I CAN SEE YOUR HOUSE FROM HERE

Slip-sliding away a long slope (downwards unfortunately). I must say that the times for such a band were not easy and they were also uninspired by what lay ahead of them. The longer number (Ice ) is not really helping the overall feeling of wasting the listener's time. Some of these numbers are excruciatingly bad and resemble some new wave dung being developped at the times . This dud is also another reason why I think that Kit Watkins (ex-Happy The Man) is one of the most over-rated KB player in Prog History.

Unworthy stuff - I am leniant enough not to give it a zero star rating.

This record shows the passage between original CAMEL and the new CAMEL of the 80's. Richard Sinclair and Pete Bardens have left the group, so it is normal that music changes too. But when you realize that they hired the marvelous Kit Watkins on keyboards (HAPPY THE MAN), you do not feel doubtful at all. I must admit that some songs are not extremely good ("Wait", "Neon Magic", "Remote Romance"), but they are certainly not bad. Actually, no songs are bad; some are even funny, never monotonous and surprisingly full of changing patterns. It is almost pop progressive.

At least, the prog purist should like the 2 masterpieces onto which Kit Watkins plays the keyboards (there is another keyboard player who plays on some worse tracks): "Eye of the Storm" and "Ice". "Ice" is a perfect progression of tender electric guitars and keyboards in a very sentimental mood: more than 10 minutes! "Eye of the Storm" is a beautiful relaxing track full of symphonic keyboards, melodic flute, undefined string instrument notes and delightful fretless bass.

The troll under the bridge would let out a loud "harumph" each time some passerby would call this CAMEL's best album. "Philistines", he'd mutter, unaccustomed to work. Give 'em the Spiegel gift certificate because for them the curtain is too terrible to contemplate. Until one day, while listening to this album, smoothing out a fresh piece of paper with his hand to catalog what would surely be its forthcoming shortcomings, the troll caught sight of his own reflection in the water. And the face he saw smiled back at him, wading in the pleasurable moment of "Wait", the song's kinetic energy unleashed in giddy little wavelets.

And thus we come to our moral prematurely: that a treasure can be buried by an otherwise invisible bias. My loyalty to an old "Mirage" prevents me from crowning "I Can See Your House From Here", and common sense tells me that I should save my breath for such things until hearing "Breathless". Yet I can see where some listeners would champion this album. Andy Latimer's guitar work is inspired, and CAMEL's gifts have seldom been so succinctly packaged. It's a different chapter than the original foursome's smoke-borne flotsam, but not unlike "Rain Dances" seen on a brighter day. With three new members (plus the immovable Andys), CAMEL's allegiance to the old Gods was negated, freeing them to pursue ALAN PARSONS PROJECT in a mix of vocals and instrumentals more suited to short attention spans.

In that context, "I Can See Your House From Here" is a triumph, prescient in some spots ("Wait" is about gambling, the theme for APP's next album), tuneful at every turn, made approachable by a newfound sense of humor, and possessed of some lovely instrumentals ("Ice", "Eye of the Storm"). That CAMEL didn't ride off into the sunset of commercial success after this is not a reflection on the music, but on the fact that they hadn't built up a brand for this sort of thing. Old fans, trolls the lot of us, might cringe to see CAMEL's strong backbone carry such a commercial load, clinging to the familiar "Hymn To Her" with a sigh of what might have been. But on this day, in this moment, I can see the wonder of it all, and it's a wonder I didn't see it before.

Commercial yes, slipping down a dangerous slope, definitely not! Wait and Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine are perhaps their most successful commercial tracks and they had a great blend personnel wise. OK Andy Ward departed for personal reasons and we even had Phil Collins contributing on drums. Let us not forget his incredible influence with Genesis and Brand X. I like this album a lot even the light relief of Neon Magic. Ice still one of their most popular pieces with a loyal fan base.Survival and Hymn to Her probably the strongest songs alongside Ice.Is it progressive, probably not bit nor were Renaissance, Steve Hillage or Caravan at that time. The late seventies were so challenging and that is what makes albums like this so enjoyable. Camel survived and continued to creat great music.

This Camel album (from the lousy prog year 1979) divides opinions strongly; there are both five-star and zero-star reviews here. Since it has some stupid fillers - 'Remote Romance' and 'Your Love is Stranger Than Mine' - and it sounds different with yet another line-up, it was at first easy to consider it clearly worse than previous Camels. But after enjoying Camel for about 15 years this one hasn't lost its glory either. It is quite uneven, but so are most Camels, including Snow Goose which usually is regarded as the masterpiece. And compared to Breathless ('78) there is a fresh step forward. I can imagine if Camel had continued with Mel Collins and R. Sinclair, it had started to repeat itself boringly. Kit Watkins fits in greatly with his juicy keyboard style, while Andy Latimer is still the strong captain. (His flute is unfortunately nearly absent this time, but the guitar+keyboard interplay is remarkably powerful.) 'Who We Are' and 'Ice' alone make this worthy, them being among my favourite Camel tracks. I prefer this album to its follower Nude which suffers from its concept - I mean the story has taken some energy from composing the music itself. ----- Interesting cover picture: reminds me of Quiet Zone (VDG). Is there some message in the picture and in the title? ("The Lord said Peter, I can see your house from here..." - Roger Waters)

As far I'm concerned, this is where it went badly wrong for Camel. Sure the preceeding year's Breathless showed a distinct shift towards a more commercial style, but that album still contained many fine melodic songs like Echoes, Starlight Ride, Rainbow's End and the title track, and it remains a personal favourite. On this 1979 album however, Camel is often insipid and tuneless, with very little of group's established strengths showing through.

Of course one could lay the blame for this on the line-up changes that preceeded this album. Bassist Richard Sinclair had exited to be replaced by Colin Bass and far more importantly keyboardist Peter Bardens had also gotten off the Camel train. Yet his replacements were ex-Happy The Man keyboardist Kit Watkins and former Caravan ivory-tinkler Jan Schelhaas, so with this twin keyboard line-up there was no reason to fear the worst. Unfortunately the worst is just about what happened.

Half this album contains dreary, shorter pop songs that lack the melodic charm of Breathless' pop moments. These include truly awful tunes like Remote Romance (which has a plastic synthetic quality that seems to foreshadow 80s synth-pop), Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine and Neon Magic (which has some of the worst Camel vocals ever!). Despite Camel containing a number of great instrumentalists (and guest musicians Mel Collins and Phil Collins lending a hand as well) there aren't anywhere as many decent instrumental segments on this album as one would expect. I'd have to point to the admittedly excellent keyboard solos during wait (an otherwise frustrating song) and Watkins' orchestra-boosted instrumental Eye Of The Storm as being the main highlights here. And of course, there's Ice.

You may have heard decent things elsewhere about the two lengthy pieces Who We Are and Ice, but I'm not fully convinced by either. Who We Are has some classic Camel hallmarks with a bustling intro, atmospheric keyboards, seductive flute lines and that clean Andy Latimer guitar sound and yet it doesn't quite do the business for me. Like another shorter track Hymn To Her, it suffers from a lack of direction and certain critical ingredients that would turn it into a winning Camel classic. Ice starts off with a beautiful sparse guitar intro before evolving into a haunting, almost sombre Latimer epic solo before fading back out for another beautiful outro. It probably doesn't go enough places for a 10 minute prog piece, but still has that affecting melancholy one expects from Camel.

