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The Snow Goose by Camel

In all my music listening life I have been overwhelmed by a couple of bands and the moments when I discovered them. These were: listening to Wishbone Ash the first time, rediscovering the original progressive side of pre-Phil Collins-fronted Genesis, rediscovering Pre-Breakfast in America Supertramp and off late Canterbury based progressive rock band Camel.

What a joy and an honour to be writing about such a great band fronted and still lead by the talented Andrew Latimer, one of the original founders of Camel. It is interesting to note that the band, Peter Bardens’ On changed their name to Camel after a gig supporting the big band, the inspiration behind great-anonymous-albums.com, Wishbone Ash.

It’s a shame that such a great band must only be listened to by Camel’s cult following. Such a big shining star in the world of Progressive Rock Camel certainly needs more air play, listening and viewing. I have also become such an ardent fan of Andrew Latimer and I think he is one of the few guitarists out there who can reproduce the same guitar time and again on stage, that you heard inside the studio on the CD. I have watched him perform live on videos on YouTube and it is unbelievable how he can come up with such performances. His hallmark is his beautiful melancholy sound and his ear for melody and great tunes even shows up in the fast paced songs. The other musicians support him well on this album; Peter Bardens on keyboards, Doug Fergusson on bass and Andy Ward on drums.

Released in 1975, The Snow Goose was Camel’s third album. Mostly instrumental this is one of those beautiful prog-rock albums that you can take on the road or listen in private and will never wear you down. And unlike most prog-rock albums most of the songs are small but knitted together. The longest (just a couple of them) are only just a little over 5 min long and one over 4 min. After using “novel” based concepts in their breakthrough album “Mirage”, Camel decided to go with Doug Fergusson’s suggestion of “The Snow Goose” by author Paul Gallico. Earlier they had contemplated on Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha and Steppenwolf. When Paul Gallico who detested smoking decided to take the band to court (Camel is also the name of the popular cigarette) the band avoided legal action by adding the words “Music inspired by” before the title of the album “The Snow Goose”.

This album also showcased Andrew Latimer’s flute abilities that he did for the first time on the previous album “Mirage” and he doesn’t disappoint. This is not the energetic and distorted sounds like Ian Anderson’s flute of Jethro Tull but melodious as flutes normally sound.

Here’s a review of the songs.

The Great Marsh introduces the album with the sounds of geese in a marsh. Gradually Peter’s chords on the keys take over. Female vocals and Andrew’s guitar can also be heard. Bass and drums join in for a lovely small introductory tune.

Rhayader introduces Latimer on flute with Peter on Piano and with other musicians break into a lovely instrumental with solos on the flute by Andrew and later Peter on the keyboards and finally Latimer concludes with the flute tunes once again.

Rhayader goes to Town starts with a bang. Latimer switches to the Fender Strat and the band delivers a lovely instrumental with Latimer doing a delightful solo on his guitar engaging the tremolo. Peter, Doug and Andy Ward provide all the necessary support.

Sanctuary - Lovely little guitar instrumental from Andrew Latimer.

Fritha - Lovely little guitar instrumental from Peter on the keyboards, Andrew on guitar and Doug on Bass.

The Snow Goose is a beautiful instrumental (befitting the title song) from the four musicians and I have listened to it infinite times already. Andrew’s Les Paul is soulful and beautiful.

Friendship - A nice digression using wind instruments. Except for the keyboard played by Peter the rest (trumpet, horn etc) are played by guest musicians. (This can be seen in the video, link below.)

Migration - With drum roll on the snare this song features non lyric-vocals from the musicians. Check out the lovely bass notes from Doug.

Rhayader alone - Soft keys and lovely guitar, Peter and Andrew perform a beautiful little tune befitting the lonliness of Rhayader in the song.

Flight of the Snow Goose - Starts with silence, Peter Bardens’ keyboards then sets in and the musicians burst into a happy tune.

Preparation - Andrew uses his flute again starting softly then vocals are heard with the music in the background become a repetitive loop giving it the real prog-rock feel. Some other sounds can also be heard. Song kept reminding me of the start of Wishbone Ash’s “Pilgrim”, as though preparing for something exciting.

Dunkirk - The rythmic sound on the keys, bass and drums does make you inquisitive but the monotonous tunes that start go on for about three minutes but after that Andrew Latimer delivers a searing hot solo on his guitar.

Epitaph - We hear a similar loop that we did before in “Preperation” and it goes on to fade.

Fritha Alone - Beautiful piano tune from Peter Bardens.

La Princesse Purdue - Starts from silence and gradually violin strings break the silence and the band goes into a tune and then pausing for Peter Bardens to do his bit on his keys and later to continue the earlier tune again with background score. Once again Peter goes into solo mode on his keys and almost coming to a stop. Andrew now takes over with his melancholy tune on his guitar signalling a “Goodbye” with Peter mixing tunes from “The Snow Goose” instrumental. The Bass from Doug is almost identical to what he played on The Snow Goose. You could say this was a different version of The Snow Goose instrumental.

The Great Marsh - As conclusion a visit is paid to the marsh and sounds of the geese is once again heard. Peter Concludes with the same keyboard sounds that he used to start the album.

The YouTube link to the live performance of “The Snow Goose”, “Friendship” and “Rhyader goes to town” on the Old Grey Whistle Test recorded way back in May 9, (also my birthday anniversary), 1975, displays Camel’s fantastic live playing. Watch a shy Andrew and his friends play great tunes from The Snow Goose.

The album’s success also led to a prestigious sell out concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, with the London Symphony Orchestra in the same year of the album’s release. In 1981 The Snow Goose reached Silver status but I really wonder if many good music listeners have listened to this lovely album.

A very different prog-rock album from one my all time favourite prog rock sounds, the Canterbury sound. You won’t regret it.

Buy Camel’s The Snow Goose from Amazon.com. The 2002 remaster even has additional bonus covers and unreleased versions of the songs on the album.

You can find all Camel related information on their official site www.camelproductions.com. Anderw Latimer is just recovering from a stem cell transplant operation to help him fight his blood disorder. Susan Hoover, Andrew’s wife reports regularly on his condition on the bands newsletter, also found on the same site under the link News. Also find all merchandise and recordings (Audio and Video) of Camel on the site www.camelproductions-store.com if you cannot get them on Amazon.

Better still download the album for free at UnlimitedDownloadCenter.com.