CAMEL 73 - 75 GODS OF LIGHT

Well this is one of the most important historical documents concerning such "Golden Era" (1973-75) of Camel's long career!!"Arubaluba" is the unusual track never published before within an Official Live album and contains such an interesting jam-session; therefore the presence of a classic melodic mini-suite like "Lady Fantasy" is a natural "purpose" for all the fans of Camel; as well as the excerpts from their most famous suite "The Snow Goose" are regarded always like other must-have numbers...nevertheless the production is not exceptional, but this is anyway an important document,a sort of Camel's biography of the early seventies, which can be almost erased only by the fantastic live album "A Live record". But of course the production of this latter -dated 1978- represents the best live issue ever produced and contains the best version of "The Snow Goose... so you can't compare it to the early live performances by Camel !!

Not the best album by Camel, but anyway it's important to collect it, if you are naturally a fan of this "immortal" band!!

Great to have this classic live set put out on CD after all the bootleg hype. Gods of Light alone makes this acquisition worthwhile. A rather awkward pressing though not liking some of the CD drives I have put it in!

Recorded back in 1973-75 and although did appear previously in the market as an Italian bootleg titled "Famous Rock Dreams" has been cleaned up and kindly re-mastered. This live snippet from the early days of CAMEL perfectly showcases the strengths and talents of this band. All 5 tracks on this recording are killer CAMEL with the "Snow Goose" clicking in over 27 minutes and having been lifted from a BBC Radio One recording, In Concert 1975. The cool thing about this is that there is no orchestra and you get a live in studio rendition of this prog masterpiece by the 4 members. Without a question the combo of Andy Latimer and Peter Bardens were something special and you can hear this musically in their approach and tight interplay. These early tracks also reveal a slightly rawer more instrumental based sound and a slightly more playful side. I would say that this CD is a great addition to any CAMEL fan from today and yesterday.

This album is an outstanding full time jam session, with an amazing and colourfull sound quality! Those two suites "God of lights revisited" and "excerpts from the snow goose" are brilliant, they really know a way to get things match! "Arubaluba" very well executed with a lot of energy package, the final theme have a so powerfull synth that makes me wonder! "Lady Fantasy" executed with prime arrengments and "White rider" with a really good guitar's tune selection on the last theme! I have to tell about the proeminence of the drummer Andy Ward, reminds that he have just 18 - 20 years old when this tracks was recorded. A really prodigy! Do you never hear that? you should! you really should! the camel finnest!

This live album is partially very similar to their "official boot" one : "On The Road 1972". Three songs were already featured but in different versions : "Gods Of Light Revisited" is longer here and more structured, "White Rider" is smoothly played and it's a very emotional moment, and finally "Lady Fantasy" of which the finale is really great. Each version is superior here compared to "OnThe Road 1972".

The first difference is "Arubaluba" which replaces "Six Ate". It is also a better choice. This rendition is absolutely WILD. Sounds almost as an early Floyd live track (67 - 68 period).

The real bonus here is the twenty-seven minutes medley for "Snow Goose". This almost complete suite is an even better choice than a full rendition. In my review for the studio work, I mentioned that it was a bit too monotonous, so we avoid this with this "shorter" version.

This live version is rawer, more interesting thanks to its harder attack. I even prefer this version to the one available on the remastered "A Live Record" with the London Symphonic Orchestra. It's the best I've heard actually.

It is a very good representation of their early days' live performances. Camel sounded even psyche at times ("Gods Of Light", "White Rider" and "Arubaluba" are good examples). The sound of this recording is really good (specially during "Snow Goose").

Since I rated "On The Road 1972" three stars and that this one is definitely better, I will rate it four stars. I just wonder why it took Camel so long to release this one ?

4.5 stars. I'm a little shocked not only at how good this live album is, but how much it doesn't sound like CAMEL at times. It features the classic lineup and live performances from 1973- 1975. Apparently this was a double live bootleg from Italy so the band decided to re-master it and make it a legit release. I have to agree with ZowieZiggy when he asks why did it take so long to release this ? The guys really let loose here with some aggressive playing.Then there's the Psychedelic passages and spacey synths.This is stuff i've never heard CAMEL do before.This is so cool !

"God Of Light Revisited" opens in a spacy / psychedelic manner with sounds that echo and come and go. It kicks in after a minute with lots of percussion reminding me of SANTANA. Organ comes to the fore 3 minutes in. Some nice heavy guitar before 7 minutes.The organ is back before 9 1/2 minutes. Intense section before 13 minutes then it calms down to a spacey atmosphere before kicking back in to end it. Man they really jam on this 16 minute opener. "White Rider" has a laid back spacey intro before marching style drums come in before a minute. It's building then the song I know kicks in after 1 1/2 minutes. Nice. Vocals before 2 1/2 minutes.The tempo picks up with organ a minute later. It settles after 5 minutes with vocals. Spacey synths and guitar before 7 minutes. It's heavier before 8 1/2 minutes.