There are a few times during this album when it's tempting to pretend that Latimer and friends are still on song, but the truth is that something great ended the moment Peter Bardens walked out the door. I have the strange habit of returning to Breathless and playing its closing track Rainbow's End everytime I finish listening to this album, which is a sure-fire way of bringing a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye. ... 36% on the MPV scale

I Can See Your House From Here, like the predecessor, is more a simple collection of songs than a concept package. Sadly, here we assist to the Pete Bardens departure's consequences and see the arrival of another ex-Caravan Jan Schelhaas. Anyway, Camel never made bad albums and also for this one I repeat it! Ok it's even more pop than the previous Breathless (one of my preferite!), but here we talk about progressively pop! Ice and Who We Are are truly very good but also the other more commercial ones are all well arranged and elaborated.

P.S. There's also tha guest appearence and contribution of Phil Collins on percussion.

Good: not their best, not essential, but good without any doubt.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

The first challenge here is to get past the questionable taste of the sleeve, which was intended to show that the band does in fact have a sense of humour. The title for the album was originally to be "Endangered species", but despite Andy Latimer's protestations he was overruled by the rest of the band, and both the name and the sleeve were changed.

With Peter Bardens having left the band before completion of the "Breathless" album, Andy Latimer had become the de-facto leader, keyboard duties being shared by Jan Schelhaas and Kit Watkins.

In terms of the contents, what we have here is actually a very enjoyable album. While many of the tracks find the band continuing to explore more commercial territories, the closing track is cited by many as the best Camel track of all. "Ice" is a 10 minute guitar instrumental recorded live in the studio, with Phil Collins guesting on percussion. Apparently Latimer played what he felt was a bum note at the beginning of his solo and wanted to re-record the track, but those present pursued him to leave it be. When you think about it, there really are far too few long, well developed lead guitar solos like this around. For those familiar with Camel's later "Nod and a wink" album, "Ice" resembles the final track "For today".

Looking at the rest of the album, "Wait" is rather weak for the opening track on a Camel album, devoid of the usual striking guitar and/or synth melody we have come to expect. It has a passing resemblance to some of the songs Russ Ballard wrote during his time with Argent.

"Who we are" is the other feature track. It starts as a jazz fusion piece along the lines of the Average White Band's "Cut the cake", with a distinctive theme which is developed and improvised upon. Later the introduction of vocals signals a complete change in the track, as it becomes a highly appealing ballad with building orchestration and some atmospheric flute. While the two distinct parts of the track do not sit particularly well together, the track as a whole is classic Camel.

There are a few pop based songs on the album, some of which work better than others. "Remote romance" is an awful song which serves only to show that Camel, or perhaps their record label, were becoming increasingly desperate to find a hit single. The track is 80's electronica in the mould of Devo, M, or Soft Cell. Even the lyrics are amusing because they're so bad! "Your love is stranger than mine" is as bad lyrically, but is more acceptable musically. It has a decent sax solo (by Mel Collins who appears as a guest on the album) and a bouncy, inoffensive feel.

The instrumental "Eye of the storm" is interesting in that it also appeared on Happy the Man's album "Better late", as keyboard player Kit Watkins had been a member of that band before joining Camel. It is thus a very rare example of Camel doing what is technically a cover version. "Hymn to her" manages to perpetuate the corny title syndrome the band manage to include on virtually every album, but the track itself has echoes of the "Moonmadness" era, with some good guitar work, and a pleasant melody.

In all, something of an underrated album in the Camel catalogue, with some symphonic prog, a little fusion, and some melodic pop. The album does have its flaws, but the track "Ice" renders the album essential for anyone who enjoys the music of this great band.

Deception!

I'm sure this is the weakest Camel album from the 70`s, starting because it has a clear 80`s sound, you know, with lots of poppish passages, and simpler songs. Of course, if we have "Moonmadness", "Mirage" or "The Snow Goose" in our collection, we like Camel, and for that reason we want to know more about them , listen to other albums , because that albums are great, clear example of what progressive rock is, a clear example of complexity and beautiful symphonic music, etc. So I decided to buy this album , and I really expected something better, something more 70`s, I mean, more progressive, more Camel.

But well, sadly, this album is not good, is weak, let me say why. It starts with "Wait", from the first song, we can realize what is the direction of the album, Wait is an extraordinary pop hit, the song is completely pop, maybe we can remind some Styx and Kansas in their poppiest eras , this song was done to sing, not to enjoy the music, simple arrangements and nothing new to offer, so since the first song, we can imagine the next. "Your Love is Stranger than Mine", oh my god, well, nice bass and nothing more, I cant say anything more, I don't know, I don't like it at all, so pop, so simple, so bad. "Eye of the Storm", is a different track, it is instrumental, and it is not so bad, obviously an instrumental song is not commercial, it could be pop, but in this case it doesn't, one of the best points of the album, nice keyboards. "Who we Are", is a boring song, not so bad at all, its very mid tempo, it is like a soft ballad, boring in my opinion. "Survival", nice and simple instrumental song, good to listen to. "Hymn to Her", it has a very promising start, Latimer`s great guitar, remind me of some of their early albums, one of the most complex songs in the album, for me, the second best song, it is good, with some nice vocals and great keyboard atmosphere. "Neon Magic" another pop song at the beginning, then it changes to a bit progressive, not the worst yet! , the most of the time with keyboards and some nice sound, but it is boring too. "Remote Romance", I want to cry, what the hell were in their minds?, this song is completely horrible, I don't like it at all, in fact maybe it could be their worst song ever ( well, if you like pop and not symph Camel, then you will love it), it starts with keyboards and drums, but from the start we can imagine what's next, maybe a song to dance?, or to sing?, or to laugh?, it's funny in some ways, horrible!, the album is about to end, so what is the last song? "Ice": At Last, but, for what?... This is without a doubt the best track of this crappy album, but why this great song is here, maybe it is a waste of their previous works, and they decided to simply put this song in this pop album. Ice is an instrumental song, a very soft sound at the beginning, only guitars and some piano, then it is progressing, Latimer`s great guitar is alive , and progressive rock too, it could be maybe boring for you, after listen to 8 regular songs, you can be tired, but give a chance to Ice, because of this song, I wont give it only 1 star, this album has been one of the biggest disappointments I have had, but anyway, if you want you can get it. After all, I wont recommend it, download "Ice" if you want, because it is great, but the whole album don't.

So , sadly, im going to give it only 2 stars, for fans.

The first Camel album without original keyboard player Pete Bardens and second bass player ex-Caravan Richard Sinclair, replaced by two keyboard players (Jan Schelhaas and Kit Watkins) and newcomer Colin Bass on bass (!!!), I Can See Your House From Here succeeds where Breathless had previously failed. The quality of the material here is undeniable, even though more poppy than their early outings. One can feel that everyone was going in the same direction this time around, which was not the case on Breathless, according to Latimer's comments in the liner notes of the Breathless reissue. Camel took the 80's curve well with ICSYHFH. It has a feel good vibe to it, and a genuine one at that.

First song 'Wait' is a good start for the album, very upbeat. I find the verse to be a bit weak, but that's about the only downfall to this otherwise good song. At times it reminds me a bit of Supertramp and Genesis around the same period. The instrumental section with the keyboard solos is great, sounding a bit like early Saga, which is the case a few times around on this album. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that both bands employed the same producer, Rupert Hine. Nice solo from Latimer ending the song in a fade-out.

