Camel IN

Progressive rock giants Camel had a long-established audience by the late 1970s, and proved it again with their fourth Top 30 album in little more than three years, Breathless. Released on September 22, 1978, it hit the UK chart on October 14.

Not for the last time, Camel – or, more specifically, guitarist Andy Latimer, the last man standing from the original group – a polarised opinion with the release of their ninth studio album, The Single Factor, issued on May 6, 1982, during a time when interest in prog was flatlining. Robert Fripp had admittedly rejuvenated, repurposed, and modernized King Crimson, and parochial holdouts such as Marillion were conspiring among themselves in the wings; but for most prog veterans it was clearly a case of adapt to survive.

Camel's Coming of Age DVD begins with a fly on the wall style mini documentary showing the band in rare form rehearsing for a show. They discuss various chord structures and movements to get that distinct Camel sound and they play full pieces effortlessly. It is a wonderful start to this fabulous DVD. The sound check follows which is basically the band preparing prior to a show on a stage with an empty auditorium…

A new, larger version of Camel debuted on Nude, a concept album about a Japanese soldier stranded on a deserted island during World War II and staying there, oblivious to the outside world, for 29 years. More ambitious than the preceding I Can See Your House from Here, Nude is in many ways just as impressive…

A page in the history….. This album contains just four songs, is something like a mini live EP. The sound is great no perfect but well-mixed, Lady Fantasy is a great song but live is better, Pete adds an amazing keyboard solo at the end of this one, Six ate is a good song from their first album but I would prefer Earthrise or Freefall despite is a great song alive…