Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Camel
Label: Camel Productions
Release: 1992
Rating: 4/5
“On The Road 1972” is a real historical relic for fans of Camel, the still hugely overlooked masters of British symphonic prog. It captures one of their very first gigs, before their debut “Camel” (1973) came out, on a night when every member was in top form. The recording lets us enjoy the superb chemistry of the original, classic and best-loved Camel lineup: Andy Latimer on guitar, flute and vocals, Doug Ferguson on bass, Peter Bardens on keyboards and Andy Ward on drums. Latimer, who has carried the torch for years and has been the only original member since 1982, picked this recording because, in his words, it has that spark that inspired them to start making music together in the first place. The fruits of that partnership were their first four albums, still their best, packed with classics like “Slow Yourself Down”, “Never Let Go”, “Arubaluba”, “Freefall”, “White Rider”, “Lady Fantasy”, “Rhayader”, “Rhayader Goes To Town”, “Song Within a Song”, “Another Night”, “Lunar Sea” and so on, which still tickle the senses of everyone who loves intelligently structured melodies and music that never stops surprising with its incredible expressive power.
The sound quality isn’t brilliant, but you’d have a hard time telling it’s a bootleg.
The setlist only includes four songs, but every one of them is epic in length. They kick off, as you’d expect, with the immortal “Lady Fantasy” (Mirage, 1974), probably the best-known Camel classic, where they combine innovation with amazing dynamics and spontaneity. It’s downright incredible how they manage to keep things melodic through all those time changes, and that’s one of the main reasons why Camel, despite never having any commercial notoriety, will always have cult status and an influence on countless future generations of progressive musicians. The harmony between the members is enviable, which also comes through on the excellent version of the instrumental “Six Ate” (Camel 1973), where we get to enjoy their flirtation with jazz rock fusion, an important building block of their original sound. Andy Ward is on fire throughout the entire recording and proves he’s one of the most innovative drummers in the history of progressive rock. Camel also serve up a brilliant rendition of the symphonic masterpiece “White Rider”, which embodies their reputation as bookworms and lovers of Tolkien, even though it’s one of the few songs of theirs that deals directly with fantasy themes. The Mellotron waves and VCS3 synthesizer sounds are laid down with incredible taste here too, just as they should be, and when Latimer’s sensitive guitar line chimes in, the Camel fairytale is complete. Vocals were usually the main source of criticism of the band, but for me heartfelt expression with storytelling power matters far more than technical superiority or any of that cocky strutting in the style of “my ego-erotic side is bursting out”. The jazz fusion-soaked epic instrumental “God Of Light”, originally a Bardens solo masterpiece that sadly never made it onto any studio release, is without a doubt the high point of the whole recording. Not because of its length, mind you, which could have easily been a drag (they sometimes stretched it out to 20 minutes), but because of the boundless energy radiating from the incredible tightness of all the members, especially Bardens’ soloing on the Hammond B-3 organ and Ward’s amazing drum fills. This is where Camel first come alive as masters of improvisation, even though they usually weren’t too fond of it at gigs.
“On The Road 1972” is an excellent document of a then young and ambitious band that lived for its music with all its heart and didn’t care how high any of their songs would chart on the radio. After Ferguson’s departure the band’s essence gradually changed completely, and quite a few people are convinced that otherwise they’d have remained a stable lineup with a much more consistent sound, though I doubt that would have held back their flirtation with AOR in the 80s. Meanwhile, we’ll miss Bardens for a long time. He left the band in 1978, went on to build a successful solo career (mainly in so-called “new age” music), and was taken by a treacherous illness years ago. Few keyboardists in the world of rock played the Hammond organ with as much fire as he did. After leaving in 1981, Ward battled severe depression for years, even joined Marillion for a few weeks when they were looking for a new drummer, and in the 90s teamed up with Bardens on his “star-studded” project Mirage of the time, which also featured some members of Caravan. Ward reportedly also advised Latimer that music is best listened to at dusk.
I can only warmly applaud a great move by Andy’s self-run label “Camel Productions”: as the first in a series of official bootlegs, meant to protect well-preserved live recordings from illegal copying, they released one of their oldest recordings, showing the band at a moment when the desire for artistic proving and challenges was still burning with a high flame. Every recording featuring Bardens’ contribution is also a monument to a legendary musician who remains a source of inspiration to this day, and a reminder of that original Camel sound, the likes of which we’ll never hear again.
Lineup
Andrew Latimer – vocals, guitar
Doug Ferguson – bass guitar, backing vocals
Peter Bardens – keyboards, backing vocals
Andy Ward – drums
Production
Andrew Latimer
Track list
1. Lady Fantasy
2. Six Ate
3. White Rider
4. God of Light Revisited
Album length: 44:18
