If I would follow the timeline of the concerts, the next video to describe would be the one with Preperation and Dunkirk from the album The Snow Goose. But that was not the video I wanted to continue with. I even had been hesitating to include that video. Not because of Dunkirk, as I think it is one of the best performances I heard of Dunkirk. I think it has a fantastic power in that concert and it also is amazing to see it played live.

Next is Lunar Sea, which is on the album Moonmadness. I always liked that album a lot, especially Song within a Song and Spirit of the Water but most of all Air Born. Air Born is one of those songs I can turn on repeat and listen to the whole evening, over and over again. And even with the volume up, you do not have to be alone in the room.

Others like it too (well, maybe not as many times in a row) and it gives a real relaxing and special atmosphere which fills the whole room. I also like the lyrics here (and if the world keeps spinning round, you’ll be back again), which summarizes a bit my overall feeling of the album.

But when I watched the live videos, I started to appreciate the other tracks on the album much more. Two of them are on the dvd Moondances (Another Night and Lunar Sea) and at the moment I like them even more than my previous favourites, but that might easily change if I would find a live version of Air Born.

What I like most in Lunar Sea, is the gradually rising from a background, playing an impressive role, going over in a perfect combination of qualities and then gradually being taken over again to finish where it started.

In the concert Lunar Sea starts after the White Rider (Expression of the self) which goes perfectly over from one song into another. The beginning gives a very specific mood, no real playing, actually more several sounds that fill the space. I never realised it so much before, but Andrews guitar is also very notable here and even plays a certain melody. I think it is something he does with his guitar what you can see very well in the middle part of Lady Fantasy. A sound as if he makes the guitar cry. And I think he does that here too, it is a sort of melody. Only very subtle and I am not sure because it could easily be another sound.

Amazing camerawork
Apart from the sounds, it also is very special to watch the camerawork, which is just amazing. During the whole concert there are close ups and images mixed up all the time. Which at times gives a very special effect. Here with Lunar Sea you look at the drums moving and the players are reflected in them. You see Peter Bardens reflected in the drums and you see the face of Andrew Latimer showing up very subtle. Most is dark but some lights  stand out, especially Badens’ blouse, a white shining blouse which reflects many of the colours during the concert. It is just a pity that the bass player, Doug Ferguson, is hardly visible.

Then a rhythm starts with the keyboard and the drums, very soft at first and gradually increasing, the speed as well as the volume. And now the colours come in. On this video it is not so visible, but the colours are very bright and really impressive.

Reacting to every tone
Then the sound of the guitar comes in very clear and several things happen at the same time, so you have no idea where to focus. First of course the sound of the guitar, it is just amazing. But at the same time your eyes get fixed on the expression on Latimers face, which again is in close up reflected in the drums. You can just watch the impact every tone has on him. Really very special to see. Then the camera moves away and you get a great look at his playing. He is still visible in the drums and very fixed on the sound of his guitar. You can see him react to every note. Then it seems that he is getting it and all instruments are coming together again.

Then the keyboard takes over and the rest is very relaxing supportive. Again great camera work with pictures through each other and beautiful colours reflected in the drums and the blouse. Then a focus on the drums and the speed goes up.

Coherent repeating melody
Now the guitar comes in again but this time much more playing his own tune. As if he is trying things out, but even though is fantastically followed by rest. It really sounds great together. Then the speed goes up even further and somehow it become a coherent repeating melody which goes on for a while.

I think this is my favourite part of Lunar Sea. Although the guitar is really going on with it, tends to escape and do very much what he wants, still it is followed by the rest and not just that, even very much complementing it. To me it sounds as this is what playing together is all about. It sounds very confident, melodic and powerful. But also a perfect coming together of instruments.

Then the speed and volume gradually decreases and all is taken over again by the sounds of nature. And Lunar Sea will almost unnoticeable go over in the next ones, Preparation and Dunkirk from the album the Snow Goose.

Rhythm of life
Lunar Sea reminds me of the whole Story of the Snow Goose, which also has this increasing, playing its part and decreasing again. And I like that very much. It has this undeniable rhythm of life in it. Given as a very clear structure, but within that structure there is all freedom for experiment. And because they are so good together, it sounds amazing.

VIDEO: LUNAR SEA

The first video is the White Rider, which is originally on the album Mirage. Mirage is the album of 1974 and it was the second album of Camel as a group. I like it a lot as a whole, but it was not my favourite at the time I was listening to their music the most.

