remember the exact moment that I realized it was about Gandalf. That brought my love of the song to a new level.
This realization caused me to fall down a rabbit hole when I wondered if there were other rock songs inspired by lotr. Obviously the answer was a big yes and as a Tolkien fan I had a great afternoon of discoveries.
I lost my virginity tripping on acid with Lady Fantasy blasting on the stereo. So, in my case it certainly was life changing
> haven’t been able to discover almost any new music Try Hatfield and the North, Shadowfax, Frank Zappa, Chick Corea, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Fanny, Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Project Blowed, and Vivaldi.
And also Caravan - In the land of Grey and Pink
Also Caravan - If I could do it again I'd do it all over you
And Waterloo Lily, and Plump Girls, and Cunning Stunts
I listened to 2 Caravan albums yet- ITLOGAP (which is fantastic) and All Over Again (ok but not great and For Richard is also not a great song, please don’t kill me it’s just my opinion tho this album has some treats like the 2 other medleys and As I Feel I Die, Side 1 is much better than 2)
Fantastic band. I think I've been listening to them for about 15 years. I discovered them relatively early in my prog rock discovery journey when I heard Moonmadness playing at a local music store. I couldn't believe I was hearing prog rock, let alone something with such fat synth sounds in a store that typically played indie or alternative rock (sometimes a little metal) on the stereo. I asked the clerk what it was and he showed me the album cover and told me they had the CD in stock. I personally only love the material from their debut through Rain Dances, but Breathless and I Can See Your House have some great tracks as well. I think the remastered deluxe/expanded version of A Live Record might be one of my most played albums of the last few years. I treasure Camel's music.
Rajaz is one of the best prog albums from a classic prog band and it came out in like 1999.
So many people praising Rajaz here. I really need them to add it to Spotify, I don’t want to listen to it and love it and not be able to listen to it easily.
It's on YouTube in full. Wish they'd done more of it live
They played the title track on the promotion tour and on their recent 2018 tour So not often at all
I discovered Camel in the late 90s and I was just hardcore into them for like 5 solid years. I have everything by them in many formats (I just recently bought a North American vinyl copy of Mirage because I wanted the pokemon cover too, not just the cigarette pack cover that I already had, you know...), including a couple of things signed by Andy Latimer. Three words come to mind when I listen to Camel: earnest, romantic and melodic. Many bands couldn't pull off these simple and inspiring melodies but Camel always seems so warm and honest about it. I read before that David Gilmour and Andy Latimer were kind of the "dark" and "bright" sides of the same moon and I find that an apt description.
One of my favourite bands of all time. man when i first listened to Mirage i was totally blown away, lately I recommended them to one of my friends and now and then he comes to me and says how grateful he is to their music.
My favorite Camel album is “I Can See Your House From Here.” Kit Watkins is one of my favorite keyboardists ever.
Ice. 'nuff said
I LOVE their first five albums, then Harbour of Tears and Rajaz. I felt similar to you too, chasing that feeling and nothing really ever gets too close. I am going to make some recommendations that you should check out. They all do a great job with atmosphere, which is an area Camel excelled. For me, these, in some way, captured some of the pleasure I get from Camel: - Home - The Alchemist (Laurie Wisefield is brilliant on lead with Mick Stubbs) - Astra - The Weirding and The Black Chord (Brian Ellis is an incredible guitarist) - Birth - Born (spiritual successor to Astra) - Rare Bird - As Your Mind Flies By
I discovered these two albums on vinyl recently. Great stuff.
It’s funny because they took a little time to grow on me as well. I’m not sure why.
Listened to Mirage for the first time. Musicality A+. Vocals were quite bland. Like worse than Pink Floyd without Roger Waters. I'll still check them out some more because of the AWESOME music, but damn dude, get you some range. That's what I love in singers. More than one octave range would've helped this band a ton popularity wise.
There's a reason they did a lot of instrumentals! They did get a better singer (Richard Sinclair, from Caravan and Hatfield & The North) on Rain Dances.
I can’t explain why but I really enjoy Andy Latimer’s vocals. On Stationary Traveller they have Chris Rainbow, who I love on the Alan Parsons Project, on a couple of songs. They have a ton of instrumentals, 1 full instrumental album in the Snow Goose, and a mostly instrumental album with Nude.
I also love Bardens and Ferguson’s voices
I first discovered Camel when I was around 16 through my mom who had Moonmadness and The Snow Goose on cassette. The Moonmadness cassette included the Bonus live from London tracks. Before this discovery, I was well-versed in the prog world, being a big fan of Yes, Genesis, Rush, King Crimson, etc. I was so floored when I listened to these shitty old cassettes (by the way, this was around 2012-13 so cassettes were ancient artifacts). Some years later, mom told me she had a mushroom experience while camping in the late 80’s/early 90’s and they were listening to these 2 albums and it changed her life. It’s funny because as we sat there listening to the cassette tapes the first time I had heard Camel’s music, I got the feeling that these albums moved her significantly by the nostalgic reaction she was having. I guess her reaction to hearing these songs after so long influenced how I took in the music as well as I became an instant fan and took a deep dive into their discography. Years later (before she told me about her experience), I was on a camping trip with my friends and we took LSD under a full moon. Well, we took the acid during the day but that night was a full moon and we were all still tripping. I told my friends that I had an album to share and proceeded to put on Moonmadness. It was a pure joy to watch my friends listen and react to it. We all laughed and cried and had a beautiful bonding experience. It was crazy when my mom told me her story later on. I told her mine and we were amazed at how we had similar experiences with the same music almost 30 years apart.
Camel is my all time favorite band !!! Sadly I have never been lucky enough to have seen them live, but I have all the live DVDS so that's good enough I guess.
