CAMEL : ON THE ROAD 1972

1. Lady Fantasy
2. Six Ate
3. White Rider
4. God of Light Revisited

Label : Camel Productions

Venue : unknown venue

Recording Date : 1972

Release Date : August 24, 1992

Length : 44:18

Review (ProgWereld) : Eigenlijk begint het allemaal hier: een jaar voordat de allereerste studioplaat van Camel verschijnt, speelt het prille bandje op een niet bekende locatie stukken die geschiedenis zouden maken, waaronder dat sleutelnummer Lady Fantasy. Gek genoeg ontstaat dit begin van alle dingen Camel pas in 1991, als Latimer tijdens het opbouwen van een nieuwe studio een doos met oude banden vindt. Die banden zijn de oerbron van de serie "officiële bootlegs", een reeks live-platen waarmee de band de eindeloze stroom slechte en dure illegale bootlegs probeert te stoppen. Ze zijn tevens het begin van Latimer's eigen platenlabel Camel Productions. Als je bedenkt hoe luxueus live-albums kunnen zijn, is "On The road 1972" van een gekmakende soberheid. Vier stukken, een simpel hoesje, wat wazige en hopeloos oninformatieve tekstjes van Latimer ("Peter kon overal de humor van inzien, van Andy leerde ik in het donker naar muziek te luisteren"; we hadden het niet willen missen), meer niet. De geluidskwaliteit is niet om over naar huis te schrijven. En toch is dit een plaat van grote waarde. Vier stukken muziek, waarvan er maar één (Lady Fantasy) nog eens op een live-album terecht zou komen. Oké, God Of Light Revisited is een versie van Bardens' Hommage To The God Of Light (van zijn soloplaat "The Answer") en dat nummer zou onder de titel Lord Of Light Revisited verschijnen op de obscure "Greasy Truckers: Live At Dingwall's Dance Hall" en daarna op de officiële bootleg "Gods Of Light" uit 2000, maar dat is dus niet dezelfde versie! De andere stukken verschijnen alleen maar in studiovorm, Six Ate op debuutalbum "Camel" en White Rider staat, net als Lady Fantasy, op "Mirage", als deel van Nimrodel. Tot zover de statistieken. "On The Road 1972" is een heerlijk tijdsklankbeeld. De opnamen zijn niet helemaal hi-fi, maar de ruis draagt bij aan de sfeer van de muziek, net als de instrumenten. Bardens gebruikt een synthesizer die hij tegen de tijd dat de studioplaten werden opgenomen, niet meer had, hij verruilde zijn VCS-3 voor een Minimoog. Latimer was, zo schrijft hij in een heldere bui in het boekje, voor de opnamen gevallen omdat ze het gevoel dat de muzikanten inspireerde om samen te werken zo mooi weergeven. Dat kan ik me helemaal voorstellen. Deze versie van Camel heeft natuurlijk maar een jaar of vijf bestaan, maar de muziek die gemaakt werd was wel heel bijzonder. Je hoort in elk geval een ontzettend hechte band, de ritmesectie staat als een huis. De versies van Lady Fantasy, Six Ate en White Rider zijn niet zo heel verschillend van de versies op de studioalbums. De band is zo te horen in topvorm en rockt behoorlijk, maar blijft toch netjes binnen de lijntjes. Deze opnamen bewijzen maar weer eens hoe zelfverzekerd de band op die eerste studioplaten moet zijn geweest; ze hadden al die ingewikkelde stukken al járen in de vingers. Grappig om te horen dat het publiek zo enthousiast is. Als dit écht opnamen uit 1972 zijn, moet de muziek van dit bandje ze toch ook onbekend voorgekomen zijn. God Of Light Revisited is het meest bijzondere stuk van de plaat, omdat het de bandleden de ruimte gaf om eens lekker in het rond te pielen. Dat is niet over de hele linie een onverdeeld genoegen, Bardens gaat met zijn Hammond B3 orgel een gevecht aan waarvan de uitkomst zelfs nu nog ter discussie staat. Ik vind het in elk geval wat lang duren, dan hoor ik liever Latimer aan zijn vermaarde stijl sleutelen. In elk geval is dit het enige stuk waarop de band nog met vorm en stijl aan het experimenteren is, op de andere nummers lijkt de band al 'af'. Al met al is "On The Road 1972" geen volkomen onmisbare plaat, maar als document van het allereerste begin van Camel is het toch een beluistering meer dan waard. Wie de band wil leren kennen, mag dit eerste hoofdstukje niet overslaan.

