CAMEL ON THE ROAD 1982

Since the dawn of the 1980s was a difficult time for Camel, one might expect this 10th anniversary live album to be thoroughly dispensable. Its emphasis on concert renditions of album tracks from that period means that no epics are included and precious few early classics. Yet they do reveal the band to be comfortable playing a more AOR style, and feature everything you need to hear from "Nude" and "Single Factor", in live versions as good as the studio efforts. In particular, "You are the One", "Lies", and "Heroes" are all well performed. As such, this work can substitute for those 2 weaker albums. With a few expected live blips the performance is worthy of the group.

In addition, if "Ice" had been included, we would have also had sufficient representation from "I Can See Your House from Here", as versions of "Hymn to Her" and "Who we Are" capture the Camel spirit at this time of adversity. Chris Rainbow's presence shows how Camel could sound with a more traditionally skilled vocalist. The closer is an excellent version of "Never Let Go", with strong keyboard work from Kit Watkins as well as Latimer's melodic guitar runs. Camel managed to avoid getting run over on this bumpy section of road, and this document is a satisfying snapshot of those travels.