'Your Love is Stranger Than Mine' takes the pop aspect of Camel a bit further, but done rather very well. This song is probably the one that sounds the most like Saga, at least in some parts (the keyboard theme mainly). Incredibly catchy tune. Nice vocal harmonies (yep, coming from Camel, that's no small feat), great sax solo courtesy of Mel Collins, and simple but effective percussion work from Phil Collins. Short, catchy, all the elements for a radio hit.

The Kit Watkins penned instrumental 'Eye of the Storm' is a great heartfelt instrumental, with great woodwinds work by M. Collins. Good fretless bass lines by Colin Bass. A Genesis influence can be heard here. Looking back now, this song shows clearly where Camel would go next, as this song could have easily been included on follow up magnum opus 'Nude'.

'Who we Are' is another very good song, once again reminiscent of Genesis (the guitar and keyboards sound as if Banks and Hackett around the ATOTT and WaW period, especially during the intro). Then comes a soft acoustic part graced with beautiful keyboards and another nice vocal melody courtesy of Latimer. The chorus can be compared to Supertramp, both vocally and musically, during the Even in the Quietest moments period. Nice string arrangments throughout the song. Love this song.

Speaking of string arrangments, next comes 'Survival', a strings only instrumental, beautifully written by Latimer and arranged and conducted by Simon Jeffes. Short, but inspiring.

'Hymn to Her' sounds like typical Camel, especially Latimer's guitar work, sounding a bit like something from The Snow Goose. Beautiful ballad, until 3 minutes and 10 seconds, when the song breaks into an upbeat instrumental section with great keyboard and guitar interplay, sounding like a cross between Genesis and Camel. Afterwards, the way they bring back the introduction theme is just brilliant. Another great song.

'Neon Magic', well is one of the two weakest tracks on this album. A comical number, which has at least the merit of being catchy if not very up to par with the rest of the album. Way better than 'Down on the Farm' from Breathless, in any case.

'Remote Romance' is the other less good track here, having a bit of a new wave flavor to it. Not a great track, but I enjoy it nonetheless.

Album closer 'Ice' is a Camel classic, a 10 minutes long instrumental showcasing magnificent guitar work by Latimer. Even those who don't like this album love this song.

As you can see I really enjoy this one, a lot more than predecessor Breathless. The production is good and the boys sound like they are having fun. I don't understand the bashing it gets. Different doesn't mean less interesting. In this case, it means fresh and revigorating. A solid four star release, an excellent addition to any prog music collection.

Camel is still looking for a new style. Actually, as far as I am concerned, they will reach a good quality level again much later with "Dust & Dreams but that's another story.

Some major line-up changes for this album : exit Peter Bardens (a founding member) and Richard Sinclair. Richard suggested either his cousin or Jan Schelhaas both from Caravan to replace Bardens for the supporting tour. This rang the bell of Andrew who will say : "I suddenly thought using two keyboard players would be a great idea because we'd be able to do many more adventurous things. At one stage I did think of calling the band "Caramel" ! (hopefully he only thought of this) !

The use of Caravan members was rather a logical step : both groups were moving into similar circles. Both sounded very British. Andrew again : "I always wanted to keep the music very English because I didn't feel it was worth competing with the Americans. At one stage, Peter wanted us to be a Santana-type band" (it is true that some of their numbers do sound as Santana).

"Wait" is not a bad opener. At times, it seems that I am listening to the good old Camel again. With "Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine" we get the same poor pop / disco tune that were already available on the previous album. Dispensible and pointless. "Eye of the Storm" is a soft piece of music like they could have produced in their earlier days : it is enjoyable.

"Who We Are" brings us back to the crappy stuff while the transistion classical "Survival (1'12") could have been avoided as well.

"Hymn to Her" is above average (but that's not very difficult) : nice melody, good arrangements (vocals and instrumentals). Another bottom is reached with the next two songs "Neon Magic" and "Remote Romance" (level of "Breathless").

But of course, there is "Ice" : a brilliant Camel instrumental full of emotion and inspiration. Latimer's guitar work is fabulous. He probably reached here the emotional level of Hackett in "Firth of Fifth" or Carlos Santana in "Samba Pa' Ti or "Song Of The Wind. Over ten minutes of the best Camel ever and quite surprisingly on this album. AMAZING.

Although this album is not as poor as "Breathless", I would suggest you to avoid spending your money on this one, just for "Ice". Instead, you should get hold of their live "Camelitis" or "Rajaz tour in Chile" : there is a great version of this song (the comparison with Steve and Carlos is even stronger because this version will be more electric guitar-oriented). Both albums were available for reviews a little while ago, but apparently were withdrawn from this site. Too (semi-)bootleg related, I guess. So, to remain in the official catalogue, you'll have to stick with "The Paris Collection" and "Never Let Go" which both feature "Ice" as well.

Two stars.

Camel reinvents itself once again with this album produced by Rupert Hine, who produced Saga's commercial successes among others. His influence is especially shown in the tracks that dwell on the edge of the new wave genre, such as the infectious "Your Love is Stranger than Mine" and the even bouncier "Neon Magic". These songs would not be looked upon kindly by most prog fans, but the album does contain enough even for the discerning fan of the epic - "Survival/Hymn to Her" morphs from neo classical to a romantic ballad featuring a signature Latimer guitar line and Watkins' string synths. Even the vocals are strong here. "Wait" contains an instrumental break to die for, and the same can be said for the entire 10 minutes of "Ice", which is one of a handful of immortal Camel eminences. Not bad for an "off" album, eh?

OK, I will give 1,5 stars only (but not two!) because "Ice" is sort of listenable instrumental that does not urge me to push the stop button on my player. But the rest of this album does exactly that! I don't see any point in making music like this one, on this pathetic record. One thing is wishing to make commercial or more accessible music to a wider audience; the other is to make bad music - and "I Can See Your House" IS the bad music. This is totally negligable album in CAMEL catalogue and it marks the end of the 1970s line- up of the band. Bardens and Sinclair are gone and it is clear that they somehow had kept the sound alltogether on the previous two, already mediocre, albums. Now, the introduction of New Wave-influenced sound with synthetic drums, unnecessary synthesizers and shallow songwriting only helped CAMEL sink to the bottom of prog rock. And they were largely to stay there until the 1990s...

A departure from their more symphonic roots? - yes, worthwhile? - yes.

In 'I Can See Your House From Here' CAMEL have done what so many of the great symphonic prog bands of the 70's did when the 80's dawned upon them and that is to move into more accessible synthesizer based pop territory but CAMEL really manages to come up with some great music here due in no small part to guitar wizard Andy Latimer, although it is plagued by a lot of lackluster and uninteresting material.

Wait is a fantastic song with an amazing guitar riff and a superb synth solo section which is in perfect contrast to the more poppy verses and choruses. Eye of the storm is a great symphonic instrumental song although a bit cheesy it's quiet peaceful. Hymn to Her is another highlight with a leviathan of an opening riff invoking images of standing on a mountain in triumph, the song then becomes a bit poppy but ends in fantastic fashion with some of CAMEL's trademark brand of symphonic prog that we all love from their previous albums. 'Ice' finishes of the album in great fashion with a very beautiful and peaceful instrumental.

As far as bad points of the album go there are quite a few that stick out, notably the more poppy songwriting that I've already touched upon several times. Songs like 'Remote Romance' are a bit of a joke really, and it's a good song just for laughing at because it's so bad, it's one of those vocoder laden synth based 'angular' 80's type pop songs (even though this was in '79) with lots of cheesy synth and sound effects. Who are we isn't much better, clocking in at nearly 8 minutes of soppy lovey-dovey pop. The symphonic songs don't really sound as cohesive as they did on previous albums either, this may be due to the production which is really quite thin and weak.