And as I am finding out now, it especially had to do with the White Rider (officially Nimrodel, the Procession, the White Rider). Not that I did not like that one, I always liked it a lot. The beginning, very spacy and atmospheric, great, I like that. Then the more determined marching feeling it gives, which I also very much enjoy listening to. Increasing and increasing and than wow, the guitar, just amazing. I just like it so very much. And then a sort of melancholic continuing.

Next is the start of the lyrics. While reading a lot of reviews of that album these last few day, it became clear that most consider those not the best part of Camel. So I tried to figure out what I thought of them. Some called them boring, while others called them effective but not to exciting. I kind of agree with that. Somehow Latimers voice gives me the feeling of  ‘okay someone has to sing here’, but it is not the way he expresses himself, not the way as he does that with his guitar.

Moving sound
There were a lot of reviewers who liked the way he played the flute, who were very charmed by the second song on the album, Supertwister. Well, I must say I personally like the way he plays the pan flute in Stationary Traveller. It is a very sensitive, but at the same time strong and genuine sound, it moves me a lot.

But even there the feeling of movement is largely increasing if he starts with the guitar again. Just breathtaking, every time I hear that.

When the lyrics start in The White Rider, that is certainly not the part I like the least. Especially here I find it most effective and grounding the spacey feeling. And right after that of course the guitar again.

Then everything almost comes to a stop, with a very subtle but at the same time effective drums. The next few minutes are not especially my favourite, but I do like them. The speed and energetic going on is exciting anyway.

Coming from another world
Then the lyrics start again and were never very special to me before, but got that when I looked at the video. He sings ‘He has a certain air, as if he’s never there, but somehow far away’. He is singing of Gandalf here, but to me it is the feeling he gives himself.

On the dvd Moondances The White Rider is the first song and until this moment it all gives the impression of beautiful music, coming from another world. And so far I like the song, it would have always been one of my favourites I think.

But then, about the last minutes it starts. It is the part I am very fascinated about now, but that was not always like that. And I noticed I am not alone in that. Although there are many who find the last part exciting, there are also a lot who find it very annoying. When I was playing the dvd at home, most reactions on the whole of this concert where very positive as everyone likes it a lot. But with the last few minutes of The White Rider everyone gets irritated. But for me the more I heard it, the more interesting it got. You see Latimer start doing all kinds of things with his guitar and you get curious what is going on. And than he starts and it really is fascinating.

Individual expression
It is as if indeed before that ‘he was not really there, but somehow far away’ but with this part he very much gives the impression of having found a way of expressing himself with the guitar. Still searching for different ways to do that and at a point of  ‘the more extensions the better’ but very much finding an individual way of expressing himself.

And after a search through classical music for several years, that, I know now, was what I missed there. No matter how much I like a lot of classical music, it always stays within a certain frame. And there is little room for self expression. Which can be a good thing. Most of the time I am more than happy if the performer keeps himself out of the way and tries to express the music how it was meant to be. But for me, there was a certain point where I started to miss the self expression of the performer.

But here it gets dangerous. Here the interpretation of the performer comes in and may be totally different from how the music was intended. Which might be fine in itself, but as a listener you often get the feeling it is not what it was meant to be, it feels overacted. As if you are not hearing the real thing.

Hearing the real thing
It is like some children are freaked out by clowns. They somehow feel the real person behind the mask and get confused. That is what I often felt with classical music. But that does not take away the immense pleasure, if it did sound as I felt was genuine. And if it did, I just had to listen to that over and over again.

But the beauty of modern music is, that it is sometimes performed by those who composed it. So that very much gives the freedom to experiment with your own compositions. And they might only get better. Which I think is the case with the music of Camel, the progression of each song through time. Although this concert on the dvd Moondances already is a highlight as a whole.

And beyond that, there always is the feeling of cooperation within the band, very stressful at times, but somehow always the coming together of very authentic individuals.

VIDEO: WHITE RIDER

(The video starts a little further in with the marching)

Music by Camel, based on The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico.

The Great Marsh starts with bird sounds and softly the music sets in. In the background there is the repeating sound of female vocals and occasionally there is the highlighting of a guitar. Then the pressure goes up, the drums enter and it becomes a coherent setting for the story to take place.