Review (ProgArchives) : An archival live recording released in 1992 some 20 years after this concert was recorded in 1972. This has to be one of the earliest recordings of Camel's classic lineup as their debut wasn't released until 1973. The four tracks will be familiar to any Camel fan but the surprising thing is that only one of these songs made their self titled debut and that was "Six Ate" the instrumental. Perhaps stranger still was that the second album "Mirage" would feature two others from this 1972 recording in "Lady Fantasy" and "White Rider". The final tune is one I'm familiar with from another live album but it was never used on a studio album and that's "God Of Light". Some brief comments about the four songs as I've already reviewed them on other recordings and these aren't far off the originals, wait a minute aren't these the originals? "Lady Fantasy" is an almost 14 minute classic. The way multiple themes are repeated and the sound of that distorted organ and those laid back, almost whimsical vocals and melancholy, well this is why Camel is one of my favourite bands. "Six Ate" the instrumental is much like the one on the debut with the organ and guitar taking turns leading and the calms that break things up. Applause ends it as it blends into "White Rider" where the applause continues as spacey sounds arrive and relaxed keys. Soon marching styled drums take over then it settles to that familiar melodic guitar after 1 1/2 minutes as our 10 minute ride is on the way. Love the distorted organ and again the vocals. Great track! "God Of Light" is an instrumental that is not your typical Camel. The crazy synths that fire off like shooting stars and also create some experimental sounds take this beyond Symphonic at times although it is certainly that. I'm not sure why I'm settling with 4 stars and not more. It clocks in at just over 44 minutes and it's a pleasure to hear how amazing this band was in a live setting before their first album was even recorded.

Review (ProgArchives) : For the case of Sweden's Pain of Salvation - they wrote music as a concept and performed it live before no one has ever heard the music before and a year later they released the official studio album "Be". Another year they released the live DVD Be Live. It's different case with Camel. They wrote music, played it live in 1972 before they never existed in studio album - which only happened in 1973 and only one song "Six Ate" from the performance in 1972 was recorded in first self titled camel album. Twenty years later (1992) they released "Warning: Camel On The Road 1972". As Latimer put it in liner notes [quoted here to give you the perspective and context]: "Although the essence of Camel changed when Doug left and we all grew apart musically, our frienships remain strong to this day. I chose this tape because it has the feel that inspired us to work together, despite it being nearly 20 years old and not the best quality ." I have no other choice for this live album than giving it a masterpiece label for couple of reasons. First, the band took a bold idea recorded their music live even before they never had a studio album recorded yet. Even though I am not clear where this performance was done but the idea of putting it together as a live band is brilliant! The fact that they only released it 20 years later after they had been considered success does not really matter to me at all. With this tape we could even compare how the band was like before, say, "Lady Fantasy" had ever been recorded in their second studio album. Second, musically .. this is a top notch performance and I dare to take any challenge from you that may disagree with my view here. Yes, you may compare this with Genesis's "Foxtrot" or Yes "Fragile" which happened around the same period. But they are all studio album, and this one is a live one man . remember that! Wanna have some proof? See how powerful guitar melody and fills produced by Latimer - it's so lively and I can feel a very strong drive of his guitar playing style. Andy ward plays his inventive drumming energetically. Doug Ferguson is one of the best bass players for prog music. Bardens? Come on .he's a very talented Hammond organ player. His style of punching organ is killing many people man . So damn powerful! Third, yes the sound quality is bad - so what? In fact this bad sound quality gives me great value of this record. Why? If the sound is as great as Dream Theater's "Images and Words" sound quality, this album has lost its powerful nuance of "classic" seventies where the recording technology was very analog and the latest invention was only "stereo". So I do enjoy the sound being like this - which I call it in my locality language as nuansamatik meaning the sound that represents the nuances where the album was made. I can assure you that I also experienced similar case with sound in radio broadcasting. Previously we had classic rock radio station operated at FM wave which finally defunct this year after ten years in business due to mismanagement. Luckily, there is a new born classic rock radio The Jakarta Alternative Station which operates in AM wave. First time I heard it, I was not happy. But later . hey by the time the classic rock was around in seventies all radio was operating in AM or SW waves - so it's better with AM sound than FM - more nuansamatik. Back to Camel On The Road 1972: If you proclaim yourself as prog lover, this is a must have in your CD collection. Buy it now man! You won't regret. And .. don't forget to tell the storekeeper: "Keep on proggin' ..!"

