THE SINGLE FACTOR

1982 found Camel with no direction but with many talented musicians. The album has it moments, but some people dislike it. This is called the Single Factor because only Andy Latimer from the original group remains, or it may be read as a sign of complaint that releasing singles is an important factor. There is a note that says drummer Andy Ward is not on the album because of a severe hand injury. Rumor is that is not the real reason. This album has a mumber of prominent progressive rock guest stars: Anthony Phillips (original guitarist of Genesis), Francis Monkman, Dave Mattacks and a couple of guys from the one of the Alan Parsons Project albums.

1. No Easy Answer - Rock/Pop music... 2,5/5

2. You Are the One - More pop/rock music.. 2,5/5

3. Heroes - is a fantastic song, lead vocal by David Paton is excellent and backing vocals, made by Chris Rainbow are great too. 4/5

4. Selva - Andy Latimer makes a emotive guitar solo. I love this track! 5/5

5. Lullabye - Short but good! 3/5

6. Sasquatch - Peter Bardens comes back to the fold to play some memorable solo, on this track. Superb! 5/5

7. Manic - 3/5

8. Camelogue - 3/5

9. Today's Goodbye - 3/5

10. A Heart Desire / End Peace - Good end... 3

Final Note: This album is a transitional album during a very difficult time in Camel's history. Musically it comes across a little bit like the Alan Parsons Project, but that's not necessarily bad because there's some great music´s in the album. Deserves a listen.

2,5 + 2,5 + 4+ 5 + 3 + 5 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 34

34 : 10 = 3,4

Good, but non-essential

Curiosity: In an interview, Andy admitted that at the time of working on the album the band was at a very critical stage of it's existence, apparently they were all under great stress, perhaps from the record company. Andrew: "The Single Factor [...] basically came about by accident. That album was a bit directionless in a way. It suffered considerably as a result of Andy's leaving."