AIR BORN: THE MCA & DECCA YEARS 1973-1984

Camel

•

Symphonic Prog

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Camel Air Born: The MCA & Decca Years 1973-1984 album cover

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Boxset/Compilation, released in 2023

Songs / Tracks Listing

CD 1 - Camel (1973):
1. Slow Yourself Down
2. Mystic Queen
3. Six Ate
4. Separation
5. Never Let Go
6. Curiosity
7. Arubaluba
bonus tracks:
8. Sarah (previously unreleased)
9. Never Let Go (single version)
10. Homage To The God Of Light (live - from "Greasy Truckers")

CD 2 - Mirage (1974):
1. Freefall
2. Supertwister
3. Nimrodel / The Procession / The White Rider
4. Earthrise
5. Lady Fantasy
bonus tracks - demo session - Decca Studios 15th June 1973:
6. Earthrise
7. The Traveller
8. Supertwister
9. The White Rider
10. Lady Fantasy

CD 3:
1. Lady Fantasy (Basing Street Studios original mix)
2. Autumn (previously unreleased)
BBC Radio One "In Concert" - 6th June 1974:
3. Nimrodel / The Procession / The White Rider
4. Ligging At Louis'
5. Lady Fantasy
6. Arubaluba

CD 4 - Live at Marquee Club, London - 20th June 1974:
1. Introduction
2. Earthrise
3. Nimrodel
4. Six Ate
5. Supertwister
6. Mystic Queen
7. Arubaluba

CD 5:
1. Rhayader Goes To Town
2. The Snow Goose / Freefall
3. Lady Fantasy
4. Homage To The God Of Light

CD 6 - The Snow Goose (1975):
1. The Great Marsh
2. Rhayder
3. Rhayder Goes To Town
4. Sanctuary
5. Fritha
6. The Snow Goose
7. Friendship
8. Migration
9. Rhayder Alone
10. Flight Of The Snow Goose
11. Preparation
12. Dunkirk
13. Epitaph
14. Fritha Alone
15. La Princesse Perdue
16. The Great Marsh
bonus tracks - single versions:
17. Flight Of The Snow Goose
18. Rhayder

CD 7:
1. Riverman
BBC Radio One "In Concert" - 22nd April 1975:
2. Rhayder Goes to Town
3. Sanctuary
4. The Snow Goose
5. Migration
6. Rhayder Alone
7. Flight Of The Snow Goose
8. Preparation
9. Dunkirk
10. Epitaph
11. La Princesse Perdue
12. The Great Marsh
BBC TV "The Old Grey Whistle Test":
13. Selections from "The Snow Goose"

CD 8 - A Live Record (1978):
1. Introduction by Peter Bardens
2. The Great Marsh
3. Rhayder
4. Rhayder Goes To Town
5. Sanctuary
6. Fritha
7. The Snow Goose
8. Friendship
9. Migration
10. Rhayder Alone
11. Flight Of The Snow Goose
12. Preparation
13. Dunkirk
14. Epitaph
15. Fritha Alone
16. La Princesse Perdue
17. The Great Marsh
18. Encore: Lady Fantasy (previously unreleased)

CD 9 - Moonmadness (1976):
1. Aristillus
2. Song Within A Song
3. Chord Change
4. Spirit Of The Water
5. Another Night
6. Air Born
7. Lunar Sea
bonus tracks:
8. Sprit Of The Water (demo)
9. Chord Change (demo - previously unreleased)
10. Lunar Sea (demo - previously unreleased)
11. Another Night (single version)

CD 10 - Live at Hammersmith Odeon - 14th April 1976 - 1:
1. Aristillus
2. Song Within A Song
3. The Great Marsh
4. Rhayader
5. Rhayader Goes To Town
6. Air Born
7. Chord Change
8. The White Rider

CD 11 - Live at Hammersmith Odeon - 14th April 1976 - 1:
1. Lunar Sea
2. Preparation
3. Dunkirk
4. Another Night
5. Lady Fantasy