'I Can See Your House From Here' is a varied album from CAMEL, it's no where near as good as their earlier symphonic prog based efforts but it's still a decent album with some real highlights, there's just a few tracks you'll need to skip.

See that guy on the cover? That is what should have happened to Andy Latimer after this record was dropped. However, not being much of a prophet, Andy remaind on the planet and actually managed to reconcile with prog rock fans a few years later. Howeverever, being somewhat of a prophet, I predicted this would happen! Sure, go ahead and say that I was alive at the time to really predict this. Maybe I was chronologically going through the groups releases without reading anything about them! How will you ever know!?

Anyway, this album is the nadir of Camel's output, comprised of extremely commerical songs, and mediocre ones at that. I don't care if it's PROG or not like some, but I do care if it's good, and this my acquaintances (at best) is not good. I don't want to get into how bad this is, but I'll say a few more words. The jazzy rockin' Camel makes a couple of cameos, and the final track "Ice" is a decent instrumental with some powerful guitar work, but those moments don't redeem this album in the least. The group has put out better instrumentals and better guitar solos and jazz-rock passages, and better everything before this album. At the very least, go with this album's predecessor, "Breathless," if you want to hear some decent Camel-goes-pop. This is an album to avoid.

As with many of the 70's symphonic prog bands, Camel decided to venture into pop territory for a bit, and as with many of the many 70's symphonic prog bands, they bombed. But unlike Genesis or Renaissance, the band recognized the error of their ways and started redeeming themselves as soon as their next record. Of course, they will never reach the heights of Moonmadness or Mirage, but at least they won't be ending with a streak of albums like Invisible Touch, We Can't Dance and Calling All Stations.

Bass plays bass!

I Can See Your House From Here introduced yet another new Camel line up. Richard and Dave Sinclair were no more and in came Colin Bass (a very suitable name for someone who plays bass!), Jan Schelhaas and Kit Watkins (ex-Happy The Man) both on keyboards. Mel Collins reappears as a guest on one track. Phil Collins also does guest performance on percussion (he is not related to Mel, though. Not as far as I know, anyway)! Colin Bass would stay in Camel even up till the present day and thus become, together with founding member Andy Latimer, one of the longest standing members of this great band. Bass was immediately allowed to sing lead vocals on a couple of tracks and even co-write one of the tracks with Schelhaas, Latimer and Andy Ward.

In some ways this album constituted a return to form after the disappointing and uncharacteristic Breathless album, but I Can See Your House From Here was by no means a return to the amazing form of Moonmadness. Still, there are some great moments here. Several tracks went on to become live favourites, including the wonderful 10 minute plus guitar-based instrumental Ice and the strong Hymn To Her with its very good and unexpected instrumental break. Wait is something of a Pop song that too was played live on more than one tour of the 80's. Eye Of The Storm is a very mellow instrumental that give diversity to the album. The almost eight minute Who We Are is also a very nice and mellow symphonic ballad with a classic Camel feel and a lovely acoustic guitar solo and flute lines despite a rather syrupy chorus. This song would have made Barclay James Harvest Proud.

There are, however, also some embarrassments on this album. Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine is a pure Pop song that does very little for me. But if you think that song is bad wait until you hear Remote Romance! This song is the worst Camel ever made; it is something of a New Wave/Synth Pop song! Even Richard Sinclair's awful Down On The Farm from the previous album is preferable over Remote Romance and that says a lot! Neon Magic is also not really fitting on a Camel album having a bit of a Punk/New Wave sound. They adapted a bit to the times on these two songs, but not generally so.

As I said, there are some great moments on this album, but it is very uneven. They don't seem to have known in what direction they wanted to go and pure Pop songs rub shoulders with Symphonic Prog and embarrassing New Wave influenced songs. The next album, Nude, would be a much more coherent Camel album that concentrated on Symphonic Prog revolving around a concept once more and better in every respect.

Recommended, but not essential unless you are a fan

I Can See Your House From Here is the seventh studio album from symphonic prog rockers Camel. Many consider this album to be a complete failure and therefore the rating is very low here on Prog Archives. Allthough I do understand those who are disappointed with this album, I´m one of the few who thinks it´s allright. It´s not excellent by any means but there are some good things here that I actually enjoy. Like most younger prog heads I bought this one as a collectors item in the nineties when I was purchasing Camel´s albums in used album stores. I listened to it one time and was majorly disappointed and it hasn´t left my shelf again until a couple of weeks ago when I decided it was time to review it.

The music is unmistakebly Camel. The simple yet melodic vocals, the funky drums from Andy Ward and the beutiful guitar leads from Andrew Latimer. All trademarks which is as present here as on any other Camel album. The big change has happened behind the keyboard as Peter Bardens has left the band and Jan Scelhaas ( formerly of Caravan) is the new man on that ( those) instrument(s). Jan has a very pleasant style not unlike the one of Peter Bardens and allthough I must admit that I am not keyboard wiz I really can´t hear much difference between the two. Richard Sinclair has also left the band and new bassist/ vocalist is Colin Bass.

What most people don´t like about I Can See Your House From Here is that the eighties AOR sound is beginning to enter Camel´s sound. Just listen to some of the choirs in the songs and of course the keyboard sounds that are used. I rather enjoy the eighties sounding keyboards but the AOR/ new wave trend isn´t that much to my liking either. It doesn´t destroy my listening pleasure though. At times Camel comes very close to sounding like Caravan but the two bands have always had a link.

I enjoy all songs on the album but there are some standout tracks. The opener Wait is an enjoyable yet very poppy vocal oriented song which can also be said about Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine. Who We Are starts out with a great instrumental part and a couple of minutes in the singing starts. It´s great to begin with but the chorus is hidious. Soak in strings and too commercial ( did anyone say Caravan?). There are also some enjoyable tracks near the end of the album in the humorous Remote Romance which is a very eighties sounding song. Ice ends the album in majestic style. A nice 10 minute long guitar solo track. It´s such a great song where Andrew Latimer really shines. It might be a bit too nice at times which means it borders easy listening but it´s still very beautiful. The other songs are also good.

The musicianship is excellent as usual.

The production is not as good as on the two previous albums but it´s still good.

I Can See Your House From Here isn´t exactly my favorite Camel album but I think it´s a good album and it deserves 3 stars. It´s a very eighties sounding album and some might have problems with that, so keep that in mind when you purchase this album so you don´t expect something that sounds like The Snow Goose or Moonmadness because this album sounds very different from those classic albums. Still enjoyable though.

