Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Camel
Label: Camel Productions
Released: 2013
Running time: 50:04
Rating: 5/5
Almost forty years after the release of their conceptual magnum opus »The Snow Goose« (1975), the legendary British champions of symphonic progressive rock Camel decided to re-record this pivotal studio album of their career with modern arrangements, and to show audiences that they’re active in the studio again, after their chieftain and only original member, guitarist, singer and occasional flautist Andrew Latimer, fell victim to a severe and insidious illness and the band was absent from the music scene for almost ten years. A few years ago, Andy’s life hung by a very thin thread, as he had to undergo an extremely demanding bone marrow transplant. His condition was so alarming that many longtime fans of the band had quietly come to terms with the idea that Camel would never be seen on stage again. Luckily, the guitarist and singer’s long recovery after the successful operation ended happily, so, healthy, emboldened and full of fresh energy, he decided to revive Camel, who sadly still don’t get enough recognition, especially compared to the likes of Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Genesis or Yes, since they never had any big commercial success in their career.
They came closest to it in the mid-seventies, right when they released the entirely instrumental concept album »The Snow Goose«, inspired by the touching novella by American writer Paul Gallico. Back then, the well-known music magazine Melody Maker even called them ‘the brightest hope of British music’, which noticeably boosted attendance at their shows. Because of copyright trouble, the album originally came out under the needlessly long title »Music Inspired by the Snow Goose«, while the label’s fear that it would sell badly because of its fully instrumental nature turned out to be unfounded, as it was one of the band’s biggest successes ever. Camel often had copyright problems, by the way, especially early in their career, when the American tobacco corporation of the same name tried to make their lives miserable
In their modern lineup, which besides Latimer includes longtime bassist and backing vocalist Colin Bass, a member since 1979, keyboardist Guy LeBlanc and drummer Denis Clement, plus now an additional keyboardist, Jason Hart (who didn’t take part in the modern version of »The Snow Goose«), Camel set off on their first European tour in almost ten years in the autumn of 2013. On it they decided to play the whole of »The Snow Goose« live, of course without the expensive and fairly unnecessary accompanying symphony orchestra like on the 1975 tour, the last time they played this album in full on stage. The original orchestral arrangements in 1975 were written by the cult British composer David Bedford, best known for his work with Mike Oldfield.
With the release of the new version of »The Snow Goose«, and of any similar re-recordings of musical masterpieces, the question naturally pops up whether there’s any real point in replaying an album that was already, when it came out, the incarnation of arrangement, instrumental, ambient and conceptual perfection, and thus one of the crown jewels of symphonic progressive rock. The answer is of course no, even though the band gave it their all in a successful attempt to recreate the original atmosphere and stick faithfully to the structure of the original songs. Even the production is tailored to the sonic mannerisms of the seventies, although on the new version of »The Snow Goose« the individual instruments in the mix are a bit more distinct from each other than on the original, which isn’t exactly surprising. Still, on the other hand, the new version of »The Snow Goose« doesn’t get in anyone’s way, and whoever enjoyed listening to the 1975 original will enjoy this one just as much, though it’d be best to go in with as little urge as possible to compare the two versions.
The decision by Latimer and the crew to play it all over again is admittedly a pretty unnecessary move, since it’s impossible to improve on the brilliant original, and all the band members were probably well aware of that when they decided to reshape some of the arrangements and to stretch or trim individual sonic segments here and there. The only thing that will really interest longtime fans about the modern version of »The Snow Goose«, which is, as expected, played entirely ‘by the book’, is the small differences in individual arrangements and some extra improvisations on Latimer’s electric guitar. The latter definitely sound different in places than before and add something new, while the sound of the keyboards is also significantly different from that on the original version of the album. Guy LeBlanc is a master of his craft, but many will still miss the much warmer sound of the original Hammond organs, played by the legendary, sadly late Peter Bardens, to whom the current Camel tour is also dedicated.
On the other hand, LeBlanc slipped quite a few synthesizer-produced digital sounds into the individual arrangements that you won’t find on the original version of »The Snow Goose«. You notice it right away on the opener »The Great Marsh«, where, for instance, the honking of the flock of geese from the concept is much more distinct and louder. »Rhayader« and »Rhayader Goes To Town«, where the character of the kindly ‘village oddball’ Rhayader is introduced for the first time, the central and most famous compositions on the whole album, are played in an extremely fluid way, with the symphonic arrangements here a touch more solemn still. Latimer’s flute playing is still excellent too. With his guitar mastery, many people forget that he’s also a very good flautist, though of course never on the level of someone like Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) or Thijs Van Leer (Focus). On »Sanctuary« you can feel the power of modern synthesizers, with the orchestral curtains sounding more dominant than on the original, while the guitar improvisations also sound significantly different, let’s call it a bit more ‘Floydian’.
Throughout most of his career, Latimer’s playing style could be described as a kind of link between Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis) and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), with whom he also shares a similar vocal timbre when he sings. »Fritha« and the title track, on the other hand, are almost indistinguishable from the brilliant original versions, which goes for most of the songs shorter than four minutes. The solemn orchestral arrangements and synthesizer variations in their modern guise reach their fullest expression on the closing symphonic triumph »La Princesse Perdue«, while Latimer, with his distinctive melancholic soloing, once again proves that after winning his battle against a long illness he’s brimming with strength again.
The one real point of the new version of »The Snow Goose« is that this almost ‘cloned’ take on a conceptual masterpiece alerts the narrower music community to the happy fact that Camel are ‘alive’ again, and maybe, in doing so, brings the face and work of this legendary band at least a little closer to younger generations, while the concept, the immortal story of a tragic friendship and love amid the turmoil of war, woven between a wounded goose and two humans, Rhayader and Fritha, is timeless. The new cover also conveys the essence of the concept much better than the original artwork. It’s nice to know that Camel are active again as a studio band too, and one can hope that in the near future they’ll offer completely new music as well. You can read more about the original version of »The Snow Goose«, especially the structure of the individual compositions and the concept itself, HERE.
Lineup
Andrew Latimer – guitar, keyboards, flute
Guy LeBlanc – piano, organ, moog, synthesizer, vocals
Colin Bass – bass guitar
Denis Clement – drums, percussion, keyboards
Production
Andrew Latimer and Denis Clement
Tracklist
1. The Great Marsh (2:09)
2. Rhayader (3:06)
3. Rhayader Goes To Town (5:28)
4. Sanctuary (2:57)
5. Fritha (1:27)
6. The Snow Goose (3:02)
7. Friendship (1:50)
8. Migration (4:29)
9. Rhayader Alone (3:24)
10. Flight Of The Snow Goose (2:27)
11. Preparation (3:54)
12. Dunkirk (5:39)
13. Epitaph (1:32)
14. Fritha Alone (1:47)
15. La Princesse Perdue (5:18)
16. The Great Marsh (1:35)
