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BLOW BY BLOW - 1975
Your All-Genres Guide To
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"...Rhayder Takes
Flight..."
Camel's self-titled debut
album from February 1973 had clocked up modest sales of 5000 within its first
year of UK release (MCA Records MUPS 473) and their better recorded and
presented second platter "Mirage" from March 1974 (Deram SML 1107)
did considerably better - even denting the Top 200 in the USA at No. 149 in
November of that year (prompting a US tour).
But it was their third LP
"The Snow Goose" - an instrumental concept album with 'music inspired
by' Paul Gallico's 1941 short story and presented in a classy laminate sleeve
(with insert) that turned them into genuine Prog Rock stars and saw Camel
finally make a chart presence in the UK (albeit at a modest No. 22). Let's
allow the caged bird to sing...
UK released June 2002 -
(Music Inspired By) "The Snow Goose" by CAMEL on Universal/Decca
8829302 (Barcode 042288293026) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster
of the 1975 album with Five Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (67:54
minutes):
1. The Great Marsh [Side 1]
2. Rhayder
3. Rhayder Goes To Town
4. Sanctuary
5. Fritha
6. The Snow Goose
7. Friendship
8. Migration
9. Rhayder Alone
10. Flight Of The Snow Goose
[Side 2]
11. Preparation
12. Dunkirk
13. Epitaph
14. Fritha Alone
15. La Princesse Perdue
16. The Great Marsh
Tracks 1 to 16 are their
third studio album (Music Inspired By) "The Snow Goose" - released
May 1975 in the UK on Decca/Gama Records SKL-R 5207 and July 1975 in the USA on
Janus Records JXS 7016 (reissued in 1977 on Passport Records PB 9856). Produced
by DAVID HITCHCOCK - the album peaked at No. 22 on the UK charts and No. 162 in
the USA.
BONUS TRACKS:
17. Flight Of The Snow Goose
(Single Edit - 2:05 minutes)
18. Rhayder (Single Edit)
Tracks 17 and 18 are the
A&B-sides of a May 1975 UK released 7" single on Decca F R 13581
19. Flight Of The Snow Goose
(Alternate Single Edit - 2:49 minutes)
20. Rhayder Goes To Town
21. (a) The Snow Goose (b)
Freefall
Tracks 20 and 21 recorded
live at The Marquee in London, September/October 1974 - Tracks 17 to 21 all
Previously Unreleased on CD
CAMEL was:
ANDREW LATIMER - Acoustic,
Electric and Slide Guitars, Flute and Vocals
PETER BARDENS - Organ,
Electric Piano, Piano, Mini Moog Synthesiser, Pipe Organ, Acoustic Piano, ARP
Odyssey and Vocals
DOUG FERGUSON - Bass
ANDY WARD - Drums, Vibes and
Percussion
The first UK CD incarnation
of "The Snow Goose" came on Deram 800 080-2 as a Digital Remaster in
July 1988 and I had that issue for years - here the audio is notably uplifted -
the keyboards and David Bedford orchestral arrangements on "La Princesse
Perdue" just beautifully rendered. PASCHAL BYRNE - an Audio Engineer of
serious experience - has done the honours here and it's a sweetly warm and
musical job done. The 8-page booklet has liner notes from MARK POWELL (later of
Esoteric Recordings) that features the usual period photos, an advert for the
American issue that dropped the moniker 'Music Inspired By' for just "The
Snow Goose", a Decca advert for the album and a tour with guitarist
Michael Chapman and the whole thing dedicated to Peter Bardens who had only
just passed away in late January 2002 as the reissue was going to press. It's
nicely done and the Bonus Tracks are just that - genuine Extras for Camel fans
- the period live tracks and the rare single-edits all new-to-CD. Let's get to
the music...
The album was conceived and
written in a cottage in Devon and in the autumn of 1974 the band toured the new
material culminating in two shows at London's Marquee in September and October.
Decca recorded some of those performances and they appear as Bonus Tracks on
this CD for the first time.
Camel's "Snow
Goose" is an album that requires listening - a slice of Prog that creeps
up on you with its beauty. David Hitchcock's production values shine as we fade
into "The Great Marsh" - floating ethereal like the magnificent birds
near water and reeds. "Rhayder" and "Rhayder Goes To Town"
are the first flourishes of brilliance from guitarist Andrew Latimer - the
latter allowing gorgeous Spanish Acoustic guitar passages to flow into
complimentary Mini Moog moments from Peter Bardens (I'm so reminded of Dave
Greenslade's band here and especially "Bedside Manners Are Extra".
And as "Fritha” segues
into "The Snow Goose" that lead electric guitar sounds amazing - the
bass and organ that follow warm and clear too.
Over on Side 2 both "Flight Of The Snow Goose" with its very
Prog keyboard fade-in alongside the floating guitars, flutes and ooh-voices of
the gorgeous "Preparation" stake out the album's greatness - melody
swirling around inside all that birdy concept stuff - music that sounds as
beautiful as its subject matter.
A quality album then given
an even better lease of life on this exceptional CD Reissue and Remaster - and
it's only four squid. Time to fly indeed...
