Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Camel
Label: Camel Productions
Released: 1991
Rating: 4/5
Camel, by then long under the wing of the excellent guitarist, flautist and singer Andy Latimer, won their court battle against the extortionate manager of their previous label and, after almost seven years of creative silence, moved to California. Fired up by the creative freedom that came indirectly from founding their own independent label, Camel Productions, they finished a new concept album that Latimer had actually started working on back in the mid-’80s. “Dust and Dreams”, the third concept album in their history, is inspired by John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath”. It tells the story of poor farmers who migrated from the Dust Bowl to California during the Great Depression of the ’30s, only to run into plenty of prejudice and violence from the locals. The concept also happens to mirror Latimer’s own move from the UK to California, where he stayed and kept recording for years to come.
To the great joy of longtime fans, the album returns, especially in mood, to where the band left off in their best days, because it’s loaded with immense melancholy and might even be their most melancholic record to date. The synthetic synth sounds are history, the production, still top-notch, is a bit less polished and more natural, and the instrumental passages have regained more subtlety. All the AOR influences are history too, since “Dust and Dreams” is a sort of stylistic cross between neo prog rock (mostly the songs with vocals) and symphonic prog rock (mostly the instrumentals). The neo prog influence on their music is especially interesting, since Camel were among the main inspirations behind the birth of that very genre.
After the constant lineup changes of the ’80s, it’s kind of hard to believe that Latimer actually managed to summon the complete lineup that recorded the previous album, “Stationary Traveller” (1984), namely longtime bassist Colin Bass, Dutch keyboard master Ton Scherpenzeel and killer drummer Paul Burgess. Susan Hoover is back too, Latimer’s indispensable partner in writing poetry, who obviously has plenty of say in the choice of concepts as well. Latimer of course remains the undisputed head of the band when it comes to writing most of the music, and the main carrier of most of it, above all through his masterful guitar playing (which I’d place somewhere between Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis) and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)) and a very good vocal contribution (by this point the color of his voice has become even more similar to Gilmour’s on most of the tracks; that fact makes Camel interesting for fans of their far better-known “cousins” too). On the other hand, this album has a bit less of Latimer’s flute than I’m used to (one of the few shortcomings), but in return it has more orchestral arrangements and excellent guitar and keyboard passages, which create plenty of atmospheric sonic curtains. The album’s main strength is its outstanding atmosphere rather than any showing off of the individual members’ technical skills, which further confirms that with their independent label Camel finally gave up on all commercial ambitions and matured into a band that couldn’t care less about outside musical trends, while nobody could ever accuse them of lacking heart.
Since it’s a concept album, it’s no surprise that the individual pieces flow from one into the next. It’s also interesting that it’s split into two parts. The first is dominated by the vocal pieces, while the second favors instrumentals. As usual, Camel chose to handle the concept with shorter pieces rather than long epics, a move that already proved a winner on masterpieces like “The Snow Goose” (1975) and “Nude” (1981)
“Dust Bowl” is a short intro that opens with a sampled sound of howling wind, before a very pretty flute and atmospheric synths come in, creating a lovely, melancholic mood. “Go West” is a gorgeous piano ballad where Latimer’s emotional vocals call out for a brighter future in the “promised land”. “Dusted Out” is a kind of warm-up, where the atmosphere keeps building through piano, synths and plenty of majestic orchestral arrangements. “Mother Road” has a strong whiff of neo progressive rock, which is quite interesting given that Camel were among the main inspirations behind that genre. After an emotional electric guitar intro and a bouncy rhythm comes a dramatic pre-chorus and then multi-part vocal lines in the main chorus. In the middle section there’s a wonderful, subtle guitar solo. Then in the second half comes an outstanding synth transition and a gorgeous guitar solo, enriched by heartfelt, optimistically tinted vocals. And at the end, the obligatory finale. This is the track with which Camel announce that they’ve successfully returned to the scene and that they’re definitely to be reckoned with. The instrumental “Needles” has tense orchestral arrangements, followed by an exceptionally bright mood at the close. “Rose Of Sharon” is something new again in the band’s musical experiments so far, since it features an extra backing female vocal from Mae McKenna, which blends in successfully with David Paton’s voice and by no means comes across as saccharine, but creates a very lovely mood built on wonderful arrangements. Latimer’s closing solo in particular is a real treat. A bold move that could easily have dented their credibility ends up working very well. “Milk N’ Honey” opens on synths, continuing the central melody of the previous piece, while dark sonic curtains build an extremely tense atmosphere, released at the end by gorgeous orchestral arrangements. “End Of The Line” is the last piece on the album with vocals. This time they carry immense pain, speaking of loneliness and helplessness in a foreign world. Along the way Latimer keeps spoiling us with deeply melancholic slide guitar solos, while the keyboards create an even more melancholic mood. I’d say this is the peak of the whole album, and it also closes the first part of the concept.
