Search - Camel :: Stationary Traveller

GOOD MUSIC...GOOD CAMEL!!!

Chavosh | Tehran, Iran | 11/14/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Hi

I think this is the best album of Camel after Rajaz.A Pop-Rock album with variety of music and with genius of Andrew Latimer. good songs from susan hoover and many many more...!!!!



SO if you don't listen that yet, Try it!!!!!"

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."

Astonishing music by "the" very tallented musician

Payman Torabi | Baltimore, MD, USA | 03/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you haven't heard this one yet, here's what you should do:

1) pick up one of your good moods for listening to a heavy music. I say heavy because you need to listen to every details of all the instruments being played (not only the guitar)

2) Listen to all the tracks without interruption and any breaks, all the way to the end of the CD (Track 5, the Title song, which is the albums' peak is going to make you have a break but be prepared and hang in there!!)

Track 5 is amazing... one of the greatest musical pieces of all time.

3) You probably need to listen to it soon for a second time, this time with a friend who understands music like yourself.



My own conclusion:

The most satisfaction you'll get from Andy's music is that he always hits the notes that you expect to hear next, when he is at the peak of the track.

Have I ever bought any of his works with disappointment? Believe me; "Never". If you are a fan of progressive rock, You should own all his albums and you should listen to his songs "a whole album at a time"."