Camel - Flight of the Snow Goose

Prior to the release of their 3rd and still most commercially successful album, Music inspired by the Snowgoose in July 1975, Camel had achieved only minor success in the UK in terms of record sales and, as a result were very much confined to the club circuit in spite of possessing something of a reputation as a live act. Within 12 months however , they would have outsold Elton John and sold-out the Albert Hall.

Further, that this was achieved with an entirely instrumental album containing no single material and scant promotion from a largely unsupportive record company is testimony to the strength of the music, the principal ingredient in which was and remains the lead guitar work of Andrew Latimer.

As with many groups of the time, Camel ‘though not yet regarded as a “Progressive Rock” band per se, opted for a thematic or concept piece for their 3rd release. The then bassist, Doug Furguson suggested a novella by English writer Paul Gallico entitled the Snowgoose. At only 55 pages, it is a short, emotionally charged tale of the friendship and loss.

Andrew Latimer and the then keyboard player Peter Bardens started writing songs to accompany the main events of the book and found themselves unable to rewrite in lyric form what was an already succinctly written, simple piece. Instead concentrated in putting together a series of evocative instrumentals.

In this context Andrew Latimer’s lead guitar replaces the lead vocal. His talent for phrasing, his use of wide intervals and one of the smoothest vibratos you’ll ever hear, meant this approach was entirely effective and, at times, magical.

The first track to feature Latimer’s lead guitar work is Rhayader Goes to Town. Here we find examples of both the aforementioned guitar-playing-the-lead-vocal-melody as well as an extended solo. The call and response phrasing, minor and pentatonic note choice remind one very much of a Dark Side era Gilmour. Latimer’s vibrato is much wider and smoother, however. Latimer’s use of wide intervals is also in evidence here, the ear is very much drawn to them, a highly effective technique in slower pieces. As with much of this album, there have been a number of Live versions of this track, the 2 standout versions are to be found on A Live Record, which features the entire album performed with the London Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall (a more satisfying, era-defining exercise in self-indulgence, you are not likely to find) and one simply has to buy the 1984 Live Album Pressure Points for the definitive solo of this track which includes simple yet highly effective BI-dextral hammer-ons a la Steve Hackett (another often-overlooked Prog guitarist, who was tapping 3 – 4 years before anyone had heard the initials EVH) truly a tour de force that is alone worth the £6.99 tariff currently being asked by Amazon.

Other excellent examples of simple but lyrical phrasing as well as some excellent acoustic work are to be found on the title track and Sanctuary. The plaintive Rhayader Alone is a particularly good example of the effectiveness of simple melodic lines played with a deft touch and real emotion. The band as a whole are also clearly inspired, a cracking group performance. The rhythm section in particular is varied and sharp throughout. My only reservation is some rather dated synth experimentation on the second half, which I prefer to look on as a sort of period joke, nothing dates as quickly as yesterday’s vision of the future.

Prior to the coda of the great Marsh is the epic, La Princesse Perdue which brings the album to a natural melodic conclusion, with soaring guitar lines and sweeping strings. This is a restrained, versatile,and inspired performance from probably the best guitarist you’ve never heard of. The classic original studio album, it’s follow-up, Moonmadness and the live recordings briefly mentioned here, are all great buys for anyone interested in classic 70’s rock guitar playing.