…the ocean cut through the sodden land that seems to rise and fall and breathe with the recurrence of the the daily tides. It is desolate, utterly lonely, and made lonelier by the calls and cries of the wildfowl that make their homes in the marshlands and saltings …

Part 1
Rhayader is the introduction of the main character. His introduction is rather sensitive with the sound of a flute, but soon gets a firm grounding with the drums and keyboard, while the tambourine gives it a light and dancing touch. And it ends again with the sensitive flute in a repeating rhythm.

…his heart was filled with pity and understanding. He mastered his handicap, but he could not master the rebuffs he suffered, due to his appearance. The thing that drove him into seclusion was his failure to find anywhere a return of the warmth that flowed from him…

But then, with the start of Rhayader goes to town, there is a remarkable change. The drums make a determined statement and the guitar comes in very strong.

…he was twenty-seven when he came to the Great Marsh. He had travelled much and fought valiantly before he made the decision to withdraw from a world in which he could not take part as other men. For all the artist’s sensitivity and woman’s tenderness locked in his barrel breast, he was very much a man…

This is made very clear by the drums, keyboard and guitars, while they express the powerful spirit of Rhayader. Then the music changes again and while still holding this power, it starts to move. It sounds like a strong and determined walk as he goes to town. But in that movement he looses his power bit by bit, and takes him out of his centre.

And so he returns to his sanctuary, which he build for the birds but which he needs himself just as much. The story describes that he has a safe place for all hunted creatures.

… this made Rhayader happy, because he knew that implanted somewhere in their beings was the germ knowledge, of his existence and his safe haven, that this knowledge had become a part of them and, with the coming of the grey skies and the winds from the north, would send them unerringly back to him…

Sanctuary is a very balanced guitar piece, the plucking of the strings that give a basic ground and the space to express the guitar.

So in this self created sanctuary, where he can embody his spirit by developing his skills of painting and managing his boat, he, one day gets a visitor, and Fritha enters.

… desperately frightened of the ugly man she had come to see, for legend had already begun to gather about Rhayader, and the native wild-fowlers hated him for interfering with their sport. But greater than her fear was the need of that which she bore. For locked in her child’s heart was the knowledge, picked up somewhere in the swamp-land, that this ogre who lived in the lighthouse had magic that could heal injured things. She had never seen Rhayader before and was close to fleeing in panic at the dark apparition that appeared at the studio door…

This is expressed by the music which gives the feeling of something that will disappear with the slightest movement.

And then there is another change as The Snow Goose starts and the guitar is showing it’s most amazing moves.

…he told her the most wonderful story. The bird was a young one, no more than a year old. She was born in a northern land far, far across the seas, a land belonging to England. Flying to the south to escape the snow and ice and bitter cold, a great storm had seized her and whirled and buffeted her about. It was a truly terrible storm, stronger than her great wings, stronger than anything. For days and nights it held her in its grip and there was nothing she could do but fly before it. When finally it had blown itself out and her sure instincts took her south again, she was over a different land and surrounded by strange birds that she had never seen before. At last, exhausted by her ordeal, she had sunk to rest in a friendly green marsh, only to be met by the blast from the hunter’s gun. A bitter reception for a visiting princess, concluded Rhayader. We will call her La Princesse Perdue, the lost princess…

Part 2
This is the part that bears the essence of the story, but it is the part that is least played in live concerts. There are probably several reasons for that, like the use of wind instruments (Friendship) the non lyric-vocals (Migration) and the use of female voices (Preparation), which are not the regular ingredients of a rock band. And also does this part not so much have the brilliant and active guitar performances that are present in part one (Rhayader goes to town and The Snow Goose) and in part three (Dunkirk and La Princesse Perdue).

This part is much more like the Adagio in a classical symphony. It is more contemplative, the phase of reception instead of action. Part one and three are the active parts, part one in the way of a creative self-expression and part three expressing developed talents for the sake of a bigger whole.

But here, in part two, there is the need of another person, the other who reflects, but who also makes aware of the connection with the world again.

With Friendship there is a feeling of getting to know each other, which is reflected by the wind instruments that show the exchange of energy.

…they sailed together in his speedy boat, that he handled so skillfully. They caught wildfowl for the ever-increasing colony, and build new pens and enclosure for them. From him she learned the lore of every wild bird, from gull to gyrfalcon, that flew the marshes. She cooked for him sometimes, and even learned to mix his paints…

Then Migration very much gives the feeling of nature runs its course. The non lyric vocals make it sound rather unaware and just following the natural instinctive circle of life.

