Camel Albums Ranked
Camel is an English progressive rock band formed in Guildford, Surrey, in 1971. Led by founder-member guitarist Andrew Latimer, they have produced fourteen original studio albums and fourteen singles, plus numerous live albums and DVDs. Predominantly instrumental, with melody paramount, Camel’s music combines elements from rock, pop, jazz, blues, folk, classical, and electronica. Without achieving mass popularity, the band gained a cult following over the years with albums such as Mirage, The Snow Goose, and Moonmadness. Surviving punk rock, they moved into a jazzier, more commercial direction, but then were put on a seven-year hiatus in the mid-1980s. Since 1991 the band has been independent, releasing albums including Dust and Dreams, Harbour of Tears, and Rajaz on their own label. Despite no new studio release since 2002, the band continues to tour. Their music has influenced several subsequent artists, including Marillion and Opeth. The music journalist Mark Blake described Camel as “the great unsung heroes of 70s prog rock”. Here are all of Camel albums ranked.
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10. A Nod And A Wink (2002)
“”A Nod & A Wink” The album’s opener has this very pastoral feel to it, and it reminds me of a less sarcastic “Thick as a Brick” mixed with Yes’s “Close to the Edge”. It feels a little too kiddy and pop-oriented for my taste but I do like the Ian Anderson sounding flutes and the sheer atmosphere of it, definitely a great nostalgic track!”
9. A Live Record (1978)
“A Live Album is indeed a live retrospective of the group’s first four albums, in my opinion of which, were some of the best prog albums of the mid-’70s. While personally, I feel The Snow Goose really deserves its own live album instead of being lumped in with random hits from their other records, it’s still a very nice treat and played just as well as anyone would have expected.”
8. I Can See Your House From Here (1979)
“One of the best albums that I can honestly call ridiculously cheesy. The synth and keyboard tones, the production, the lyrics and melodies- everything about this album oozes pure cheese. Even the album title/cover “gag”- just look at that thing. But it’s part of the appeal. “Wait”, “Remote Romance” and “Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine” never fail to crack me up, but I’m nodding my head while I’m doing it.”
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7. Nude (1981)
“”Nude” is considerably better effort than its predecessor, but still does not deliver the old goods! It starts off with two crappy unpromising pop numbers, but luckily the remainder of the material delves into largely instrumental music, sometimes bordering on “elevator muzak”.
6. Camel (1973)
“Prog rock that might as well be fully instrumental given how much it focuses on its long winded jams. When the vocals do crop up they tend to be uninteresting, and feel like a distraction from the real meat of the release, which are those tasty melodic guitar solos.”
5. Rajaz (1999)
“1999’s Rajaz relies mostly on symphonic prog instrumentation, slightly updated with 80s neo-prog synths, while also surprisingly avoiding any old-fashionedness in sound. In fact, 90s Camel is not drastically dissimilar from your modern prog of Porcupine Tree and Anathema, but the closest reference point would be Damnation, Opeth’s first completely non-metallic release, that was hugely influenced by Camel, and especially Andy Latimer’s guitar tone, which can be described as laid-back but simultaneously deep and catching”
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4. Stationary Traveller (1984)
“Stationary Traveller, while not musically groundbreaking or particularly challenging is beautiful, well constructed rock. As with any Andy Latimer project the guitar work is impeccable – particularly we hear these on the extended solos for the instrumentals, the title track and lead-in “Pressure Points”. Elsewhere we have very a tight rhythm section on the “Refugee” and “West Berlin” which are the strongest, most memorable of the vocals”
3. Music Inspired By The Snow Goose (1975)
“One of the most impressive Prog concept albums of all times, Camel’s 3rd album remains a beacon shading its light up to this very day upon the desolated shores of today’s music. Brilliantly composed, orchestrated and performed, this subtle music symbolizes everything that was the great musical eruption, which happened in the early 1970s.”
2. Moonmadness (1976)
“The short instrumental Aristillus kicks off things in an impressively strident manner. This leads into my favourite track on Moonmadness, Song Within a Song- an accurate title for the song! It starts off with a mournful vocal before kicking off into an impressive Camel jam. Harden’s keyboards are really impressive in the second half of the song.”
1. Mirage (1974)
“Mirage is such a wonderful album from Camel, a band who was coming of age as a more “underground” progressive rock band (not that prog was radio-ready) on their second release. Camel excels here with a tight variety of compositions, and you can see so much potential coming off this album that their debut only showed so much of. Even the vocals, though never the highlight of the band, are more accentuated and not as weak this time around. “