CD 12 - Rain Dances (1977):
1. First Light
2. Metrognome
3. Tell Me
4. Highways Of The Sun
5. Unevensong
6. One Of These Days I'll Get An Early Night
7. Elke
8. Skylines
9. Rain Dances
bonus tracks:
10. Highways of the Sun (single version)
Live at the Colston Hall, Bristol - 2nd October 1977:
11. First Light
12. Metrognome
13. Unevensong
14. Skylines (Live at Leeds University - 3rd October 1977)
Live at the Colston Hall, Bristol - 2nd October 1977:
15. Lunar Sea
16. Raindances

CD 13:
1. Never Let Go (Live at the Colston Hall, Bristol - 2nd October 1977)
BBC in Concert - Golders Green Hippodrome - 29th September 1977:
2. First Light
3. Metrognome
4. Unevensong
5. Rhayader / Rhayader Goes To Town
6. Skylines
8. Highways Of The Sun
8. Lunar Sea
9. Rain Dances
10. Never Let Go
11. One Of These Days I'll Get An Early Night

CD 14 - Live at Hammersmith Odeon - 1st October 1977 - 1:
1. First Light
2. Metrognome
3. Unevensong
4. Rhayader
5. Rhayader Goes to Town
6. Preparation
7. Dunkirk
8. Sanctuary
9. The Snow Goose

CD 14 - Live at Hammersmith Odeon - 1st October 1977- 2:
1. Tell Me
2. Song Within A Song
3. Skylines
4. Highway To The Sun
5. Lunar Sea
6. Rain Dances
7. One Of These Days I'll Get An Early Night

CD 16 - Breathless (1978):
1. Breathless
2. Echoes
3. Wing And A Prayer
4. Down On The Farm
5. Starlight Ride
6. Summer Lightning
7. You Make Me Smile
8. The Sleeper
9. Rainbow's End
bonus track:
10. Rainbow's End (single version)

CD 17 - I Can See Your House from Here (1979):
1. Wait
2. Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine
3. Eye Of The Storm
4. Who We Are
5. Survival
6. Hymn to Her
7. Neon Magic
8. Remote Romance
9. Ice
bonus track:
10. Remote Romance (single version)

CD 18 - Nude (1981):
1. City Life
2. Nude
3. Drafted
4. Docks
5. Beached
6. Landscapes
7. Changing Places
8. Pomp And Circumstance
9. Please Come Home
10. Reflections
11. Captured
12. The Homecoming
13. Lies
14. The Birthday Cake (The Last Farewell)
15. Nude's Return (The Last Farewell)
bonus track:
16. Captured (first version - previously unreleased)

CD 19 - On The Road 1981 (1997):
1. Never Let Go
2. Song Within A Song
3. Lunar Sea
4. Summer Lightning
5. Ice
6. City Life
7. Drafted
8. Docks
9. Beached
10. Landscapes
11. Changing Places
12. Reflections
13. Captured
14. The Birthday Cake (The Last Farewell)
15. Nude's Return (The Last Farewell)

CD 20 - The Single Factor (1982):
1. No Easy Answer
2. You Are The One
3. Heroes
4. Selva
5. Lullabye
6. Sasquatch
7. Manic
8. Camelogue
9. Today's Goodbye
10. A Heart's Desire
11. End Piece
bonus track:
12. You Are The One (promotional 12-inch single version)

CD 21 - Stationary Traveller (1984):
1. Pressure Points
2. Refugee
3. Vopos
4. Cloak and Dagger Man
5. Stationary Traveller
6. West Berlin
7. Fingertips
8. Missing
9. After Words
10. Long Goodbyes
bonus tracks:
11. In the Arms of Waltzing Fraulines
12. Pressure Points (12-inch single extended version)

CD 22 - Pressure Points: Live in Concert - 1:
1. Pressure Points
2. Drafted
3. Captured
4. Lies
5. Refugee
6. Vopos
7. Stationary Traveller
8. West Berlin
9. Fingertips

CD 23 - Pressure Points: Live in Concert - 1:
1. Sasquatch
2. Wait
3. Cloak and Dagger Man
4. Long Goodbyes
5. Rhayader
6. Rhayader Goes to Town
7. Lady Fantasy

