THE SINGLE FACTOR

At the risk of sounding like someone who discovered, and then grew to like YES only after 90125, or Genesis after ABACAB, I'm going on the record to say that THE SINGLE FACTOR was my first CAMEL album - and I like it! Sorry boys and girls - this is a very good album. I'll tell you why I started with this album - the answer is spelled P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S. Phillips as in ANT and SIMON, both of whom appear on this CD. I figured, anyone (Latimer) smart enough to commission the likes of these two, has got to know something about producing good music. Am I Very Wrong? What's that you say, "No Easy Answer", or more appropriately, "No Reply at All". The frist three songs, especially HEROES are just great. HEROES, I say again, is particularly good. Great vocal arrangement. The most addictive track on the album is easily SASQUATCH. I must have listened to it 100 times in the first few weeks after I got it. It's ear candy. It's Latimer's "Moonlight Shadow" (which also features Simon Phillips). TODAYS GOODBYE and A HEART DESIRE/END PIECE (the latt- imer co-written by Anthony Phillips) are beautiful. I will conceed that listeneing to the likes of Camel, Genesis, Yes, Oldfield, even Anthony Phillips, playing pop songs, as they all did in the early 80's, is a bit like Motzart playing "Chopsticks" with full orchestra. But, hey, I'd much rather hear Motzart, or the aforementioned demi-gods of Prog have a go at pop, than Paul McCartney, the undisputed king of the pop/rock song, trying to write progressive or classical music, don't you agree? This is by no means Camel's best outing, granted. But my verdict is for the defedant. You owe him four stars. Case closed!!!