PRESSURE POINTS

"Pressure Points" is the second live album of Camel and that was released in 1984. It was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, and was also released in the same year. Initially, the album was released only with ten tracks but in 2009 it was released as an expanded edition with sixteen tracks on a double CD. My review is about this last one.

I think we can see some clear similarities between "Pressure Points" and their sixth live album "Camel On The Road 1981". So, let's see why. Both live albums are divided into two distinct parts, the old tracks that belong to the 70's and the new tracks that belong to the 80's. However, while "Pressure Points" is an album more varied with songs from several Camel's studio albums, "Camel On The Road 1981" is essentially a live album based on their eighth studio album "Nude". Buy the other hand, "Pressure Points" is an official live album released in the same year that it was recorded, and "Camel On The Road 1981" is an official bootleg only released in 1997 when it was recorded in 1981.

The line up on "Pressure Points" is Andrew Latimer (vocals, guitar and flute), Ton Scherpenzeel (keyboards), Christopher Rainbow (vocals and keyboards), Richie Close (keyboards), Colin Bass (vocals and bass) and Paul Burgess (drums). Besides them, "Pressure Points" has also, and fortunately, the presence of two ex-members of the band, Mel Collins (saxophone) and their founding member Peter Bardens (organ). But they only appear on a few tracks.

So, my version of "Pressure Points" has sixteen tracks. The first thirteen tracks are the new tracks and the last three tracks are the old tracks. The album is divided into 2 Discs. Disc 1 has nine tracks: The first track "Pressure Points" was released on "Stationary Traveller". The second track "Drafted" was released on "Nude". The third track "Captured" was released on "Nude". The fourth track "Lies" was released on "Nude". The fifth track "Refugee" was released on "Stationary Traveller". The sixth track "Vopos" was released on "Stationary Traveller". The seventh track "Stationary Traveller" was released on "Stationary Traveller". The eighth track "West Berlin" was released on "Stationary Traveller". The ninth track "Fingertips" was released on "Stationary Traveller". Disc 2 has seven tracks: The first track "Sasquatch" was released on "The Single Factor". The second track "Wait" was released on "I Can See Your House From Here". The third track "Cloak And Dagger Man" was released on "Stationary Traveller". The fourth track "Long Goodbyes" was released on "Stationary Traveller". The fifth track "Rhayader" was released on "The Snow Goose". The sixth track "Rhayader Goes To Town" was released on "The Snow Goose". The seventh track "Lady Fantasy" was released on "Mirage".

This live album was the last sign of Camel's life until 1991. It mainly contains pieces from their 80's albums. Even if the majority of the material comes from the 80's, and as all we know, this wasn't exactly a high point in the band's career, a phase in which Camel's albums could no longer match the earlier classics, but the selection of songs is good enough to provide a very good and interesting listening, especially because and fortunately most of the songs are from their better albums of the 80's, especially "Nude" and "Stationary Traveller". Even from what is in general considered the weakest of all studio albums of Camel "The Single Factor", one of the few great tracks on that album is included with "Sasquatch". So, we have here almost all the respective highlights of Camel in the 80's united on one single live album, apart from some tracks from the classic era. The pieces are pretty close to the respective originals, but overall they seem to be played with a lot more pressure, especially Andrew Latimer's cutting guitar comes into its own better than in the studio recordings. The sound quality is good and the booklet contains an interesting outline of the band's history.

Conclusion: As I wrote above, "Pressure Points" has two distinct musical parts, the new and the old tracks. In relation to the new tracks I think we can see some similarity with "Camel On The Road 1981". All the live versions are good but they aren't as different as they should be, and in my humble opinion, they brought practically nothing new to this live album. The old tracks are three of my favourite tracks of Camel and I must confess that they're all great live versions. Here, we have also the participation of Mel Collins and Peter Bardens, which is a value added to this live show. "Rhayader" and "Rhayader Goes To Town" are absolutely great versions and where the main interesting thing on this live performance is the presence of the saxophone of Mel Collins. For me, this is the first time I can hear "Rhayader Goes To Town" performed with the sound of a saxophone. "Lady Fantasy", behind be one of the most beloved tracks of their fans, is the closing theme and is the highest point on this live performance. "Pressure Points" is, in my opinion, a better live album than "Camel On The Road 1981" is. However, it isn't as good to be rated with 4 stars. As happened with "Camel On The Road 1981" lacks to it some creativity, energy and capacity of improvisation. Yet, if you like, as me, of Camel's sound of the 80's and you need to have a live album from that period, "Pressure Points" is a good purchase.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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