CD 24 - Camel / Mirage - stereo remix:
⦁ as on CD 1 - 1-7 and CD 2 - 1-5

CD 25 - The Snow Goose - stereo remix:
⦁ as on CD 6 - 1-16

CD 26 - Moonmadness - stereo remix:
⦁ as on CD 9 - 1-7

CD 27 - Nude - stereo remix:
⦁ as on CD 19 - 1-15

Blu-ray 1 - Camel / Mirage - 5.1 Surround Sound mix:
⦁ as on CD 1 - 1-7 and CD 2 - 1-5
bonus track:
13. Autumn

Blu-ray 2 - The Snow Goose / Moonmadness - 5.1 Surround Sound mix:
⦁ as on CD 6 - 1-16
bonus track:
17. Riverman
⦁ as on CD 9 - 1-7

Blu-ray 3 - Nude - 5.1 Surround Sound mix:
⦁ as on CD 19 - 1-15

Blu-ray 4 - Promo Videos and Live:
Audio from "Camel", filmed at Guildford Civic Hall, 1973:
1. Never Let Go
2. Arubaluba
BBC Studios, "The Old Grey Whistle Test", June 21, 1975:
3. Selections from "The Snow Goose"
Hammersmith Odeon, 14 April, 1976:
4. The White Rider
5. Lunar Sea
6. Preparation
7. Dunkirk
8. Another Night
9. Lady Fantasy
Golders Green Hippodrome, London, September 22, 1977:
10. First Light
11. Metrognome
12. Unevensong
13. Rhayader / Rhayader Goes To Town
14. Skylines
15. Highways Of The Sun
16. Lunar Sea
17. Rain Dances
18. Never Let Go
19. One Of These Days I'll Get An Early Night
Shepperton Studios, "The Old Grey Whistle Test", 1981:
20. City Life
21. Lies

Blu-ray 5 - Pressure Points - concert film:
1. In The Arms Of Waltzing Fraulines
2. Pressure Points
3. Refugee
4. Vopos
5. Stationary Traveller
6. West Berlin
7. Fingertips
8. Sasquatch
9. Wait
10. Cloak And Dagger Man
11. Long Goodbyes
12. Rhayader
13. Rhayader Goes To Town
14. Lady Fantasy
15. In The Arms Of Waltzing Fraulines

Line-up / Musicians

- Andy Latimer / guitar, flute, vocals

- see Camel 1973-1984 line-ups

Releases information

27 CD + 5 Blu-Ray box set UMC (Universal Music Catalogue) (November 24, 2023)

Stereo remixes and surround sound mixes by Stephen W. Tayler

Thanks to mbzr48 for the addition
and to Pekka & NotAProghead for the last updates
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CAMEL Air Born: The MCA & Decca Years 1973-1984 ratings distribution

5.00
(10 ratings)

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(100%)
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(0%)
Good, but non-essential (0%)
Collectors/fans only (0%)
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)

CAMEL Air Born: The MCA & Decca Years 1973-1984 reviews

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Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Warthur
PROG REVIEWER

Emerging just in time to honour the 50th anniversary of their debut album, Air Born is a sprawling boxed set which, as the title implies, celebrates their years spent with MCA and Decca. This was not always a happy time in terms of the band's relationship with Decca; in particular, after Andy Ward suffered a mental health crisis and attempted suicide, Andrew Latimer wanted to put the band on hiatus for a while to give Ward a chance to recuperate, but heartlessly Decca demanded that Camel put out a new studio album anyway - and pressured them to make it commercially friendly on top of that - which is what led to the critical stumble of The Single Factor.

Still, musically speaking this covers the music which Camel built their legacy on and more besides. Full remasters (and, for some select albums, additional stereo remixes) of all the Camel studio releases from their debut to Stationary Traveller are, naturally, included, along with a range of supplementary material ranging from unreleased studio tracks through to full live performances.

