I CAN SEE YOUR HOUSE FROM HERE

I Can See Your House From Here is the seventh studio album from symphonic prog rockers Camel. Many consider this album to be a complete failure and therefore the rating is very low here on Prog Archives. Allthough I do understand those who are disappointed with this album, I´m one of the few who thinks it´s allright. It´s not excellent by any means but there are some good things here that I actually enjoy. Like most younger prog heads I bought this one as a collectors item in the nineties when I was purchasing Camel´s albums in used album stores. I listened to it one time and was majorly disappointed and it hasn´t left my shelf again until a couple of weeks ago when I decided it was time to review it.

The music is unmistakebly Camel. The simple yet melodic vocals, the funky drums from Andy Ward and the beutiful guitar leads from Andrew Latimer. All trademarks which is as present here as on any other Camel album. The big change has happened behind the keyboard as Peter Bardens has left the band and Jan Scelhaas ( formerly of Caravan) is the new man on that ( those) instrument(s). Jan has a very pleasant style not unlike the one of Peter Bardens and allthough I must admit that I am not keyboard wiz I really can´t hear much difference between the two. Richard Sinclair has also left the band and new bassist/ vocalist is Colin Bass.

What most people don´t like about I Can See Your House From Here is that the eighties AOR sound is beginning to enter Camel´s sound. Just listen to some of the choirs in the songs and of course the keyboard sounds that are used. I rather enjoy the eighties sounding keyboards but the AOR/ new wave trend isn´t that much to my liking either. It doesn´t destroy my listening pleasure though. At times Camel comes very close to sounding like Caravan but the two bands have always had a link.

I enjoy all songs on the album but there are some standout tracks. The opener Wait is an enjoyable yet very poppy vocal oriented song which can also be said about Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine. Who We Are starts out with a great instrumental part and a couple of minutes in the singing starts. It´s great to begin with but the chorus is hidious. Soak in strings and too commercial ( did anyone say Caravan?). There are also some enjoyable tracks near the end of the album in the humorous Remote Romance which is a very eighties sounding song. Ice ends the album in majestic style. A nice 10 minute long guitar solo track. It´s such a great song where Andrew Latimer really shines. It might be a bit too nice at times which means it borders easy listening but it´s still very beautiful. The other songs are also good.

The musicianship is excellent as usual.

The production is not as good as on the two previous albums but it´s still good.

I Can See Your House From Here isn´t exactly my favorite Camel album but I think it´s a good album and it deserves 3 stars. It´s a very eighties sounding album and some might have problems with that, so keep that in mind when you purchase this album so you don´t expect something that sounds like The Snow Goose or Moonmadness because this album sounds very different from those classic albums. Still enjoyable though.