I CAN SEE YOUR HOUSE FROM HERE

By the end of the 1970's, progressive rock was pretty much an afterthought. As disco, punk, and album-oriented rock consolidated control of the mainstream, many of the bands we treasured were left to either adapt or fall out of favor with their record labels altogether. Camel was not spared from this ultimatum, and as a result, the band's work from around 1978 to 1984 is pretty hard to listen to if you're solely looking for progressive rock. Around this time, the band made a transition from eclectic progressive rock to a more smooth refined commercial sound typical of the Alan Parsons Project. To make matters worse, the band's lineup had almost completely changed since the band's last great album "Moonmadness" in 1976, with guitarist Andrew Latimer and drummer Andy Ward being the only original members, as respected keyboardist Peter Bardens would depart the band after 1978's mediocre offering "Breathless" alongside bassist Richard Sinclair.

Camel would however continue to march on into uncharted waters, replacing Bardens with two new keyboardists, American-born Kit Watkins of Happy the Man and Jan Schelhaas of Caravan, who decided to stay with the band after making a couple cameo appearances on "Breathless". This would also mark the first appearance of bassist Colin Bass in the Camel discography, as he would remain with the band to the present day alongside Latimer.

To say this album is mediocre is a pretty reasonable and sound judgment, however unlike "Breathless" this album benefits from having much lower expectations given the state of the band at the time. From the opening riffs of "Wait", one will come to the realization they will have to sit through what is basically a commercial rock album. While there is a strong instrumental section on this composition, with Latimer trying to recreate the classic guitar- keys dynamic of the golden age Camel sound with newcomer Watkins, it falls short, with the band deciding to integrate late-seventies vocal harmonics a la the Bee Gees into the mix. With Sinclair gone, Latimer now takes on full vocal duty, and he is still no better at it than he was in 1973. However, things only get worse with the first of what would be a few really horrible pop songs on this album with "Your Love Is Stranger than Mine", which is extremely inoffensive and uninteresting, save for a Mel Collins cameo at the very end on sax (yes, he ended up leaving the band after "Breathless" as well).

"Eye of the Storm" is the more formal introduction for the new keyboardist Kit Watkins; interestingly enough this is a cover (to my knowledge, the only song Camel ever covered in their long history) of a Happy the Man song. It is more melancholic and orchestral, but really failed to resonate with me. It's pretty obvious that quantity does not trump quality, as both Watkins and Schelhaas cannot remotely fill the shoes of Bardens. "Who We Are" is a longer song which kind of fuses a more palatable classic Camel prog sound with modern commercial appeal but it really does not go anywhere, and I found it extremely boring, and the band could have easily the made the point in a smaller composition. However, at least Camel still seemed to be haphazardly trying to sound progressive at this point in time, unlike their contemporaries such as Genesis or Yes.

Side two of the LP opens with a brief orchestral introduction titled "Survival", and then leads into another commercial rocker "Hymn to Her", which I personally liked. It features a very strong keyboard lead, but suffers from some pretty mediocre vocals. However, in the context of this album, it's really not all that bad, and things only get a little better with "Neon Magic", this album's version of "Down on the Farm" from "Breathless" with its humorous and British style. Its got a hit of a nostalgic feel to it, and for what is basically a filler track, I think Camel hit the nail on the head here, even if it really isn't much to sneeze at. Unfortunately, we are then given yet another horrid pop song in "Remote Romance" which is extremely corny and just plain awful late-seventies pop. There is nothing progressive about this, and you're better off not listening to it. My guess is the record label really demanded Camel make something like this to appeal to the singles market, and indeed it was released as a single, although to my knowledge it didn't chart.

That leaves us with perhaps the most well-known composition from "I Can See You Are Here", and perhaps the only reason this album isn't a one-star dud, the ten-minute extended guitar solo "Ice". Cut in the studio and featuring a very subtle cameo by the legend Phil Collins himself on percussion, this is a Camel fan favorite, and it sees Andrew Latimer take the listener on a chilling and intimate journey through musical space on the backs of emotional guitar solos. This is a very slow and prodding song, but I really was able to get into it and feel moved by this track in a way none of the other compositions on this album remotely could. Definitely worth listening to, as compositions like this are surprisingly unique in the prog world.

There really isn't any other way to put it; "I Can See Your House from Here" is a bad album. However, we expected it to be bad given the circumstances. Camel was limping along at this point, with a fractured lineup and no real musical direction. While the band does create somewhat-listenable tunes on this album, most of it should only be investigated by the most devoted followers of the band. I wanted to give this album a one-star rating, but I felt that songs like "Ice", and to an extent "Hymn to Her" and "Neon Magic" just barely put this album into two-star territory, slightly below "Breathless". While Andrew Latimer is on record having a favorable view of this album, there really is so much better music he and Camel created.

Going into 1980, Kit Watkins would depart the band, perhaps establishing himself as Camel's least successful keyboardist in a canonical sense, to an extent alongside Schelhaas. Fortunately, Camel would be able to somewhat right the ship with their next album, 1981's "Nude". With all that in mind, albums like this and another future Camel album "which should not be named yet" are better left forgotten as relics of an era where record labels were awfully out of touch.

OVERALL RATING: 1.9/5

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