After the uneven "Breathless", which was the last Camel effort with Bardens on board, things got a bit better with the "I Can See Your House from Here" album. All in all, the final result didn't really get to the "excellent" spot, but it was just more than just good: very good, uneven still, and that is a relative shame, since the addition of two keyboardists such as Tom Schelhaas and Kit Watkins guaranteed a strong melodic presence in the material's arrangements. Andy Ward has begun to pursue a more concise swing, focusing on a rockier framework and letting go of the dominantly jazz-oriented grove that he had enthusiastically explored since the "Moon Madness" days. This makes sense with the sort of fluid dynamics that another newcomer, Colin Bass, brought to the electric bass. The album kicks off fine, with an example of catchy symphonic rock entitled 'Wait': this song's pop-friendly melodic development doesn't kill the power delivered on the alternating duels of Schelhaas and Watkins' Moog solos in the interlude and on Latimer's closing lead guitar. This one's better than most explicitly pleasant songs recorded by Yes or Genesis in the late 70s. but 'Your Love is Stranger than Mine' is not. This song succeeds at emulating the most trivial moments of the "Breathless" album, which in itself means an artistic misplacement. With a stronger set of arrangements and a fully instrumental development, this might as well been an effective prog piece with a lovely touch of lightness (a-la Sky, for instance). But no, arrangements had to be predictable and it had to bear trivial lyrics. The worst case scenario would have been an attempt to do techno-pop including vocoder. Wait! There is some of that in the album, as well! 'Remote Romance' is the name of this sort of pop-friendly atrocity: Watkins co-authored this song, so it's not Latimer's fault entirely. I won't comment on this one any further, but rather focus on the Watkins-penned instrumental 'Eye of the Storm'. Originally conceived as part of the third studio album that Happy the Man didn't manage to release at the time, this majestic exercise on ethereal moods does capture the freshness and inventiveness that the newcomers were capable of bringing on for the reshaping that Camel needed. Compared to the original version (resurfaced on the CD edition of HTM's "3rd"), this Camel rendition fulfills a more pompous atmosphere and displays a more compact rhythmic structure. 'Who We Are' is a delicious albeit not impressively brilliant mini-epic that finds the band attempting to bring a modern air to its symphonic core, succeeding partially at it. The orchestral coda 'Survival' kind of completes the atmosphere. I happen to enjoy 'Neon Lights' more than other reviewers apparently do: it's a fine up-tempo song with a slight connection to melodic hard rock in its main body and an eerie utilization of multiple keyboards in its interlude. I'm saving the album's two gems for last. 'Hymn to Her' is one of the loveliest Camel ballads ever: it kind of combines the evocative side of 'Air Born' and the romantic vibe 'The Snow Goose'. Watkins shines on brightly in the dynamic jazzed up interlude at doubling Latimer's soloing, and the introductory theme is simply priceless. The 10+ minute instrumental 'Ice' is the icing of this partially convincing cake (well, the icing is more convincing than the cake as a whole). The slow basic 3/4 motif (with inserted 5/4 breaks along the way) conveys a dreamy mood through its various sonorities, be it with the full band or guitar/piano soliloquies. The use of keyboard layers serves as a perfect bridge between the underlying keyboard harmonies and Latimer's emotionally charged leads. This track asks for an intimate climax, and so it happens. This sort of inspired conception and the sort of melodic elegance as comprised in 'Hymn to Her' and 'Eye of the Storm' are what this album should have been full of. Since it isn't, I rate "I Can See Your House from Here" with a 3.40 star grade.

Let's put this realease in the context of it's year: 1979.

This is one of the most dismal prog years on record. It's dominated by the remnants of UK split, with Bruford releasing One of a Kind and UK releasing Danger Money. Both of these are excellent albums and should definitely be in anybody's collection. Both contain a mix of mellow jazz and rock, with Bruford on the jazzier side and UK on the rockier side.

The only album that really compares to them in quality is Steve Hackett's masterpiece, Spectral Mornings. Again, this is an album every prog fan should own, with some of Steve's best work showcased.

After that, two Zappa albums that demonstrate his transition into the next decade. Sheik Yerbouti and the first part of Joe's Garage are also worthy additions to your collection from 1979.

After that, what is there? Stormwatch by Jethro Tull? The Steve Howe Album? Monolith by Kansas? Discovery by ELO? In Through the Out Door by Led Zeppelin?

Well, I'm here to tell you that I Can See Your House From Here beats all of those (although it's a close race with the underrated Led Zeppelin release.)

Sure Camel has turned poppier. In this they are ahead of their time, beating out Genesis's Duke by a year. But as with Duke, Camel's new sound is mostly acceptable to us prog fans. There are some great prog moments here, and the pop moments aren't that bad either.

Other people have hit this tune by tune, but Ice and the first four tracks should make prog fans very happy, while the fifth and sixth tracks should prove at least acceptable. Heck, even Remote Romance is an acceptable track if you remember the times. (It reminds me of Patrick Moraz's work on Time Code.)

This is not as good as the classic three album sequence from Mirage through Moonmadness. It is just as good as Raindances and better than Breathless. It is a bit better than Nude.

This is really an album on the cusp. It falls somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. If you don't like your prog with a strong pop element, this is 3 stars. If you like your prog with a strong pop element, this is 4 stars. What the heck. I like my prog with a strong pop element. I'd listen to this over Moonmadness on a good day. 4 stars for a controversial but rewarding album.

I am not a huge Camel fan. Their "Snow Goose " has it's place in my collection, and I like it because of it's beautiful music. Not because of prog-rock, but because of rare balance: it's not easy to record beautiful music without selling out in our time! So, "Snow Goose "was one of these rare albums successfuly balancing on that edge.

So, what with "I can see your house from here "? Is this album's music beautiful? Definitely no. Is there some interesting sounds, new technique, prog-inovations? Are you joking! So, is it progresive rock at all? I am affraid not too much!

So - what do we have as result? Synth- pop -rock with faceless songs? Open flirt with commercial oriented mass-production. Only name, based on old good times?

Can't recommend this album to no-one. Even pop-production users will find better records for their test.

I Can See Your House From Here isn't a good album but at least it stopped the downward slide for Camel. It brought a still shaky but nevertheless replenished Camel onto the scene.

Most of the songs are entirely forgettable, obviously aiming to get a piece of the more commercial prog cake that was being baked around that time by Genesis, Alan Parsons Project and the likes. Other songs like Wait, Eye of the Storm and Hymn to Her announce an updated version of the Camel sound that would improve over the next couple of albums. Unfortunately the vocals are far from accomplished again.

The only track every Camel fan should get his hands on here is Ice. It's an instrumental improvisation that offers nothing new but that at least manages to offer equally good guitar solos and keyboards as on Moonmadness.

And then we were two...Not as bad as I thought at the time I first heard it in the 80´s, but still the band was going down. Slowly, yet they were going down the drain. Without founding member Peter Bardens Camel became almost the backing musicians for guitarrist and vocalist Andrew Latimer (drummer Andy Ward´s drinking problems would soon take him out of the band too). And the pop elements that were already showing on Breathless are enhanced here.

Not that is a disaster. There are good moments (if you ´re looking for pop music, of course). I can enjoy songs like Wait and Who We Are because I do like pop music. But even then there are some really embarassing numbers like Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine and, specially, the hideous new wavish Remote Romance. The new two keyboards configuration suggest a more progressive approach that unfortunatly reveals to be quite deceiving. Good musicians as they are Kit Watkins (Happy The Man) and Jan Schelhaas (Caravan) can´t do much about the songwriting direction of this album.

Of course there is the great instrumental track Ice, an inspired and enthralling tune that would fit greatly on any Camel´s first four albums with honors. This is the only moment that really makes us believe that this is the same Andrew Latimer that we once knew as one prog´s most influential guitarrists. Unfortunatly .it is too little to save this album.

If PA was a pop site I guess I Can See Your House From Here would deserve a 3 or maybe 3,5 stars rating. But, remember, this a PROG site! And one great song can only grant two stars. Definitly not one for starters on this great band.

