Search - Camel :: Stationary Traveler

Details of recent Camel Productions reissue here

Gareth Davies-Morris | San Diego, CA USA | 07/11/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Camel-heads seem less divided about this album now than when it came out in the mid-80s. At that time it was perceived as too pop and not prog enough, but it has aged well, both as a musical statement and in how fans recall it. Certainly it was a stronger effort than its very commercial predecessor The Single Factor, and strikes me now as a sort of sequel to the earlier Nude, in its balance of prog and pop elements and its underlying concept. Ably assisted by an entirely new band, including Chris Rainbow on vocals, Ton Scherpenzeel (Kayak), and Paul Burgess and Davy Paton (Pilot, Alan Parsons Project), with only Mel Collins guesting from any earlier line-up, main man Andy Latimer told a loose story of Cold War Peril in divided Berlin, balancing Gilmour-esque instrumental passages like Missing or the title track with well-crafted songs such as Cloak & Dagger Man, the catchy Fingertips, and the gorgeous Long Goodbyes -- which sounds rather like Anthony Phillips, so I wonder if it have been mooted for The Single Factor originally. That said, it's not the album for Camel novices (Snow Goose or Moonmadness should have that honor, I think) but is an underrated and satisfying achievement whose stock has risen since its first issue.



Let me just add a few details on the new version compared to my original Metronome CD. Latimer has acquired the rights and re-released Stationary Traveler in slightly improved form, restoring it to how he had intended it before the record company got involved. The packaging's virtually identical, except with a couple more booklet images similar to the familiar cover art - I'd guess they were on the LP inner sleeve. The page coloring's now yellow instead of white, and the cover lettering is now uniformly white (no more red Camel). No additional credits or liner notes. The CD label borrows the style of the Decca releases, with the band name and title in Gothic lettering.



Music: two new tracks appear, though I understand they exist already as live versions in the concert recordings from that era. The album now opens with In The Arms of Waltzing Frauleins, which isn't prog at all but lyrically tied to, and musically clearly derivative of (deliberately so), the world that the story evokes. Thus it sets the mood quite well, being a melancholy folksong, replete with accordion, that one might hear while drinking in a cabaret in Weimar Berlin. It anticipates in certain ways the brief instrumental After Words, I think. The real plus is the extended Pressure Points, which now closes the record. Calling it an extended mix clouds the issue; it should really be labeled 'complete version,' of which the old version that used to open the album is just the first movement. Where it originally ended, it now moves on a rumbling synth bed into a guitar mid-section that recalls elements of Nude before returning to the opening theme. It's better, certainly, as is the record overall in its new, fuller edition."