THE LIVE RECORDINGS 1974-1977

Wow! This is the holy grail for Camel fans! We get here the Live at the Marquee Club 1974, the Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1976, and the Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1977 - all three of which are presented in full! Also, there is the complete Royal Albert Hall show from 1975, Live at the Colston Hall 1977, as well as the Pressure Points live album (the latter being from 1984, so the dates in the title of the release are misleading).

Some of these recordings were previously featured on the 1978 double LP A Live Record, but while that was a compilation of tracks from various sources and line-ups, here we get the full gigs for the first time.

The Marquee Club 1974 catches the band after the release of Mirage, and features songs from that album and from the self-titled debut, as well as a selecton from the at the time upcoming Snow Goose album. They also play the non-album track Ligging At Louis' and Homage To The God Of Light - a Peter Bardens number they used to play in the early days. The recordings have been recently remixed, and the sound quality is amazingly good for an early 1970's live recording! It is fantastic to have this live document available now, and it is a stunning live album.

The Royal Albert Hall 1975 show consists of the Snow Goose album performed with orchestra, as previously released on A Live Record, but with the added encore of Lady Fantasy. This one is not my favourite, I prefer the band without orchestra.

The Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1976 is from the Moonmadness period and features the original line-up performing the bulk of that album, plus some earlier songs. Another very strong live album.

Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1977 and the Colston Hall gig from the same year features the new line-up with Richard Sinclair and Mel Collins. Here they play mainly material from Rain Dances. This used to be my least favourite Camel period, but I really warmed to it and now I just love it! The band are on fire here! The Hammersmith '77 recordings are another live masterpiece while the considerably shorther Colston Hall gig is of equally high quality, but somewhat redundant here.

Finally, there is the Pressure Points album from the time of Stationary Traveller. It is all very good stuff, but I already have it on both CD and DVD, so having it included here again is not very interesting.

My two personal favorites here are the Marquee Club 1974 and the Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1977, both of which merit the highest rating.

Very highly recommended!

It should probably be mentioned that this is a digital only release, available as a download and on various streaming sites. However, all of the material is also available in the recently released, massive box set Air Born.

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