Andy Latimer and Andy Ward would be the only two remaining after the last record "Breathless", although Mel Collins does guest on one track. So enter new members Colin Bass on bass, along with Kit Watkins (HAPPY THE MAN) and Jan Schelhaas on keyboards. Phil Collins adds some percussion. Rupert Hine is the producer which certainly didn't surprise me when I heard this record, simply because it's very commercial sounding and light for the most part.

"Wait" is uptempo and very dated sounding to these ears. That late seventies poppy sound is alive and well here. It's awful. And no I don't care that there are four Moog solos. "Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine" continues in that light poppy sound. Yikes ! "Eye Of The Storm" is the first half decent tune. Apparently this was originally a HAPPY THE MAN instrumental. Kit plays keyboards and flute here. "Who Are We" atually sounds like CAMEL but it's nothing to write home about. I'm not a fan of the orchestration.

"Survival" is a short orchestral piece. "Hymn To Her" is the best so far. The beginning is just gorgeous, it reminds me of the "Moonmadness" album. Jan is playing the Grand Piano here while Andrew shines on vocals and guitar. "Neon Magic" is a return to blah really. "Remote Romance" is the worse track on here, and that's saying something. Those sequencers just don't work, neither do the almost spoken vocals. Just shoot me please ! "Ice" is a complete surprise considering all that has gone on before it. How do you explain this over 10 minute instrumental that is filled with emotion and passion. It's one of CAMEL's best compositions on a bad album. It's also one of Latimer's best solos.

Certainly "Ice" and "Hymn To Her" made me think about giving this 3 stars, but the rest just drags this album down too far.

I am firmly convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that the advent of MTV was the equivalent of prog homicide in the 80s. Until someone can present a compelling, intelligent argument to the contrary that's my verdict and I'm sticking with it. Yet the punch- drunk attitude and atrophied muscles that made prog unable to put up much of a fight in its life struggle were the result of what was happening in the rock & roll universe in the later years of the 70s and I place into evidence this black vinyl platter entitled "I Can See Your House From Here" released by the previously respectable prog jockeys known as Camel in '79 as exhibit A, your honor. In addition, if it pleases the court, I can also swear that, having been quite active in the music biz goings on of that tumultuous decade, I witnessed first hand the sad deterioration that slowly but surely eroded the health and fitness of the once hale and hardy genre known as symphonic progressive rock to the extent that it nearly became an extinct species in the years that followed. In other words, I know of what I speak and I warn you, it ain't pretty.

Ere we get to the musical festivities, however, we must address the album cover. I take it as an attempt to symbolically portray technology/science as being the secular savior of the blue planet's inhabitants. As the beatniks used to say, that's heavy, man, heavy. Evidently, according to Wikipedia, said sleeve was controversial in some circles, however small they may have been, and, therefore, garnered some attention in the UK media (Camel was still only a brand of ignitable cancer sticks here in the U.S. of A. so we Yanks were unaware as we puffed away). Yet the tiniest sliver of perspective will reveal that this wasn't exactly the Beatles' outrageously satiric "butcher cover" in comparison and has long since entered the realm of useless minutiae. And well it should have because it looks like something 13-year-old Sid threw together one morning at St. Alfonso's parochial middle school for the talented & gifted to rile the nuns, yet it remained inoffensive enough to earn him no more than a stiff whack across the knuckles with a ruler from sister Bess, much less a late afternoon lock down in detention. Truth is, bad art is just bad art, nothing more. This crude illustration is juvenile and far beneath this group. However, after listening to the songs inside, its stupidity is somewhat appropriate. Allow me to explain.

They open with the band's CEO/head dude/guitarist Andrew Latimer's "Wait," a sort of conglomerate casserole of the era's prog pop (a.k.a. Queen, Post-Peter Genesis, ELO and the like) and assorted New Wave flavorings. This lifeless tune exemplifies the confused, direction-challenged state of mind that saturated progressive brains of that day in that the exploding world of affordable synthesized keyboards was spiraling out of control. Need proof? Here's a partial list utilized on this album: Yamaha C.S. 80, Prophet Five, Solina, Mini Moog, EMS Sequencer, R2D2 and a rare Cherry 2000. (Okay, I'm kidding about those last two.) The rapid development of polyphonic keyboard devices helped to spawn the New Wave movement in that any bozo who could master "chopsticks" and considered Rick Wakeman a deity could now call himself a musician and make funny noises with a machine. I'm not indicting the whole genre, mind you. Like any category of music there were brave pioneers and fearless innovators mixed in with the twits and pretenders and the cream did, indeed, rise to the top eventually. But my point is that Camel overindulged in these gadgets and lost their balls as well as their bearings in the process. As they say, "it ain't what you're packing in your dungarees, it's what you do with it that counts" and these boys unfortunately went limp in the clutch. Back to "Wait." Other than some energetic Moog solos from Jan Schelhaas and Kit Watkins and a smooth vocal performance from bassist Colin Bass this song is unremarkable.

The band-penned "Your Love is Stranger Than Mine" is next and it's very typical of the inane, slick commercial fare that was flooding the airwaves unabated around that time. Colin sings okay but the background harmonies are uncharacteristically lazy and off-key as if they were no more than an afterthought and that's inexcusable. Mel Collins' saxophone solo is the only mildly interesting aspect to be found and even then his instrument veers perilously close to sounding like a tenor kazoo. Kit's instrumental, "Eye of the Storm," is New Age-ish, pseudo-enlightened shopping mall muzak at best and its only potential redeeming quality lies in its being employed as a cure for chronic insomnia. This snore- inducer is the epitome of blandness and is totally bereft of dynamics. Andrew's tell- tale "Who We Are" follows and it sports a plastic shuffle feel massively devoid of soul on the intro before it morphs into a throbbing Alan Parsons Project-styled verse and then moves on to a syrupy chorus so saccharine as to cause onsets of diabetes in perfectly healthy humans. The lush orchestral instrumental section sounds like something my dear old mother, may she rest in eternal peace, would've liked and that's no compliment, by the way. Look, buckaroos, if I wanted to expose my ears to this kind of sappy mush there are other contemporary composers who do it a lot better than this. I'm just saying.

The most appealing thing about Latimer's "Survival" is that it is only 1:10 long. This is romantic made-for-TV movie soundtrack stuff and extremely run-of-the-mill at that. Yark. The proggy introduction to his and Jan's "Hymn to Her" is promising but Andrew's anemic vocal is an immediate let-down. The middle part in 11/8 provides a teeny tad of hopeful excitement but it passes much too swiftly and they soon return to ladling up the doldrums. "Neon Madness" is a lousy California New Wave imitation during the verses and choruses but the decent instrumental section in 7/8 only befuddles me as to what they were trying to accomplish. Add to that Latimer's bluesy guitar ride toward the end and you've got yourself a real head-scratcher here. They hit rock bottom, though, on "Remote Romance." It's so putrid it makes Devo look like a supergroup that included Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. This fetid turd of a tune encompasses all that was ugly, revolting and demeaning about the New Wave phenomenon. It contains no perceptible substance or meaning. If I owned a Saturday night special and entertained suicidal tendencies this song could be the straw that broke the Camel's back and just might convince me to bite the barrel and pull the trigger. It is an insult and should be banned.

