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Review: Camel, The Forum, Bath
Barely a week goes by these days without yet another veteran rocker retiring or falling off the perch, which means that many of our favourite bands now face something of a dilemma. The audiences are still out there in huge numbers, but questions of legitimacy arise as ranks are depleted. Clearly, the temptation must be to replace the fallen or departed with soundalikes in the hope that no one notices or objects too much. A riskier option is to draft in younger musicians who bring something fresh to the table while delivering a sense of continuity. It’s a tricky balancing act, but when this works it can pay rich dividends, reinvigorating the old guard and delighting fans. Hawkwind pulled it off successfully with Haz Wheaton and are enjoying renewed popularity as a result. But rarely has there been such a success quite as spectacular as Camel’s recruitment of hugely talented singer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Jones.
The main advertised attraction tonight is a complete performance of Camel’s biggest seller, Moonmadness, from 1976. Aristillus serving as an intro tape, they kick off the show with all 40 glorious minutes of the album, played in sequence without any introductions or even a word to the audience. Coming to the end of a fairly lengthy, mostly sold-out world tour, which began back in May and climaxes at the Albert Hall next week, they’re on fiery form as they work through its many moods from the pastoral Spirit of the Water to the jazzy Lunar Sea, with founder/guitarist/flautist/chief songwriter Andrew Latimer betraying no outward sign of the ill-health that’s dogged him of late, while the dynamic and formidable rhythm section of bassist Colin Bass and drummer Denis Clement (who’s notched up a mere 18 years of service in the Camel cause) keep the spectre of prog torpor at bay.
Jones, who’s been blind more-or-less since birth, moves somewhat gingerly across the stage assisted by Bass. But once he’s seated, he’s the absolute master of his domain. At first, the effect is subtle. His keyboards are higher in the mix than usual, duelling with Latimer’s distinctive mellifluous guitar, and he gives the vocals a boost by contributing to augmented three-part harmonies. But by the time they get to a slightly revamped Another Night, he’s seriously multi-tasking. Doing the work of two musicians, he not only takes the lead vocal and plays keyboards but also delivers the saxophone solo that was previously played in a live context by King Crimson’s Mel Collins. Let’s hope he’s being paid double.
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The overall effect is dramatic, not least in the vocal department. This was always Camel’s weak point as Latimer and the late Peter Bardens were never more than adequate singers, which perhaps explains why so much of the band’s music is instrumental. With all due respect to his capable immediate predecessor Ton Scherpenzeel, Jones takes this material to a whole new level.
Of course, the classic album tour is always something of a slam-dunk for bands, but the real surprise comes in the much longer second half of the show, which proves to be even better. Having delivered the promised nostalgiafest, they delve deeper into the Camel catalogue with the emphasis on more recent albums. After easing us in gently with the lovely Unevensong from Rain Dances, it’s forward to Hymn to Her, the first of two songs from I Can See Your House from Here, with Jones once again taking the lead vocal. He introduces the second track from that album, the lengthy instrumental Ice, as being his audition song for the band, though it’s actually a showcase for Latimer, who absolutely nails its blistering solo.
The Steinbeck-inspired Dust and Dreams yields three numbers, including Mother Road, which sees Camel venture as far as they’ve ever been into driving hard rock territory. But the absolute highlight is the smoky title track from Rajaz, now repurposed with a breathtaking, lengthy sax solo from Jones, which brings the audience to their feet. Although the encore of Lady Fantasy from Mirage (recorded, as Latimer observes, before two members of the current band were born) is a tad predictable, there’s no doubting that we’ve just witnessed the best iteration of Camel since their 1970s heyday.
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