Much of this stuff has emerged in one form or another as bonus tracks over time, but there are a few significant bits of material which are new to this release. The major scoop of the collection is the full demo tape the band recorded in between their debut album and Mirage, which finds early versions of almost all the Mirage tracks present - only Freefall from that album is missing, and instead we get The Traveller, a Uriah Heep-ish piece which seems to have been abandoned as being more in keeping with their debut album's sound than Mirage's. In terms of sound quality, the demo is top notch, and captures the band's musical growth since they recorded their self-titled album marvellously, forming a hitherto-missing link between that and Mirage.

As for the live material, this is largely a mixture of BBC sessions and material released elsewhere, though there are enhancements and additions here and there. Early live performances include the take on God of Light Revisited originally recorded for the Greasy Truckers - Live At Dingwalls Dance Hall release, a funky, Santana-influenced piece. Again, this has been fairly widely repackaged as a bonus track on some issue or other over the years.

BBC sessions here include a June 1974 recording showcasing the band fresh from the release of Mirage, a more expansive 1975 offering giving extensive extracts from The Snow Goose (with the band on excellent form and proving they didn't need the orchestra to evoken the album's magic live), their excellent appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, and a 1977 Sight and Sound In Concert appearance from the Rain Dances lineup primarily focused on that album but also including great takes on Snow Goose material, Never Let Go from the debut, and an absolutely stellar take on Lunar Sea from Moonmadness. Much of this material has shown up as bonus tracks or on bootlegs over the years, but it's nice to get it in fairly definitive versions here.

Rather than presenting A Live Record in either its original or expanded configurations, the box instead offers the complete original live recordings from the different shows which made up that release. This includes a full set from the Marquee Club in October 1974, in which the band both burn through excellent renditions of Mirage-era material and road test compositions which would later make it onto The Snow Goose. The sound quality on this is remarkably good - perhaps the best of any of the pre-Goose live offerings here - and it's interesting how the Snow Goose compositions differ to account for the lack of an orchestra in tow.

Naturally, there's also the Royal Albert Hall full performance of The Snow Goose with orchestra from 1975, which would form the basis of the second disc of A Live Record; this is enhanced by an encore performance of Lady Fantasy, skillfully adapted to account for the orchestra.

We also get a full concert set from the Hammersmith Odeon in 1976; previously only smatterings of this had been borrowed for the extended CD version of A Live Record or on some reissues of Moonmadness, but having the full show to hand in its original running order is excellent. There's a few technical issues audible - notably some faint buzzing on a few tracks which could be down to the original tapes having an issue or might be indicative of some of the band's equipment having a bit of a moment, but this is a mild blemish easily overlooked, especially since some care seems to have been taken here to tidy up the lives tapes as best as possible.

This live set is especially valuable since it provides a final showcase for the original lineup of Camel - some would say the classic lineup - prior to personnel shifts and their Rain Dances-era drift into a Canterbury-influenced direction. You get Latimer, Ward, Ferguson, and Bardens at the absolute top of their game, with a setlist drawn from some of the greatest albums not just in the Camel discography but in the progressive rock pantheon as a whole, with the setlist finally presented on disc more or less as it was conceived to be delivered onstage; when you think about it, that's absolutely fantastic.

The band return to the Odeon in 1977 for a barnstorming set which, along with some stray tracks from other venues rounding off the Live Record material. The 1977 Odeon show is the fullest document of the Rain Dances lineup live on this set, and it's absolutely superb. Between that and the tracks from Bristol and Leeds, the Rain Dances period ends up being the era of the band that's perhaps best-represented by live material here (with The Snow Goose period a close second).

Other live material in the collection includes a tightened-up reissue of the BBC session previously released as On the Road 1981 (including two tracks - Summer Lightning and Ice - not included on previous releases of the BBC session) and, lastly, a remaster of Pressure Points.

Most prog fans will have at least some of the material here - though the new mixes of Camel, Mirage, The Snow Goose, Moonmadness, and Nude are good enough to be worth dipping into (and the previous mixes are also presented so you can judge which you prefer) - but even Camel fanatics probably won't have all of it. If you've got significant gaps to fill in your Camel collection - or if the prospect of all those live goodies have you salivating - it's highly worthwhile, offering the lion's share of their output in one package.

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