DUST AND DREAMS

The full potential of this album is much more brought out in the live performance on Camels live album "Never Let Go." Even then, its still a bit of a strange middle of the road album for Camel, especially as a "comeback" album. As with every Camel album you're going to get a lot of good melodies, but this one is a plagued with several atmospheric filler tracks (or as I say "fluff") between the real meat of the album. My other big issue is the production, very 90's and sterile sounding, which is also an issue I have with the albums follow-up "Harbour of Tears." Unfortunately between every good track it seems there a boring filler track to accompany it. Some of the highlights include opener Go West, it's a very beautiful minimalist track. Mother Road is another nice track with a great guitar melody that appears a handful of times throughout the album. Rose of Sharon really falls flat on the studio version with really bland sounding vocals. However in the aforementioned live performance, the guitar solo is explosively beautiful and the vocals are just much better. End of the Line has simply just never done it for me, studio or live. Though it seems to be a staple in their live performances, its a low point of the album for me. Towards the end, the album begins to redeem itself with a series of pretty good songs. Camel returns to form briefly in the two tracks Cotton Camp and Broken Banks with some fast drums and melodic guitar. Unfortunately Sheet Rain, Whispers and Little Rivers and Little Rose slow down that excitement with more slow instrumentals... great. The final two tracks end on a pretty good note. Hopeless Anger and Whispers in the rain are more in line with what i'm looking for from Camel, but even then, its just decent.

Good but Non-Essential is a good rating for this one. Though its never horrible or anything, but it's just inoffensive and dull at times. I can't imagine having much faith in Camel if I had went out and bought this in 1991, but luckily they showed they were very well capable with Rajaz and A Nod and a Wink a couple years down the line. The lifeless production really bogs down what would be highs on this album, and that with abundance of filler tracks is my main issue. Interestingly, for their Royal Albert Hall show 3/9 songs from the second set are from this album, I assume its a personal favorite for Andy.

5/10