Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Camel
Label: Camel Productions
Release: 1994
Rating: 2.5/5
This recording comes from a gig in The Hague, where Camel celebrated their tenth anniversary, and honestly, they couldn’t have picked a worse setlist or delivered a limper performance to mark it. Anyone who knows what shape their sound was in back then, especially after the release of their worst album, the synthetic and thoroughly trend-chasing “The Single Factor” (1982), shouldn’t expect much good from this recording. By then, Camel as innovators and visionaries of symphonic prog rock were already a thing of the past. In their place stepped this strange, synthetic, AOR-bound incarnation of the band, which sounded far more like The Alan Parsons Project (which is hardly surprising, since they had two members of that band in the lineup at the time) than like the Camel who usually spoiled us and delighted us with a high level of artistic innovation and intelligent melodies. The music they were serving up now was anything but that, aimed purely at a quick buck and the trends of the day. With this approach, Camel completely crashed and burned, both in the studio and live, and later had to work hard to win back the hearts of prog rock fans everywhere. The total commercial sellout of their sound and their artistic disintegration is also nicely illustrated by the catastrophic choice of songs, mostly picked from just “I Can See Your House From Here” (1979), “Nude” (1981) and “The Single Factor”, with the exception of “Never Let Go” (Camel, 1973) not containing a single classic or any work from the ’70s. And even when they play material from those albums, they cling desperately to the AOR-soaked numbers (mostly half-ballads), which is a real slap in the face to a milestone anniversary. And to make the artistic negation even more complete, in contrast to their reputation as exceptional technical masters, they play the whole thing with only half a heart, often sounding sluggish. This shows most in the pale vocal showing of all three singers (Andy Latimer, Chris Rainbow and David Paton). Even Latimer, who you could usually never accuse of lacking commitment, is often completely off-key at the mic this time. The only bright spot on this recording is his magical guitar work, as always, which often has to battle the overly synthetic sound of the keyboards. Somewhat surprisingly, he’s joined on guitar this time by Andy Delby, the only additional (touring) guitarist in their history, who plays solos on two tracks while Latimer sticks to 12-string guitar and vocals.
Every performance falls short of the original, and some are really weak. The recording does open fairly promisingly with the cheerful instrumental “Sasquatch”, the best possible pick from “The Single Factor”, where Andy lifts the mood with witty guitar passages. But the slightly-too-high, out-of-tune keyboard sound of the usually excellent Kit Watkins (ex-Happy The Man) soon starts to grate on the ears. When the vocal numbers kick in, Camel really crash and burn across the board this time. Chris Rainbow’s dreadful and totally unsuitable vocal take on “Highways Of The Sun” (Rain Dances, 1977) is the first to show off the recording’s main weakness. Instrumentally, too, this version of the commercially tinged single from “Rain Dances” limps badly behind a solid original, which had been their first step toward a commercialized sound. The synthetic sound of the synths, used especially in all the would-be hits, hurts the ears too. Next come two weak performances of radio-friendly numbers: the half-ballad “Hymn To Her”, again dragged down by Rainbow’s vocals, and “Neon Magic” (both from “I Can See Your House From Here”), which has some good guitar riffs but is once more a shot in the dark vocally. “You Are The One” (The Single Factor) is yet another dreadful AOR power ballad, of which there are plenty on this recording. The mood picks up a bit with three tracks (“Drafted”, “Lies” and “Captured”) from the conceptual masterpiece “Nude” (1981), which are more than welcome this time. Sadly, apart from “Captured”, they’re all spoiled by poor interpretation. I was especially disappointed by Andy’s vocal take on “Lies”, which is very good on the original. Next up are some more or less interesting numbers from “The Single Factor” and “I Can See Your House From Here”, all played in a thoroughly half-hearted way. The lifeless take on the ballad “A Hearts Desire/End Peace” nearly puts you to sleep, while “Heroes” is a dismal attempt at something between pop and pomp rock and yet another document of the total negation of their musical identity. “Who We Are”, which they even announce they’ll put special effort into because it’s being recorded, and which they actually do deliver on for a change, is one of the few good performances on the recording, though Rainbow’s vocals spoil it again. But it all gets knocked down again by the catastrophic rendition of “Manic”, already a complete AOR/pomp horror show in the original, which this time is further wrecked by Latimer’s totally out-of-tune vocals. They didn’t forget “Wait” either, the first and probably the best of their early AOR experiments, which they play decently this time, and the dual vocal harmonies actually work for a change. Ironically, the best piece on the recording, “Never Let Go”, sits right at the very end, after Latimer, in a bit of a “Pontius Pilate” moment, observes that it wouldn’t be a proper anniversary if they didn’t play one of the early numbers. This time they really make an effort, and despite the absence of the original keyboards, they turn in an excellent version of this classic, which at least softens the bitter aftertaste left by this pale live recording.
Every time I listen to “On The Road 1982”, which is without a doubt their worst official live release (and since it came out on their own label, it’s quite hard to get hold of), I come to the conclusion that it might have been better if it had never been released, even though it’s a telling document of a less appealing period in their history. So, except for the biggest fans, I warmly recommend giving it a very wide berth, since there are plenty of much better live documents out there that speak eloquently to the exceptional artistic abilities of these prog rock legends. Let this recording serve mainly as a record of just how deep Camel sank at one point with their chase for radio hits, which almost buried them in the end.
Lineup
Andy Latimer – vocals, guitar
David Paton – bass guitar, vocals
Chris Rainbow – vocals, keyboards
Kit Watkins – keyboards
Stuart Tosh – drums
Andy Dalby – backing guitar
Production
Andrew Latimer & Chris Now
Track List
1. Sasquatch (4:30)
2. Higways Of The Sun (4:38)
3. Hymn To Her (5:23)
4. Neon Magic (4:04)
5. You Are The One (5:21)
6. Drafted (4:01)
7. Lies (5:10)
8. Captured (3:19)
9. A Heart’s Desire – End Peace (4:34)
10. Heroes (5:36)
11. Who We Are (6:21)
12. Manic (4:11)
13. Wait (4:49)
14. Never Let Go (6:44)
Album length: 68:41