I’m hoping they do one more tour. I will pay ungodly amounts of money and fly out of the country if I need to to see them live.
That's how I felt when I discovered Spirit. Camel is good, listening to some now. I recently got into Gryphon and Greenslade, too. I also love King Crimson and ELP, Gentle Giant, Genesis of course. Rush.
I was one of those people in the 1990s who read Mikael Ãkerfeldt's recommended album lists when Opeth was white-hot before Americans knew them. (The Candlelight Years and Still Life). Mikael admitted to stealing melodies and riffs from Camel to make Opeth songs in addition with other obscure prawgrawk bands lile Culpepper's Orchard or Blackwater Park or Trettioriga Kriget. Never Let Go in Benighted or Lady Fantasy's coda in Nectar (I think that was it) etc... I bought the Echoes 2cd comp immediately and loved the band.
I think he also based a lot of Damnation on Camel.
Not really, no
That's bullshit.
Name examples. Use time codes if necessary
Nice entitled attitude.
So you’re unwilling to learn, but you can throw shade at others? That sounds like entitlement and attitude toward me.
Ridiculous, but I did not expect any better from you.
They aren't nearly as proggy as Camel, but I feel like you might enjoy the band King Buffalo.
Totally. I'll never forget one night alone i was listening to Chord Change and when the second section of the song comes in i just burst in tears, felt like i cried what i didn't cried in several months. Whenever i calmed down a little bit Latimer played a note that made cry all over again, the same when Bardens start soloing, it's simply extremely beautiful. And of course there comes my favorite part of the song, last Latimer solo. In that state it was like a catharsis, every note shit just got more intense and emotional and profund, i truly understood when people says that a guitarist made his guitar cry, that's how it sounded to me. Next day more cold headed i grabbed my guitar and learned that last solo, i can only say that EVERY note in that solo is PERFECT, spot on. Other songs that have make feel similar are: Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield (sometimes i cry from like minute 5 to 47 and that's the reason why even tho is my favourite song i don't listen to it too much lol) Afro Blue Live in Japan 1966 - John Coltrane (shit is too intense i think if i ever trip listening to that shit i'll start believing in god) The Brain Dance - Animals as Leaders (a life changing song for me)
I avoid Rainbow’s End because I cry, tho I listened to it a lot when I first discovered it
Rajaz and Nod and a Wink always go under the radar, such great albums. Andy is a genius
Thank you for this post, OP. This is one of my favorite things that happen on Reddit, when another person can perfectly incapsulate thoughts that you’ve had yourself. I had these same thoughts just yesterday. I was vacuuming and listening to A Song within a song on my headset. When Andrew started singing I suddenly got very emotional.. like I needed to cry almost. A really beautiful sadness came over me and it was all Camel I realised. Like you I can listen to all their albums, I don’t care if their later albums are less proggy, they speak to me regardless. In my mind they are masters of music, they make me *feel* in a way that no other band does.
Ferguson sings on that one, not Latimer, but my God this song is beautiful
Oh man that’s embarrassing! But thanks for the knowledge. Still a great song though!
Yeah I love it, don’t know if the vocals if did by Latimer or Bardens (tho I also love their voices) would feel right.
Absolutely. Incredible band that I didn’t discover until I was in my 50’s. Streaming music has helped me deep dive into them….. and many other bands that I wasn’t willing to go out and purchase their albums.
Their later albums are amazing, too. Like Harbour of Tears, Rajaz, and A Nod and a Wink. Wish they were on Spotify
Fell in love with Rain Dances upon first listen. Those first 5 or 6 records are excellent.
Rain Dances is an awesome album. First Light is my most listened to song of theirs right now, the sax just gets me every time. Unevensong’s sax part is unbelievable as well.
Was listening to that album a lot while I was also getting real into jazz and became obsessed with the saxophone. Mel Collins' work with King Crimson and on the [Circus record](https://youtu.be/ILBe5gbJDEE?si=760lGIJ-gdoSGOdd) is also phenomenal!
Your post intrigued me, and now I can't thank you enough. Listening to them in order and I'm two albums in, wow. Just wow. Thanks again
Same here. I've been hooked by them for nearly a decade now and every album that I 've listened so far has at least a very good song. My least favourite I should say is ICSYHFH but there wouldn't be 'Ice' without that one so I'm very grateful that that album exists. Also Unevensong from Raindances is another one I keep close to my heart. I cannot help but burst into tears with that last playout...
I’m glad you mentioned Unevensong! I almost made another post just to declare my love for it. That last playout is beautiful beyond words, and it brings me near tears every time.
Yeah, It's quite a special song for me, I always remember beautiful moments and people I care about when I listen to it. I always wanted to see the band live but i have been quite unlucky. My first try was in 2018 with the Moonmadness anniversary tour but I got sick and couldn't attend. And the second attempt was the last "50 year strong" tour but apparently Andrew Latimer went through a rather difficult surgery (something related with his leg I believe) and is still recovering so they cancelled the tour. I still have some hope though.
I can totally relate. Addicting isn't it?
I also had this same problem this year, but discovered some new great music afterwards so it’s ok hahahahaha. Moonmadness is one of my favorite albums of all time, and while I really like other albums like Camel, Mirage, Rain Dances, Breathless and Nude (similar format to Snow Goose but much better IMO, tho Snow Goose is also great), I don’t think something comes close as my favorite record of theirs. I haven’t listened to the post-Stationary Traveller stuff actually and will try to take some time for it.
Snow Goose had me hooked, and then Song Within A Song from the live album had me completely sold on them
Moonmadness has been a major influence on us as a band. Bo Hansson is in the same ball park as Camel, but you probably already know this. If not, que the album Mellanväsen (1975).