With Rhayader alone there is the feeling of accepting and sadness with the soft keyboard and sensitive guitar expressing his loneliness.

…and Rhayader was heartbroken. All things seemed to have ended for him. He painted furiously through the winter and the next summer, and never once saw the child…

Here arises the awareness for Rhayader in Flight of the Snow Goose and the reconnection with his soul is expressed by the sound of water and female vocals in Preparation.

But at the same time this moment brings fear for Fritha, because she does not understand the power yet.

… and Fritha was suddenly conscious of the fact that she was frightened, and the things that frightened her were in Rhayader’s eyes – the longing and the loneliness and the deep, welling, unspoken things that lay in and behind them as he turned them upon her. His last words were repeating themselves in her head as though he had said them again: this is her home now – of her own free will. The delicate tendrils of her instincts reached to him and carried to her the message of the unspoken things between them. The woman in her bade her take flight from something that she was not yet capable of understanding…

Part 3
Part three starts with action again, but the difference with part one is that the action is conscious now. It is the action that is the result of the realisation of having a free will. A will to choose which direction to move the power. Not to let it be a destructive or dominating force, but to use it in a serving way. This awareness came over him while he watched the snow goose return.

And so he decides to act and use his developed sailing skills to save as many men as he can in the battle at Dunkirk. It came upon him in excitement, but as he sees the fear in Fritha’s eyes, he explains it to her so she can understand his desire to fulfil his mission.

…they are lost and stormdriven and harried, like the Princesse Perdue you found and brought to me out of the marches many years ago, and we healed her. They need help, my dear, as our wild creatures have needed help, and that is why I must go. It is something that I can do. Yes, I can. For once – for once I can be a man and play my part…

This is beautiful expressed in Dunkirk, which starts off as a very determined active ongoing movement, which gives the feeling of something inevitable to happen. And now the strong spirit of Rhayader is capable of acting but also reacting within the same movement. During the battle he can stay in his own power, and at the same time do what is needed. And it only increases the power. This is brilliantly shown by the guitar and drums near the end.

He can immediately react upon what happens and save many lives. And with the snow goose flying above his boat it becomes an impressive story, to be told by many.

But Rhayader will never return, as he dies in the battle.

…when we turned our attention to the derelict again, the boat was gone. Sunk. Concussion, you know. Chap with her. He must have been lashed to her. The bird had gone up and was circling. Three times, like a plane saluting. Dashed queer feeling. Then she flew off to the west…

In Epitaph the feeling returns as in ‘Preparation’ but now as a memory for the heroic act of Rhayader. Who just followed his strong drive to act in the knowledge of a world beyond his individual being.

In the meantime Fritha is waiting, roaming through the lighthouse. This is translated with a silent piano tune Fritha alone.

… she found the picture that Rhayader had painted of her from memory so many years ago, when she was still a child, and had stood, windblown and timid, at his threshold, hugging and injured bird to her. The picture and the things she saw in it, stirred her as nothing ever had before, for much of Rhayader’s soul had gone into it…

But deep within, she knows that she will never see him again, and becomes aware of her love for him as she watches the snow goose fly.

…the sight, the sound, and the solitude surrounding broke the dam within her and released the surging, overwhelming truth of her love, let it well forth in tears. Wild spirit called to wild spirit, and she seemed to be flying with the great bird, soaring with it in the evening sky and hearkening to Rhayader’s message. Sky and earth were trembling with it and filled her beyond the bearing of it…

La Princesse Perdue which, after a while, reminds of ‘The Snow Goose’, is a very melancholic goodbye on the guitar and a coming together of two souls.

…watching it, Fritha saw no longer the snow goose but the soul of Rhayader taking farewell of her before departing for ever…

Finally the lighthouse is blown away by accident and the sea has taken over again, shown at the end in The Great Marsh.

…the sea had moved in through the breached walls and covered it over. Nothing was left to break the utter desolation. No marsh fowl had dared to return. Only the frightless gulls wheeled and soared and mewed their plaint over the place where it had been…

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can see, hear and feel the soul of the story in the first piece The Snow Goose, then the transition to the classical wind instruments that perform Friendship, and finally the expression of Rhayaders powerful spirit that gets off centre in Rhayader goes to town.

Well anyway, that is how I perceive the music and the story…