"A Quest for Prog" is a series of 50 Progressive Rock reviews to be written over a year. The band selection is taken from the book in the first post on this blog. And the albums I am reviewing is based on the highest user ratings for each band on Progarchives.com.
Camel - Moonmadness (1976)
Produced by Rhett Davies and Camel
Andrew Latimer – Guitars, flute, vocals on "Another Night" and "Air Born"
Peter Bardens – Keyboards, vocals on "Spirit of the Water"
Doug Ferguson – Bass, vocals on "Song Within a Song"
Andy Ward – Drums, percussion, voice on "Aristillus"
Track listing:
Side one:
1. Aristillus (1:56)
2. Song Within a Song (7:16)
3. Chord Change (6:45)
4. Spirit of the Water (2:07)
Side two:
1. Another Night (6:58)
2. Air Born (5:02)
3. Lunar Sea (9:11)
Released in 1976 "Moonmadness " was the fourth album by English band Camel. Formed in 1971 after Andrew Latimer, Andy Wardbacking & Doug Ferguson backed Phillip Goodhand-Tait on his album "I Think I'll Write a Song". They added Peter Bardens to the line up and become Camel. Camel was part of the Canterbury scene had considerable success in Europe and America.
I had been interested in hearing some Camel for a while so when it came time to review this album I was quite excited. One thing that stood out to me when after my first listen was how much this album sounds like mid 70’s Pink Floyd. Even down to Andrew Latimer having a strikingly similar vocal style to David Gilmour.
The album beings with the short Keyboard lead track “Aristillus” which sounds like it could find a home easily in a 70’s Sci-Fi film. It it’s fun but hasn’t aged well.
Following on is “Song Within A Song” sung by bass player Doug Ferguson. This is quite a nice tune with some interesting guitar and flute work. It is quite restrained and though it keeps a nice movement. That being said the song really doesn’t go anywhere or change. It think it's a nice song but maybe too nice.
The next song “Chord Change” really didn’t do anything for me. Starts off well with and upbeat guitar passage and slows it down through the piece but it neither parts are beyond ok.
“Spirit of the Water” is the last track on side one and is the first song on the album that really works for me. A slower folky tune in the vein of King Crimson’s quieter material from “In The Court Of The Crimson King”. The piano and the Flute work really well here and Peter Bardens’ vocals are strong. Good tune from a rather uninspiring first side.
The second side starts of with “Another Night”. This song begins with a interesting guitar passage before becoming a strong 70’s rocker. They music has layers of interesting instrumentation like a talk box line buried in the mix. The pace is also a pleasant change from the rest of the album has features some great drum work from Andy Ward. I can see why this song was selected in an edited form as a single. A really good song.
Up next is “Air Born” a song that reminded me of Dire Straits for some reason. The song is intended to sound like you are flying and on that that they are very successful but as a song it doesn’t work for me. The song is quite phased out and unfortunately this makes it a bit washy, especially Andrew Latimer’s vocals.
The album ends with its saving grace “Lunar Sea”. This is a great piece of music. Beginning with some spacey keyboards and bubbling sounds to set the mood this song is a real journey. The bass and drums lock into a great grove that that is really funking while Andrew Latimer’s guitar and Peter Bardens’ Keyboards play around on top of it. This song has the movement and energy that most of the albums lacks. Although the keyboards do sound rather cheesy its still a really fun listen. The song really opens up in the later half when the tempo is brought up and the band really lets go. The guitars and bass are the real stars here.
Although well regarded amongst the Prog communities I have to say that this album left me unimpressed. Maybe because I being harsh because I had expectations but Moonmadness unfortunately just didn’t deliver. There are three strong tracks on here “Spirit of the Water”, “Another night” & “Lunar Sea” which I will enjoy in the future and gives me hope there might be some diamonds in the rough in Camel’s back catalogue.
4/10
No comments:
Post a Comment