From there to the end of the album come mostly shorter instrumentals, painting the traumatic arrival of the workers in the “promised land flowing with milk and honey”. “Storm Clouds” has an almost ominous mood, created mainly by dramatic synth lines. “Cotton Camp” features a signature Latimer guitar solo, played with heart and soul, and coordinated down to the last detail with wonderful keyboard passages. Latimer keeps up his artistry in the short “Broken Banks”, which also has a very good drum transition. “Sheet Rain” is another piece with deep orchestral arrangements, and the same goes for “Whispeers”, which has a slightly brighter mood. “Little Rivers And Little Rose” is one of the instrumental highlights of the album, with an exceptionally interesting bass line backed by tasteful orchestral arrangements. Then “Hopeless Anger” hits, by far the heaviest piece on the album, with plenty of fast, sharpened riffs that nevertheless weave beautifully with the majestic orchestration. With an incredibly heartfelt and subtle solo, Latimer leads us back into the soul of the composition, which also includes a superb interplay of synths and guitar, before that wonderful main motif from “Mother Road” returns. The closing, ultra-weepy, multi-part solo is so good and so in tune with the mood that sometimes your eyes can’t help but well up. The closing “Whisper In The Rain” has deeply melancholic sonic curtains and piano, joined at the end by yet another breathtakingly beautiful guitar solo.
“Dust and Dreams” is a majestic and more than successful comeback for these legends of symphonic progressive rock. With it they were practically reborn, nearly returned to the high creative level of their golden days, and added to their work that maturity which only comes with years upon years of making music. The result is one of their most melancholic albums, with a wonderful atmosphere of the kind only such masters of mood can pull off. It’s also worth stressing that they hadn’t created orchestral arrangements this beautiful since their magnum opus “The Snow Goose”, and that this is their best work since the conceptual masterpiece “Nude” from this newly reborn band. It’s hard to believe that “Dust and Dreams” was only the beginning of a series of albums that meant a complete rebirth for Camel and a second golden era of their career, a feat that only a few of their contemporaries managed to pull off.
Lineup
Andrew Latimer – vocals, guitar, flute, keyboards
Colin Bass – bass guitar
Tom Scherpenzeel – keyboards
Paul Burgess – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Don Harriss – keyboards
Christopher Bock – drums
Neil Panton – oboe
Kim Venaas – timpani, harmonica
John Burton – French horn
David Paton – vocals (6)
Mae McKenna – vocals (6)
Production
Andrew Latimer
Tracklist
1. Dust Bowl (1:54)
2. Go West (3:42)
3. Dusted Out (1:35)
4. Mother Road (4:15)
5. Needles (2:34)
6. Rose of Sharon (4:48)
7. Milk n’ Honey (3:30)
8. End Of The Line (6:52)
9. Storm Clouds (2:06)
10. Cotton Camp (2:55)
11. Broken Banks (0:34)
12. Sheet Rain (2:14)
13. Whispers (0:52)
14. Little Rivers And Little Rose (1:56)
15. Hopeless Anger (4:57)
16. Whispers in the Rain (2:54)
Album length: 47:57