"Lady Fantasy" sounds like the original except for the spacey synths. It kicks in before a minute and vocals follow. Love the organ, vocals and mood on this one. Guitar to the fore 4 minutes in. It settles down before 5 1/2 minutes.This sounds so good. Vocals a re back 7 minutes in. It kicks back in and organ follows. "Arubaluba" opens with the drums and organ standing out. Guitar before a minute. It picks up quickly.The guitar is fantstic as Latimer solos endlessly. "Exerpts From The Snow Goose" is the over 27 minute closer recorded live at the BBC. This song is a trip i'll tell you that. The spacey section 9 1/2 minutes in and the spacey organ 12 1/2 minutes in and the gorgeous section that follows. Latimer plays some relaxed guitar from 23 minutes to after 25 minutes then it turns spacey to the end.

Just when I thought I had heard all I needed to hear from this band. This really is essential for fans to see the band in a little different light. So close to being 5 stars.

1973-1975 revisited

Gods Of Light is another entry in Camel Productions' "Official Bootleg" series. It is a compilation of live tracks from the early years of Camel's career (1973 to 1975). As such it continues just where Camel On The Road 1972 left off.

The disc includes five tracks beginning with God Of Light Revisited, a song that started life on Peter Bardens' solo album The Answer, but that was adopted by Camel in the live setting during their early days (though it never received a studio recording by the band). Next up are versions of White Rider and Lady Fantasy, both from 1974's Mirage album. The versions of these three songs are not the same as those that appeared on Camel On The Road 1972. From the self-titled debut comes Arubaluba and finally there is a nearly half hour excerpt from The Snowgoose.

Personally, I found Camel On The Road 1972 to be more interesting and also more cohesive. The present disc spans several years and as such is more of a compilation than a proper live album. Everything that is here though is very good indeed. A worthy addition to a Camel fans collection, but not one for the newcomers.

REVIEW #17 - "Camel 73-75 Gods of Light" by Camel, (2000)

My last Camel review for a while. Yet another example of an "official bootleg" of a Camel concert, similar to "Camel on the Road 1972" it focuses on perhaps the band's golden age, with the original quartet of guitarist Andrew Latimer, keyboardist Peter Bardens, bassist Doug Ferguson, and drummer Andy Ward. The backstory behind this album is that it is a compilation of bootlegs that was originally illegally sold in Italy. A couple songs are off of the "Greasy Truckers" LP as well. We really do not know much else about when these numbers were performed, but Camel did their best to remaster and make profit off of what was originally stolen property.

For those familiar with "Camel on the Road 1972" this album is like that but better. We begin with yet another rendition of the Peter Bardens composition "God of Light Revisited", but this piece is slightly longer, albeit there are no real striking differences to take note of. Following that are the two most famous compositions from "Mirage", those being "The White Rider" and "Lady Fantasy". These are wonderful live performances of these two songs, and the sound is very refined and atmospheric. You get a very good idea of what this band could do in a live setting.

The last two songs are more special than the first three, as we originally came across those on "Camel on the Road 1972". We get a very striking rendition of the instrumental "Arubaluba" off of Camel's debut LP. I think this song, more than the others, really exhibits how well Camel could play, with dynamic fleeting keyboard solos and intertwined guitar motifs, there is a lot to absorb here, and personally I prefer the electricity of this live performance to the actual studio cut. Lastly we have the band's abridged, yet still nearly thirty minute long, "Snow Goose" suite. This is not the complete rendition with the orchestra that was performed at the Royal Albert Hall and featured on the 1978 live album "A Live Record", but rather a BBC Radio One performance that just features the band. This is another one of those special compositions that I think makes listening to this live album worth it. Camel covers all the bases of the album, including the more famous "Rhayader Goes to Town" and "La Princesse Perdue", but the band still manages to hit a lot of their more deeper cuts from what is perhaps their most commercially successful album.

Overall, this "official bootleg" is way better than "Camel on the Road 1972". It features way more music, and "Arubaluba" is far preferable to "Six Ate" in general. This series of Camel albums are really only reserved for the band's most ardent fans, who are looking for deep cuts to satiate their appetite for the band's music, but I really feel that this album can be held in reverence in the same vein as the impeccable "A Live Record", for being a pretty comprehensive analysis of the pre-Rain Dances era, although "Moonmadness" content is notably left off. Surely a worthwhile addition to one's prog collection.

OVERALL RATING: 3.7/5

This is a "beat the bootlegs" release, rushed out when Camel became aware that a bootleg sampling much of this material was being honed for release. It consists of the God of Light track that Camel contributed to the Greasy Truckers - Live At Dingwalls Dance Hall compilation and a clutch of material from early BBC sessions.

As a compilation it is a little redundant now - if you're a big enough Camel fanatic to want to trawl this sort of archival matetial, you're probably better off saving your pennies for the Air Born collection, which includes all of this material (and more complete versions of the various BBC sessions represented), and if the Air Born box is too much Camel for you, then there's not much here that feels outright essential. Still, if you just want a quick overview of what they sounded like live in their early years, you could do a lot worse than this.