At this juncture I was ready and willing to use this disc as a Frisbee for Fido to fetch from the pond, and then something unexpected occurred while speeding along the record's ever- widening path to the dreaded one-star rating. A stellar track called "Ice." This composition showcases the kind of moving, emotional music Andrew is really gifted at writing. It begins as an ethereal, flowing guitar and piano piece that patiently evolves into deeper, richer tone territories wherein everyone shines, even the troubled drummer Andy Ward. Watkins' fluid Moog solo is particularly brilliant and Latimer turns in a passionate guitar lead that waters the eyes. The classical guitar coda is a cool surprise and the whole deal's a much-needed touch of class. This 10-minute vacation from mediocrity (and worse) may be akin to tying a fancy bow on the tail of a grunting feral hog but it's the only cut that warrants repeated listens and is the album's sole saving grace.

In all fairness I must say that I've purchased five of this band's albums prior to this one and have been more or less well-pleased with the product every time so I'm hoping this is an anomaly. Yet I do still feel a bit betrayed because I spent $8 plus tax on this sucker and I would've enjoyed a Happy Meal from MacDonald's a lot more, collecting a spiffy "Avatar" toy to play with in the bargain. If this isn't the nadir of Camel's career, then I don't want to find out what is. This is poor enough for me. This court is adjourned. 1.6 stars.

This was basically the granddaddy of all the terrible album purchases that I've done prior to joining Prog Archives where I could get the opinions straight from the fans!

Even though 2003 was just a few years back, the comparison of great information resource sites have definitely expanded a lot since then. Back then, my main sources of influence came from AMG's Allmusic Guide and the occasional visit to Ground & Sky, but other than that I rarely bothered to get a third opinion before purchasing new music. When it came to I Can See Your House From Here, both of these resources seemed very untrustworthy, especially Allmusic that even awarded this album the AMG Album Pick and hailed it to be Camel's most popular work.

What I experienced here was far from the band that I would later learn to love. The definite commercial feel of the two opening tracks repelled me, still I pushed on and was awarded by a first glimpse of Eye Of The Storm. This was the only track composed entirely by Kit Watkins and the change of style is definitely for the better with this atmospheric instrumental number. This change of pace really did wonders for my initial experience since the next few tracks felt almost like the band were getting towards the style that would resemble progressive rock.

Hymn To Her was where the band managed to successfully combine their progressive influences with the commercial such and have they only continued in this same direction the results here would have been a whole lot better. This doesn't really happen and, starting with Neon Magic, the songwriting takes another turn for the worse. The 10-minute album concluding track simply titled Ice depicts a return to form for Andrew Latimer, but by this time it's already too late to save I Can See Your House From Here from failure.

Granted that 1979 was hardly a strong year for progressive rock, I Can See Your House From Here still managed to show everything that was was wrong with our heroes at the turn of the decade. The commercial approach might have worked for a few acts like Genesis and Alan Parsons Project, but for these few exceptions we had a sea filled with terrible pop music coming from bands that only moments ago made some of the best music of the '70s.

**** star songs: Eye Of The Storm (3:42) Hymn To Her (5:23) Ice (10:10)

*** star songs: Wait (4:50) Who We Are (7:26) Survival (1:04) Neon Magic (4:39)

** star songs: Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine (3:14) Remote Romance (4:01)

An important album

Through this album I knew Camel for the first time because their previous releases were not known yet in my country by that time. You could put things in perspective that by the time I knew this 'I can See Your House from Here' I already got Yes 'Fragile", 'Close To The Edge' and also Genesis 'Nursery Cryme" as wll as "Selling England by The Pound". So when it came into my ears, I was not impressed at all with Camel. I was like, when I was bored with Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Tull or Gentle Giant and then I refreshed with something else: Camel. But it's not something phenomenal, musically, for me. Only then I started to know the band with its previous releases like "MoonMadness" which is a masterpiece, "Mirage", "Breathless" and so on. That's why this album is important to me.

One tune that struck me at that time was "Hymn to Her" which sounded symphonic and melodic to my ears. I also enjoyed the long instrumental piece "Ice". The rest sound poppy to me even though it's not truly pop mainstream, actually. One thing I noticed was that there was an influence of new wave / punk music in the music. Well, you know, Rupert Hine is here as well. I enjoy the work of Mel Collins with his sax.

Overall, it's just good. Keep on proggin'...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

"Survival", "Hymn to Her" and "Ice". Are three average good songs enough to give apositive rating to an album? I think not.

Even if Richard Sinclair is no longer in the band, most of the songs sound similar to the pop side of Caravan. "Wait", "You're Love Is Stranger Than Mine" and "Who We Are" could find room in any Caravan album of the late 70s, and this is not a good thing.

We have also the most embarassing song ever produced by Camel: Remote Romance (which has broken one of my car's tweeters years ago), is a failed attempt to make electronic pop and "Neon Magic" is not very better.

The highlight of this album is "Ice", but far from being an epic track, it's an instrumental made of a long intro, a middle part that's the core of the track and a classical guitar coda maybe a bit too long.

The presence of Phil Collins doesn't add anything, I can't say on which track he's playing what.

I'm a Camel fan so I like also this album, but it's for fans only.

Another round of lineup changes leads to another shift in Camel's sound. The departure of Richard Sinclair halted the jazzy Canterbury dabblings of the previous two albums, whilst Peter Bardens' leaving might have deprived the band of one of the talents who had made their early albums so essential, but at least meant the band could proceed without clashes over musical direction between Latimer and Bardens compromising the recording process.

The arrival of Happy the Man's Kit Watkins on keyboards results in the presence of Eye of the Storm - and if it sounds like a leftover Happy the Man track, that's because it is - but otherwise the album sees Camel continuing its quest for an accessible, commercial style unhindered by Canterbury affectations or qualms from Bardens about the new direction.

Whereas in the hands of other musicians this might have resulted in an inoffensive if rather soulless pop album, it seems like Andy Latimer just can't quite go straightforwardly pop if he tried; the end result is this interesting prog-pop mix (with hidden depths that the recent Esoteric remaster nicely teases out), capped off with the high-quality latter-day epic Ice. I like many prog fans rejected this album at first, but over time it's grown on me a bit - it's still a bit of a muddle to my ears, but when it's good it's really quite good, so long as what you're after is emotional, romantic prog-pop as opposed to arcane prog rock.

Out of all the albums Camel made I dare sau this being the weakest of them all. For me it lacks so much when it comes to memorability (if that word even exists). By that I mean there's no songs that sticks to your brain, like previous or coming efforts. Apart from "Ice", which actually is a favorite of mine in the Camel canon, no song really does it for me. If you're looking for a place to start you'd be better off skipping this one and go for one of the more classic albums like "Moonmadness" or "The Snow goose", albums that more clearly demonstrates the greatness of Camel. (If you're bold you could even go for "Stationary traveller" from 1984, a great but more synthesized album.)

Wellllllllll.....

After the pop-leaning and completely unforgettable "Breathless", it comes as no surprise that Peter Bardens and Richard Sinclair have left the band. Here, bardens is replaced by two keyboardists, Jan Schelhaas and and unusually understated Kit Watkins. Some guy named Phil Collins also makes an appearance on percussion, but you would never know it.

In general, this album is similar to "Breathless", but with a few more nods to the fans of Camel's earlier prog albums. It makes me wonder just who they were aiming at with the pop tracks, which are not clever or memorable enough to gain a substantial fanbase.

The album begins with a slightly proggy opo tune, Wait. The vocals have an ELO resemblance, and the shifting time signature gives the record a promising start. Unfortunately, It is followed by Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine which, despite a clever title, is just too cute and poppy.

