''Camel'' is the debut studio album by English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

, released in February 1973 by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

Timeline

By August 1972,

were signed to MCA Records. They quickly entered the studio to record ''Camel''. A collection of individual songs, chiefly from

Andrew Latimer Andrew Latimer (born 17 May 1949) is an English musician and composer. He is a founding member of the progressive rock band Camel and the only member who has been with them since their formation in 1971. Although he is best known as a guitarist ...

and

Peter Bardens Peter Bardens (19 June 1945 – 22 January 2002) was an English keyboardist and a founding member of the progressive rock group Camel. He played keyboards, sang, and wrote songs with Andrew Latimer. During his career, Bardens worked alongside ...

, the album was greeted with muted success and MCA did not take an option for a second album. By then, the group had acquired the management team of Geoff Jukes and Max Hole of Gemini Artists (later to become GAMA Records) and had moved to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, where they would remain for the next 10 years.

Reception

In their ranking of the band's 14 albums, Prog Sphere placed ''Camel'' at #4, calling the song " Never Let Go" the real highlight on it. They wrote "this debut is not just another example of a stepping stone, but an accomplished work in its own right. While not as good as the group's later albums, it is a most excellent start and an essential Camel release, as well as a very good starting point to get into their wonderful music." In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Daevid Jehnzen feels the album has "hints of promise" but "never gels into something special".

Reissue

The album was remastered and reissued in 2002 on

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

with two bonus tracks: the single version of "Never Let Go" and a live version of "Homage to the God of Light", a staple of the band's early shows. A studio version of the latter had appeared on keyboard player

' debut solo album ''The Answer'' in 1970.

Track listing

Personnel

Camel *

– guitar; vocals (1, 4) *

–

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

, piano,

VCS 3 The VCS 3 (or VCS3; an initialism for ''Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3'') is a portable analogue synthesizer with a flexible modular voice architecture introduced by Electronic Music Studios (EMS) in 1969. EMS released the product un ...

synthesizer; vocals (5, 8) * Doug Ferguson – bass guitar; vocals (2, 6) * Andy Ward – drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Production * Dave Williams – producer * Roger Quested – engineer * Modula – sleeve design

Release details

* 1973, UK, MCA MUPS 473, Release Date February 1973, LP * 1977, UK, MCA MCL 1601 Release Date Approx 1977, LP * 2002, UK, London 8829252, Release Date 3 June 2002, CD (remastered edition)

References

External links

Official site

Camel - ''Camel'' (1973) album review by Daevid Jehnzen, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Camel - ''Camel'' (1973) album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control Camel (band) albums 1973 debut albums MCA Records albums Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios