RAIN DANCES

With several successful albums under their belt and a new line-up, Camel were ready to take their music in a new direction, and with Rain Dances they take a more jazz and fusion sound than previous records, with mostly pleasing results.

The presence of Mel Collins is apparent and effective on the opening track 'First Light', an interesting but still rocking track with good melodies and somewhat experimental keyboard work and modulation and a great saxophone solo that literally steals away from Andy Latimer's lead guitar, it was a sign that the Camel sound of which we had become accustomed to was changing.

'Metrognome' ticks away nicely, Richard Sinclair uses his soft and warm voice in good contrast with Latimer's bright intermittent guitar phrases. Collins and Sinclair then lead the middle section in a jazzified dance-like tune with Latimer joining and finishing the track with a strong guitar driven outro. Bardens doesn't shine here, but he needn't concern himself , the only strong part of the track is the final 60 seconds which is really just a showcase of Latimer's already but still growing guitar soloing ability.

'Tell Me' is a poetic melancholy almost ambient track which features voice-like synthesiser chords and a rather beautiful flute solo which fades into Barden's keyboard, Andy ward's drumming is seemingly absent, and Sinclair's bass is minimal but compliments the other sounds. Latimer restricts himself to flute only. It's among the better tracks on the album, partly due to the fact that it's restrained and simple, nothing is forced or overused, it flows gently and while it may not stand out in the Camel catalogue, it's a song of true musicianship.

Now for 'Highways of the Sun' the riff is poppy, cheesy but infectious, the plodding basslines have a degree of flair to them, and Barden's phrases and fills are quite melodic but there's no escaping the obvious 'single' that this track was intended to be. The chorus is short and sweet, it's a shame that the best part of the track was edited out for the single release. It could've been a better track, but it's forgiveable, and it doesn't break the flow of the album.

'Unevensong' may very well be the finest example of Camel's songwriting and compositional abilities. Credited to the original 3 members (Latimer, Bardens & Ward) it's a vibrant showcase of each players talents whilst also allowing them to play off and compliment each other. The opening is very much uneven, a jarring riff that quickly finds it's feet and rocks along thanks to the skillful rhythm section, Latimer's takes several opportunities to fill in the gaps with some fierce guitar licks, while Barden's opts for the more mellow side, these two contrasting attitudes somehow combine into a melody motif mid-way through the track, which is in the essence the 'uneven'-ness of the entire piece. They return to the original riff, before shifting into an entirely new movement, primarily consisting of Latimer's flanging guitar chords and Ward's slow tempo drumming, some simple licks fill in between some of the most beautiful and touching lyrics the band ever wrote. The outro features the motif melody from earlier in the song, this time flavoured more with the sombreness of the previous movement, making what follows much more poignant but also ambiguous. The melody is assisted by another melody and after two measures another melody joins it and this repeats again, with the final two melodies sharing the spotlight, the drumming kicks up a notch and Bardens assists with a variation on his original chords to give the major sounding melodies and minor sounding backdrop. And it's the entirety of the track that allows it to play on emotion in but major and minor tones, going from one musical dimension to the other but still featuring both throughout.

'One of these Days I'll Get an Early Night' is a very groovy, jammy sort of track, as if each player is waiting in line to step up and join in. It features everyone jamming along and gives the impression that they really enjoy playing with eachother.

'Elke' is a Latimer piece that is synth and flute dominant, but very harrowing and dark but hypnotically beautiful.

'Skylines' showed where Camel where heading in their next album "Breathless" more upbeat and bright keyboard driven stuff, with more rhythm guitar. It's a shame because Barden's really shines but Latimer's guitar tries to anchor the track, whilst Bardens seems keen to float away, somehow they play along with eachother to finish the track and it's the best part of it.

'Rain Dances' extends the outro of 'First Light' only with less instrumentation, and flair, but it's a neat way to bookend the album.