Review (ProgArchives) : Camel was formed in 1971 when the former band members of a band called The Brew, Andrew Latimer, Andy Ward and Doug Ferguson recruited another member Peter Bardens. After an initial presentation to a meeting under the name On, they changed their name to Camel and performed in the 4th of December, of the same year, their first live presentation at Waltham Forest Technical College, in London. And so, it was born and emerged a band that would become as one of the best and most influential progressive rock bands in the world, even in our days. 'Camel On The Road 1972' is chronologically the third live album of Camel and despite have been recorded in 1972, it was only released twenty years later in 1992. The most curious and interesting fact with this live album is due to the date of the recordings of the album. In reality, this is truly the debut record of the group. In fact, their debut studio album, their eponymous 'Camel', was recorded only one year later of the recordings of this one, in 1973.The line up of this live album is Andrew Latimer (vocals and guitar), Peter Bardens (vocals and keyboards), Doug Ferguson (vocals and bass) and Andy Ward (drums). This is the original and classic line up of the band who performed in their four first studio albums, which are in general considered their best studio albums, and which is also considered the best line up of the group, ever. 'Camel On The Road 1972' contains only four songs and we can say that it's a kind of a live mini EP. As Camel mentioned on the sleeve notes of the album, this live album is an official bootleg. The first track 'Lady Fantasy' was written by Camel and is a live version of the song originally released on their second studio album 'Mirage'. The second track 'Six Ate' was written by Latimer and is a live version of the song originally released on their eponymous debut studio album 'Camel'. The third track 'White Rider' was also written by Latimer and is a live version of the song originally released also on their second studio album 'Mirage'. The fourth and last track 'God Of Light Revisited' was written by Bardens and was never released on any studio album of the band, despite being regularly incorporated into many of their live shows, mainly during this first musical period of Camel. This song was originally released on the debut solo studio album of Bardens, 'The Answer', released in 1970, with the name of "Homage To The God Of Light'. It's interesting to note and it's also very curious that 'Lady Fantasy' and 'White Rider' weren't released on their debut studio album, 'Camel', like 'Six Ate' was, but only on their second studio album 'Mirage' released only two years later, in 1974. Once more we can also see the careful and perfect balance between the two main writers of the songs on Camel, at the time. There is a song of the band, a song of Bardens and despite that there are two songs of Latimer, the duration of them are approximately equal to those of Bardens. About the live performance of the songs, what I can say is that 'Lady Fantasy' and 'White Rider', are two fantastic songs which have contributed to 'Mirage' be one of the best studio albums of the band. They're two of my favourite songs of Camel, too. Both songs are excellently performed live. The sound isn't perfect of course, but it's really great, for a bootleg album. 'Six Ate' is also a good song but is inferior to the other two songs, to my taste. However, the live performance is a typical live track of Camel and is also excellent. 'God Of Light Revisited' is an instrumental song more psychedelic and experimental that goes very well when performed live. This is a great piece of music performed live, superiorly. It's a pure psychedelic and experimental improvised version that sounds really great. My first contact with this song was in my version of their debut album 'Camel', as a bonus track. The live version, on that album, was recorded live at the famous and mythical Marquee Club at 29th October 1974 and was previously unreleased. Conclusion: As I said before, 'Camel On The Road 1972' is a short live album with only four songs. Anyway, 'Camel On The Road 1972' is a very good live album, with very inspired live performances of the original studio songs. However, don't be fooled by the minimalistic cover and date of the show. This is really a quality recording of the band on their very first tour together. I like very much the energy and vibe all over the album. It's true that the sound quality of the album isn't perfect, but after the digital treatment made on it, it's quite acceptable. And we can't also forget that this is a bootleg album recorded in 1972. Of course we can't say that it's an essential release, but you will not regret if you buy it. Again, the fidelity and the overall quality are quite good. So, I've no hesitation in saying that this is an excellent addition to any progressive collection, especially if you are a hard fan of the band, as I am. This is a very special live album of Camel and is a real live testimony that shows how great this band was when they performed live.