I CAN SEE YOUR HOUSE FROM HERE

The departure of BARDENS leaves LATIMER and WARD (the latter is battling with injury and other issues) rather devoid of direction. With new, additional helpers they manage to release this album dominated by POP tunes. Tunes that alienate long-time fans of the band, but also fail to excite the POP crowd.

LATIMER is somewhat prone to melancholy only matched by KIT WATKINS (of HAPPY THE MAN). The two manage to succeed in virtually creating a new genre that could be named as Melancholic-Pop that few would get excited over. To date it remains CAMEL's weakest release, ever. Featuring PHIL COLLINS as a guest doesn't lift this work beyond a PR attempt of just adding a big name, hoping that it helps in selling what turned out to be a great disappointment.

Without much ado, the shortest track "Survival" at 1:04 mins represents a brief, but pleasant change. The closing, another instrumental piece "Ice" is also pleasant - if only too long. At over 10 mins it raises questions about "filler material" issues.

A CAMEL fan, I find this album a big let-down. For my taste it wouldn't pass beyond 1 star. But in fairness, I grudgingly rate it at 2. Seven of these 10 tunes should never have been released.