Andy Latimer - ...and on guitar (2018)

Andrew Latimer was born on 17 May 1949 in Guildford, Surrey, and is best known as a founding member of the progressive rock band Camel, and is the only member who has been with the band since their formation. Formed in 1971, Latimer, drummer Andy Ward and bassist Doug Ferguson successfully auditioned for Phillip Goodhand-Tait, who was on the lookout for a tight-knit band to complement fresh songs for his 'I Think I’ll Write A Song' album. Subsequently combining forces with Brit-R&B veteran keyboardist Peter Bardens they played their inaugural gig as Camel in December 1971, supporting Wishbone Ash, and were signed to M.C.A. Records the following summer. Their eponymous debut album arrived in early 1973, and was received to mixed reviews, containing as it did jazz-inflected rock and off-tangent prog-improvisations, although there were highlights in Bardens' 'Mystic Queen' and Latimer's 'Never Let Go'. Probably on the strength of their side-long 'Greasy Truckers – Live At Dingwalls' Various Artists recording, 'God Of Light Revisited – Parts One, Two, Three' (see my previous Camel post), the band switched labels to Deram, and released 1974's 'Mirage'. The record was a vast improvement, and clearly marked out their own territory among the big boys of the progressive rock scene. Cosmic opener 'Freefall', the flute-led Focus-like 'Supertwister' and the lengthy 'Nimrodel' medley were exceptional in both texture and interplay, while side two's 12-minute 'Lady Fantasy' suite endeared them to the American market, where the album bubbled under the Top 100. Camel really came into their own with their conceptual interpretation of 'The Snow Goose', which was their British Top 30 breakthrough record, and in a way became the band's 'Dark Side Of The Moon'. Their fourth album 'Moodmadness' came out in 1976, and took them a stage further in their musical development, remaining one of my favourite albums of theirs. 

Following a couple of line-up changes, they followed this with 'Rain Dances' in 1977, which is another great album, and they continued to release records throughout the punk era and beyond, with their loyal fans always ready to buy them and follow the band on tour. 1977 was also the year that Latimer first started to offer his guitar skills to other artists, playing with Michael Chapman on his 'The Man Who Hated Mornings' record, and then a few years later playing with Francis Monkman on his 1981 solo release, but he was nowhere near as prolific as some other guitarists in doing this, and so there was a six year gap before he appeared on Asher Quinn's 'Open Secret' album. In 1992 Latimer was diagnosed with the progressive blood disorder polycythaemia vera, which had unexpectedly progressed to myelofibrosis, but this was kept private and was not officially announced until 2007, when he underwent a successful bone marrow transplant, and began a long road to full recovery. He was still managing to record and tour with Camel during this time, but he didn't appear on any other artist's album until 1998, when he helped out Camel band-mate Colin Bass on his solo album. A couple of collaborations with Dutch prog-rockers Kayak have yielded some nice recordings, and once he'd recovered sufficiently from his operation, he was more productive, making guest appearances on half a dozen albums between 2010 and 2018, often on lengthier progressive tracks. Because of this I've decided to make this a double disc set, with the first disc mostly the shorter tracks that he played on, and the second disc containing a couple of epic workouts among its six pieces. Whether it's a short, consise song or a longer prog-rock workout, his guitar-work is always instantly recognisable, and these tracks contain some superb, soaring guitar lines, underlining why he is citied as an influence by artists such as Steve Rothery of Marillion, Bryan Josh of Mostly Autumn, Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief, and The Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.   

Track listing

Disc One
01 I Think I'll Write A Song (from 'I Think I'll Write A Song' by Phillip Goodhand-Tait 1971)
02 The Man Who Hated Mornings (from 'The Man Who Hated Mornings' by Michael Chapman

                                                                                                                                            1977)
03 Learning To Live (from 'Dweller On The Threshold' by Francis Monkman 1981)
04 Soldier Of Love (from 'Open Secret' by Asher Quinn 1987)
05 As Far As I Can See (from 'An Outcast Of The Islands' by Colin Bass 1998) 
06 Full Circle (from 'Close To The Fire' by Kayak 2000)
07 Masquerade (from 'Random Acts Of Beauty' by David Minasian 2010)

Disc Two
01 Infinite Light (from 'Justify' by Nathan Mahl 2014)
02 Baby Good For You (from 'Emergency Love' by Andrew Cresswell Davis 2014)
03 At Wild End (from 'At Wild End' by Colin Bass 2015)
04 The Gypsy's Comin' Home (from 'Living On A Little Blue Dot' by Jan Schelhaas 2017)
05 Ripples On The Water (from 'Seventeen' by Kayak 2018)
06 Home Again (from 'Out Of Sinc' by Dave Sinclair 2018) 

Thanks to Stenn for the suggestion.

Kayak - Try To Write A Book (1981)

I'd always considered Kayak to be one of the best progressive rock acts to come out of The Netherlands, releasing a string of excellent albums throughout the 70's, but it was only recently that I discovered that they also issued a lot of singles in their home country, and the songs from many of them were not taken from their then current albums. Co-founder Ton Scherpenzeel is the only member who is on every Kayak album, playing keyboards, accordion, occasional bass guitar, and double bass. He formed the band in 1972 with singer/drummer Max Werner, Johan Slager on guitar, Cees van Leeuwen on bass, and drummer Pim Koopman. They began as a symphonic progressive rock act with an emphasis on the songwriting, and their 1973 debut album 'See See The Sun' is often cited as their best record, and their biggest contribution to the symphonic prog genre. The band use many of the classic progressive/symphonic instruments, such as moog and mellotron, and their second, eponymous album in 1974 was a good continuation of their melodic progressive rock style. In 1975 they released their third superb prog-rock album in 'Royal Bed Bouncer', featuring some longer compositions, and 1976's 'The Last Encore' contained perhaps the most original music that the band created in their progressive period. After this they wanted to improve their record sales and so changed direction to a more commercial sound, with 1977's 'Starlight Dancer' and 1979's 'Phantom Of The Night' being their most commercially successful albums. In 1981 they released their prog/pop crossover album 'Merlin', and shortly afterwards the group disbanded. Twenty years later they reconvened, and the second phase of their career commenced with the strong symphonic/crossover album 'Into the Fire' in 2000, but this collection of rare singles and b-sides concentrates on that first phase, from their beginnings in 1971 as The High Tide Formation, through to a split single with fellow Dutchmen Earth And Fire in 1981, to commemorate the Monte Carlo Rally. 
     

Track listing

01 Fluffy (single by The High Tide Formation 1971)
02 White Walls (b-side of 'Fluffy')
03 Try To Write A Book (b-side of 'Lyrics' 1973)
04 Give It A Name (b-side of 'See See The Sun' 1973)
05 We Are Not Amused (single) 
06 Bulldozer (out-take 1974)  
07 Ballad For A Lost Friend (b-side of 'Phantom Of The Night' 1979)
08 I Want You To Be Mine (extended version for US album 1977)   
09 Ivory Dance (b-side of 'Ruthless Queen' 1979)                        
10 Theme From 'Spetters' (Part II) (b-side of 'Lost Blue Chartres' 1980)
11 Total Loss (single 1980)
12 What's Done Is Done (b-side of 'Total Loss')
13 Monte Carlo Rally (No Total Loss) (split single with Earth And Fire 1981)
14 The Car Enchanter (single 1981)