I CAN SEE YOUR HOUSE FROM HERE

Another round of lineup changes leads to another shift in Camel's sound. The departure of Richard Sinclair halted the jazzy Canterbury dabblings of the previous two albums, whilst Peter Bardens' leaving might have deprived the band of one of the talents who had made their early albums so essential, but at least meant the band could proceed without clashes over musical direction between Latimer and Bardens compromising the recording process.

The arrival of Happy the Man's Kit Watkins on keyboards results in the presence of Eye of the Storm - and if it sounds like a leftover Happy the Man track, that's because it is - but otherwise the album sees Camel continuing its quest for an accessible, commercial style unhindered by Canterbury affectations or qualms from Bardens about the new direction.

Whereas in the hands of other musicians this might have resulted in an inoffensive if rather soulless pop album, it seems like Andy Latimer just can't quite go straightforwardly pop if he tried; the end result is this interesting prog-pop mix (with hidden depths that the recent Esoteric remaster nicely teases out), capped off with the high-quality latter-day epic Ice. I like many prog fans rejected this album at first, but over time it's grown on me a bit - it's still a bit of a muddle to my ears, but when it's good it's really quite good, so long as what you're after is emotional, romantic prog-pop as opposed to arcane prog rock.