Showing posts with label Camel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camel. Show all posts

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Camel - The Gods Of Light (1976)

Ofir Zwebne of the Skylines Camel Web Page recently posed the question...Would it be possible for Camel to release a compilation album featuring old, rare or 'lost' material, or archived tapes of tasty bits of music from the good ol' years?
Well, let's check what we've got to so far:
A live recording of Peter Bardens' 'Ligging At Louis'' is available on 'A Live Record', and it's a cute piece which reflects the Mirage-era type of Camel's music, but there doesn't seem to be a studio recording available. 'Lord Of Light' surfaced on an official Camel release in 1992, on the 'On the Road 1972' album. Before that, another live rendition was available on the rare 'Greasy Truckers', and Camel did play it during their 1972 gigs along with 'Lady Fantasy' and 'White Rider'. 'Another Night' is an alternative recording of the song which was issued as a 7" single. The recording varies in the mix and some parts are played totally differently. 'Lunar Sea' is a live take which was originally available as the b-side of the 'Another Night' single, and was unavailable anywhere else for quite a while. 'Rainbow's End' is a different version of the track, which appeared on a special 7" promotional release that preceded the 'I Can See...' album. 'Riverman' is a song which is fondly remembered by Susan Hoover. Andy Latimer said in an interview that it was based on Herman Hesse's 'Siddhartha', and that it was an attempt to have a hit single. A extended mix of 'Pressure Points' was pressed up as a 12" single, but doesn't ever seem to have made it past the promo stage. 'In the Arms of Waltzing Frauleins' was a cabaret-like song written by Latimer and Hoover as the opening track of the 'Stationary Traveller' album, but it was rejected by the studio, to be replaced by the instrumental 'Pressure Points'. 
This is all I have gathered so far... And it sums up to more than 45 minutes of interesting material, although not necessarily of the quality that glues an album together...
Are Camel Productions considering such release? Considering - maybe, but it's definitely isn't going to be easy... 
Officially, perhaps, with licencing issues abounding, but relatively easy to actually piece together for a post on the site, so here you go, Ofir, the album that you wanted to hear. 'Ligging At Louis'' was actually recorded for BBC's 'In Concert', and that's the take I've used here, while the version of 'Homage To The Lord Of Light' is an alternate live take which is slightly longer than the 'Greasy Truckers' version, but all the other tracks are as Ofir suggested.



Track listing

01 Homage To The God Of Light
02 Ligging At Louis'
03 Another Light
04 Lunar Sea
05 Rainbow's End
06 Riverman
07 In The Arms Of Waltzing Frauleins
08 Pressure Points