CAMEL

Great and powerful debut album and probably one of the best debuts I know. Very enjoyable tunes with beautiful keys and well done guitar and bass arrangements. There are 7 songs here and the albums starts with "Slow yourself down". Inspired keyboard arrangements with a consistent rhythm sustained by Doug Ferguson on bass and Andy Ward on drums. Definitely an highlight. "Mystic queen" is the second one which start slowly with a nice acoustic guitar filled with a melodic bass line and continues in the same slow manner sustained by a mystic and flickering voice. It is hard to decide for an highlight on this one because all these songs have somehow the same level. Anyway a plus for "Mystic Queen" which is a song easy remembered. This is a strong characteristic of a good album for me.

"Six ate", the third song start with in fast tempos and has the same unique Camel flavor.

"Separation" is the fourth song and the shortest one with the same fast tempos as "Six ate". In the middle of the song some slow parts and the end of the song is very powerful and probably one of the most enjoyable part. All instruments are joined in a free jam session style sound.

"Never let go" is a very optimistic song in terms of lyrics and the melodic line is indicating the same thing. The song start to come to an end in a slow manner and finally ends with the same style as the aforementioned song.

Curiosity sounds a bit inconsistent and uninspired here and there(more in the first part) and somehow it doesn't attract me in the same way as the other songs did. Nevetheless it is for sure not a bad song.The last song is instrumental ("Arubaluba") and it is a good song to end the album, very heavy and intense especially in terms of keyboard but as overall sound also.

What I enjoy most from Camel is that they were able to create an unique and specific sound from the right beginning even if they have discrete influences from Canterbury scene bands or Pink Floyd. This one deserves 4 solid stars easily and is recommended beyond Camel fans to a broader prog crowd audience. I don't know why Camel weren't not able to step in the first line of progressive rock scene. One possible answer is that their music was not groundbreaking and haven't pushed any limits. It is simple with a characteristic "camelesque" sound, melodic and very well played. Melodically Camel is for me one of the best bands I know and for this I came to appreciate them a lot. With this album they started the musical journey in a very good and elegant manner.