Camel - 2nd Division or Premier League?

Camel are like Sunderland FC - a talented band, who occasionally get promoted to the Premiership, then slide back down again. Very good, but not able to sustain their progress. I agree that a better vocalist would have improved their ranking though. Also some slightly better songwriting skills...

To me, Camel will always be premier league. Their music just makes me feel good.

Edited by Aristilus - October 03 2007 at 06:09

Premier league, my all time favourite prog band. They have their weaker albums as well (Breathless, House), but I really like most of their poppier stuff too. Mirage, The Snow Goose and Moonmadness are five star masterpieces, and Rajaz and A Nod and a Wink are pretty damn close.

I've just herad my first Camel, "MIRAGE", and I liked it a lot. Just for that album, they're premier league.. Maybe not Arsenal or Manchester United or Chelsea or Liverpool, but a good Manchester City....

PREMIER LEAGUE.

With their outstanding musicianship, conceptualization and realization of musical ideas, Camel frankly gets less credit than they deserve.  Hardly as inventive or as adventuresome in a general sense as King Crimson , nor as poetic as Yes, nor as outlandish and theatrical as early Genesis, their first four albums included an embarassment of riches of interesting, tasteful and well constructed musical material. There was a consistency in those efforts that frankly exceeds that of much of the output of the other bands mentioned.  I have said it before and will probably say it again, Snow Goose is the standardbearer of symphonic progressive rock concepts.  For this effort alone, they made it as a premier band.  In general,  the late Peter Bardens' keyboard work was terribly underrated as is Latimer's guitar and keyboard work.  The rhythm section of Ward and Ferguson wasn't too shabby either.  The biggest liability of classical lineup of  the band, in my opinion, are the weak vocals.  For many, the later output that included sensational reed player Mel Collins added an additional and exciting facet to their sound. Although I am a fan of Collins, particularly due to his relationship with King Crimson, I frankly am not familiar with all of his Camel output so I will defer judgment on the matter.  Snow Goose is a decidedly 5 star recording, and, in my opinion, Moonmadness, their eponymous debut album and Mirage all rate at levels of 4 to 4+ stars. This puts them in the premier league, folks.     

I don't know that much Camel (read: I've got Mirage, and just now The Snow Goose), but Lady Fantasy alone can compete with (not win against, but anyway...) The Musical Box and Epitaph. If Mirage is anything to go by, they certainly are premier material.

King Crimson776 wrote: I put 1st division because that is just below the premier. They're not quite King Crimson. Top 5 of their albums: 1. Moonmadness 2. Mirage 3. Raindances 4. The Snow Goose 5. Breathless

To me, yes, they're premier league.
Their "trilogy" are indeed their best albums, all masterpieces, but I also like a lot A Nod and a Wink, their most recent effort, which shows Latimer still has really interesting music to do!
So my top five:

1-Moonmadness (I worship this album, it's on my top 5 of all bands)
2-Mirage
3-The Snow Goose
4-A Nod and a Wink
5-Rain Dances

1st division is my vote, not quite for premier league (where are and forever stayes Gentle Giant, Uriah Heep, Renaissance, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Genesis, Van Der Graaf Generator, etc.),  because in the 80's they were like many old school bands with a foot in the gutter, almost mediocre prog with pop leanings on all the albums, ex.Single factor is a weak album in every way, the '90's are much better than the '80's for Camel almost at the same level with the '70's, albums like Dust and dreams or Rajaz are quite good and very enjoyble, anyway a great band that made some classics, but as a whole only 1st division, witch is not bad at all.