A LIVE RECORD

The first official live effort for Camel features a whole CD dedicated to "The Snow Goose" with a full blown orchestra in the background (quite discrete though) : the London Symphonic Orchestra. The work is just as good as their studio album. Rhyader story at his best. Few tracks will gain in the addition of the classic ensemble : "The Snow Goose" (the track) being one of the few. This performance was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975 (except the last two numbers coming out the Hammersmith Odeon in 1976).

In its remastered version, disc one has five bonus tracks from "Raindances" which is not their most interesting studio effort so far. Fortunately, there are also older tracks to improve the general level of their performance. Most of the tracks were taken during the supporting tour for "Raindances" in 1977.

"A Song Within A Song" is a good example. Fully melancholic tune mixing two melodies in the same track (hence its title ...). "Never Let Go" and "Chord Change" are quite good songs but close to the studio versions (this is a general feeling I have about their live albums with the exception of their much later Rajaz Tour - "Camelitis").

"Ligging at Louis" is a Bardens instrumental (confidential and unreleased on a Camel album). Like "Chord Change" and "Lady Fantasy", it comes from the Marquee concert in 1974 from which a lot of numbers will be released as bonus tracks on the remastered versions of their early works). The closing number is of course the "Lady Fantasy" suite. Very good version version : a bit "harder" than the studio one.

In 1981, Latimer said that "he wanted a live album to recall Camel's history rather than a great sounding live record". That's what we get. This live album failed to chart. Three stars.