Pastoral is a light symph track. Along with the very short Survival and Hymn To Her these are the throwbacks to Camels golden years. The closing track, Ice comes close as well, and contains some of Andrew Latimer's finest guitar work, but the song's structure is just too simple to rank it up there with the better pieces.

The rest of the album can be discarded, with various styles of pop, the worst being the synth-pop disater, Remote Romance, with insipid lyrics, and a sound like someone trying out a bunck of new electronic toys.

I'd give this two and a half stars, but I must round it down.

Review Nº 143

As many of we know, Camel never achieved the mass popularity of their fellow British progressive rock groups from the 70's like Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and King Crimson. However, they were able to cultivate a dedicated and very loyal cult of fans and they never ceased to be one of the bands most respected in the progressive rock community. With their music, all over the years, they always were one of the groups that more bands influenced inside of our progressive rock world. Even today they continue to be one of the most respected progressive groups.

Personally, Camel was my second love, after Genesis. My first two vinyl albums, purchased by me in the distant 70's, were the fifth studio album of Genesis "Selling England By The Pound", which was released in 1973 and the third studio album of Camel "The Snow Goose", which was released in 1975. Therefore, they've always been, for me, truly faithful and beloved friends who always accompanied me throughout these more than forty years of progressive rock music.

"I Can See Your House From Here" is the seventh studio album of Camel and was released in 1979. This album caused some problems with the advertisers because it shows on its cover a crucified astronaut looking at the Earth. It marked also the debut of a new line up of Camel. With the only remaining two founding members of Camel, Andrew Latimer and Andy Ward, joined the band the bassist Colin Bass who replaced Richard Sinclair and two keyboardists Jan Schelhaas, who joined in 1978 for the "Breathless" live tour and the ex-Happy The Man, Kit Watkins who replaced Dave Sinclair.

So, the line up of the album is Andrew Latimer (lead and backing vocals, guitars, flute and autoharp), Andy Ward (drums and percussion), Colin Bass (lead and backing vocals and bass), Jan Schelhaas (Yamaha CS80, Yamaha electric grand piano, grand piano, Prophet-5, Moog synthesizer, Minimoog and EMS sequencer) and Kit Watkins (Hammond C3 organ, Solina synthesizer, Yamaha electric grand piano, Rhodes piano, Moog synthesizer, Minimoog, clavinet, Prophet-5, Yamaha CS80, EMS sequencer and flute). The album had also the participation of Mel Collins (alto saxophone), Phil Collins (percussion), Rupert Hine (backing vocals) and Simon Jeffes (orchestral arrangements).

"I Can See Your House From Here" has nine tracks. The first track "Wait" written by Latimer and John McBurnie represents a good start for the album and is a song in the vein of Camel's usually open tracks. This is a good song with interesting keyboard workings and it has also a nice Latimer's guitar solo. The second track "Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine" written by Latimer, Ward, Schelhaas and Bass is a very melodic song with a pop style. It's a song with nice vocal harmonies in the wave of the commercial hits. It's a simple and good song but with nothing special on it. The third track "Eye Of The Storm" written by Watkins is a beautiful song with nice melody. It's a different song, an instrumental, and is one of my favourite songs on the album. This is, in my humble opinion, a song with a higher quality level than the most of the album. The fourth track "Who We Are" written by Latimer is one of the lengthiest tracks on the album. Despite being simpler than the songs usually composed by Latimer is a song with his mark. This is a good song, one of the best of the album. The fifth track "Survival" written by Latimer is the smallest song on the album and is a kind of a prelude of other music. It's an instrumental track with beautiful string arrangements and despite be short is an interesting song. The sixth track "Hymn To Her" written by Latimer and Schelhaas is a song with a traditional Camel's opening. It's a beautiful ballad with a good instrumental section. This is also an interesting and good song. The seventh track "Neon Magic" written by Latimer, Schelhaas and Viv McAuliffe is one of the weakest songs on the album. It's a very commercial song, uninspired and something repetitive. It's a song that shouldn't be on the album. The eighth track "Remote Control" written by Latimer and Watkins is unqualified for a Camel's song. It's a pop electronic new wave song completely dislocated of the group's music and even of the album itself. It's really an awful song. The ninth track "Ice" written by Latimer is the lengthiest track on the album and is also the best. It's a classic Camel's long instrumental track, the only song truly progressive on the album and the only song that shows Latimer at his best.

Conclusion: In reality, "I Can See Your House From Here" isn't a bad Camel's album at all. But of all their studio albums this is one of the weakest studio albums ever made by them, the weakest made in the 70's. This is another album near of the 80's, and another example of the great difficulty of the majority of the great progressive groups from de 70's, in adapting their music to post-punk and new wave movements. By the other hand, it represents also the first album without Peter Bardens and where Latimer becomes the only leader of the group. It was also their first album with two new keyboardists. So, it isn't surprising that "I Can See You House From Here" be an album of change, a weaker album that somewhat represents an album of some disappointment for fans and critics too. However, I think it has some interesting symphonic progressive music on it and the last song "Ice" probably deserves its purchase by itself.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

In 1979, things were looking pretty bleak for progressive rock. Many bands were trying to find ways to fit into the New Wave sound that was emerging and taking over. The best artists were adapting nicely and it seems that prog rockers were trying to follow Alan Parsons Project in making prog-pop.

With so many line-up changes occurring with Camel, things were a bit up in the air as to where the band was going. Only two original members now remained with previous band members quitting over the movement to a more accessible sound. However, you have to give Camel props for really trying to retain a certain amount of progressive sound to their music while also making it approachable for the masses. The best move that Camel made at this point was the addition of Kit Watkins from the band "Happy the Man". The also recruited some orchestral arrangement help from Simon Jeffes (from "Penguin Café Orchestra" for use on two tracks. Rupert Hine was also involved with producing "I Can See Your House From Here", and this was a busy time for him as his style seemed to be the choice of many bands for bringing them into the '80's. I always seem to have issues whenever he is involved in a project, and unfortunately, you can hear his influence throughout this album.

But, doggone it, the band really tried hard, and you have to give that to them. The better tracks like opener "Wait" show some promise with some great progressive action and the guitar and synth solos throughout and even the more poppy sound of "Your Love is Stranger Than Mine" has some nice work by Watkin and a peppy sax solo from prior member Mel Collins. If they managed to stay in this style, Camel could have had a great prog-pop record. "Eye of the Storm" is mostly a lifeless instrumental that at least has some great bass work by Colin Bass. "Who We Are" has a bit of bright prog to its tracks like this one that demonstrate where a lot of Neo-prog artists would get some inspiration. The orchestral additions in this track are very nice and help to add some depth.

Most of the 2nd side is dedicated to pushing the prog-pop sound and many times you can hear the Alan Parsons Project being tapped for ideas here. The short "Suvival" is an orchestral track that sound like it was stolen from a movie soundtrack. "Hymn to Her" is just an okay track, but "Neon Magic" has some goofy vocals that makes for an embarrassing track and "Remote Romance" sounds like the band doing a bad Devo impersonation. Thank goodness the last track, the 10 minute instrumental "Ice" brings back memories of the classic and progressive Camel and this, along with "Who We Are" and "Wait" keep this album from being a complete let down. By the time you add up the pluses and minuses of this album, you end up with a 3 star rating. This is one I play only for the best 3 tracks. Other than that, nothing much seems to leave any impression on me other than the band trying it's best to fit into a new decade, but only leaving us with a mediocre album with only 1 5-star track ("Ice").