TOTAL PRESSURE - LIVE IN CONCERT 1984

During CAMEL's 1984 Tour for the promotion of their "Stationary Traveller" album, it was decided to record a live album (which in late 1984 was released as "Pressure Points - Camel Live in Concert") and also to record a concert video for a TV appearance. So, one concert in London's Hammersmith Odeon was selected to do both things. This happened in 11- May-1984. The video was also later released under the "Pressure Points - Camel Live in Concert" title, but with both releases having some differences in the inclusion or exclusion of some songs and with both not including all the songs (I think so) which were played at the concert. In their official website, the information about this says that there were some problems with the use of lights during the video recording of the concert, so at that time some songs had to be ommited from the video version. The first video version was also released in VHS videocassette (and on DVD some years ago), with the addition of some "conceptual video" scenes for all the songs which were played from their "Stationary Traveller" album, an album which is a conceptual album about West Berlin and East Berlin during the Cold War period. All of the "conceptual video" scenes were not liked by some people (incluiding myself) because they were done like "telenovela" ("soap opera") scenes in a very cardboard way. That "telenovela" scenes really marred that video version of this concert, being very intrusive to the viewers who only wanted to see the band playing the songs in concert. I think that it was a very bad decision to include those "telenovela" scenes then. But fortunately, that was corrected with the new release of this concert video on DVD titled "Total Pressure", which doesn't include those "telenovela" scenes anymore, and which also includes all the songs (I think so) that were played at the concert, with a much better quality in images and sound. (The live album version was also expanded with some additional songs when it was re-issued on CD some years ago, but still under the "Pressure Points - Camel Live in Concert" title). Unfortunately, the bad direction of cameras couldn't be corrected, so one still has to watch to some members of the band while one or two of the other members of the band are playing very good solos, without the cameras being focused in the members who play the solos. This particularly happens very often when keyboard players Ton Scherpenzeel and Richie Close play very good keyboard solos, and the cameras are focused instead in the members who are at the front of the stage (Colin Bass, Andy Latimer, Paul Burgess and Chris Rainbow). It seems that the Video Director didn't have enough time to know the band's repertoire to really know at which time which member was going to play a solo to focus at least one of the cameras in that member. After all, it was done for a TV appearance and maybe was done without the band being very involved in the design of the making of the video. Maybe it could have been better to do at least one rehearsal with the video camera crew before the concert. But it seems that it wasn't done that way and that the video was recorded live with the Video Director simply giving orders to the camera crew as the concert was played and recorded and that there really wasn't very much post-recording editing done to the video, at least in the selection of the best camera angles.

Anyway, despite all these problems, this concert video is very good. At least, the quality of the images and sound was improved a lot thanks to the use of some technology, and the inclusion of additional songs was a very good idea. For example, songs like "Drafted", "Captured", "Lies", "La Princesse Perdue", "Unevensong", "Never Let Go" and "Hymn to Her" were included in this new version. And one can watch to all the songs they played from their "Stationary Traveller" album as they really were played in the concert. Fortunately, at least some very good keyboard solos played by Close and Scherpenzeel were caught by the cameras in songs like "Lies" (with Close playing a solo) and with Scherpenzeel and him sharing keyboard solos in other songs. There is also a guest appearance on Hammond Organ from original member Peter Bardens on "Rhayader", "Rhayader Goes to Town" and in "Lady Fantasy", with the cameras sometimes being focused on him playing a solo and in other times not being focused on him while he was playing a solo. In these three songs, there are four keyboard players playing together with the band! Mel Collins also appears playing some sax solos in "Rhayader Goes to Town" and in "Fingertips" (with Latimer being out of the stage in this last song). Latimer also plays some flute in "Rhayader" and pan flutes in the "Stationary Traveller" album title song. All the members of the band played very well, and they looked very happy playing together, very well rehearsed.

Maybe some people don't like CAMEL's music from the eighties. But I really like it a lot. This band like other Prog Rock bands from the seventies had to change a bit their musical styles in the eighties to satisfy their record labels's inclinations towards more commercial Pop Rock arrangements for their music. Unfortunately, CAMEL never has been a very popular Prog Rock band like others (YES, Genesis, etc.) from the seventies despite doing all those changes to their music in the more commercial terms of the eighties. Despite their music became more accessible then it still retained a lot of quality and a lot of Prog Rock's influences, and fortunately their looks weren't very much influenced by the "look fads" of the eighties. Fortunately, they still appeared on stage looking like very good musicians playing their music very well without looking like some very commercial Pop Rock bands from the eighties (Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, etc.).

R.I.P. Peter Bardens , Richie Close and Chris Rainbow.