I remain back in the late '70s/early '80s "prog rock" era. When bands were able to experiment with structure and theme away from the pressures of commercial radio. But as I said yesterday, "prog" was a catch-all term that seemed to apply to everyone from Toto to Hawkwind, with a thousand variants in between.
Today's example is a band with a long and storied history of being under the radar. Camel was a British band that started as a "jam band" with strange themes and even stranger musical structures. Its personnel changed through the years, and included such luminaries as Peter Frampton (before he became "Alive" and sold 80 gabillion records), David Paton (who gained fame with The Alan Parsons Project), and Mel Collins, saxophonist par excellence, who did solos on APP records amongst others.
The throughline of Camel has been and is Andrew Latimer. He's the "brains" of the outfit and continues to perform today. Camel has a relatively passionate fanbase and they still turn out to hear the band. I'm not a devotee, but I do have a strong love affair with their 1981 album Nude.
Nude is a "concept album"--a lost artform that tied several songs to a common theme Think Tommy, anything by Alan Parsons, Sgt. Pepper, you get the drift. Nude tells the story of a Japanese soldier found years after WWII who still thought he was at war, and the adjustment he had to make after being repatriated.
The opening track is "City Life", an overview of life as he knew it before he left for war. It's a catchy tune, with a complete change in meter and instrumentation in the bridge followed by a killer sax solo and an outro that ties the previous parts together. It sets the tone for the rest of the record, a feast for the ears.
Should you wish to dive deeper, go to YouTube and find "Drafted", the second song on Nude. It also has a jarring change of tone after a relatively mild beginning (which recalls "City Life").
More later. I'm enjoying this trip into the past so much I just might stay here...
Pete
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