CAMEL

Emerging during the peak of the prog rock boom of 1973 out of the Canterbury scene, Camel is often cited as one of the more popular and well-liked bands of the genre. While some critics liken the band's music to that of post- Roger Waters Pink Floyd, much of the band's earlier work is markedly less psychedelic and more jazzy than the Floyd. Camel's self-titled debut was a commercial failure, falling off the map and resulting in the band's jettison from MCA Records. While Camel would live on to achieve relative commercial success with their second and third efforts, their debut is arguably forgotten in perspective. Was this a result of poor marketing by MCA, or was it rather just a result of a poor debut effort by the band? I sought to figure this out myself by listening to the album in its entirety.

Camel's musical journey begins with the opener "Slow Yourself Down", an upbeat, fast-paced jazzy rocker that immediately showcases the band's achilles heel, the vocals. On this album, vocals are mostly shared between three of the four band members. Frankly, none of them have good singing voices, and this is brutally evident on songs such as this one, "Separation", and "Curiosity". While the band members are obviously proficient musicians, all of them lack in an ability to provide a third dimension to their music, in the way that legendary prog vocalists such as Hammill and Anderson did. The end result is a heap of mediocre filler tracks. Fortunately, there are some diamonds in the rough, which I will briefly go over.

"Never Let Go" is the flagship song of the album. It has always been a staple of the band's live shows, and I must admit it is a well-composed tune, although the lyrics are no better in quality than the rest of the album. The combination of keyboard and guitar solos in tandem over the instrumental breaks would be a dynamic that would come to define Camel, especially on their more seminal albums such as "Mirage" and "Moonmadness". Peter Bardens and Andrew Latimer are excellent musicians, while drummer Andy Ward and bassist Doug Ferguson form a more than capable rhythm section. Ferguson in particular proves himself to be an underrated bassist, especially in the scope of the band's musical compositions, where his contributions are kept low in the mix.

There are two instrumentals on this album, the forgettable "Six Ate" and the more interesting "Arubaluba", which closes the album on a high note. Once again, this would be a composition that Camel would keep on their set lists through their early career, and it's a very entertaining work that showcases the best of Bardens' ability as a keyboardist.

In conclusion, Camel's self-titled debut is an okay work of jazz-inspired rock music. The band experiments with a lot of interesting musical themes, but the end result is a disjointed album with a lot of mediocre filler that is not really all that progressive. Obvious highlights are "Never Let Go" and "Arubaluba", with an honorable mention to the psychedelic "Mystic Queen" on side one. I was really not surprised at the lack of commercial success by this album in retrospect, but there is a lot of potential that is foreshadowed in the album's better moments, that would be elaborated upon in future albums. Fortunately Camel's story didn't end here, as Decca would pick them up and place them on their more progressive-friendly subsidiary Deram, and we would eventually be treated to some truly essential works of progressive rock starting the following year.

FINAL GRADE: 3.3/5

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