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4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than you'd expect, September 1, 2000
This review is from: On the Road 1982 (Audio CD)
I was pleasantly surpised by this CD. It may not be Camel at its best, and it may be their weakest live lineup, but there is an overall feel of a band enjoying itself on stage. Its really a fun listen.
Interestingly, though Chris Rainbow and David Paton are two of the strongest singers in Camel's studio history, they aren't especially strong live. Chris gets a bit loud and David gets a bit too soft, but heck no one listens to Camel for the vocals anyway.
(BTW, I hope Mr Paton is raking in some royalties from that stupid phone commercial with that Seinfeld chick, if you know what I mean).
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Worse than you might expect, April 17, 2009
This review is from: On the Road 1982 (Audio CD)
IF YOU LOVE PROGRESSIVE POP, YOU WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM.
This comes from a tour just before The Single Factor was released. It was during the middle of Camel's Pop Progressive stage. In this concert, they play what I would consider to be all of the worst songs from Rain Dances, I Can See Your House From Here, Nude, The Single Factor. Plus, they don't do a very good job of performing them. The vocals are not very good, and there is no energy put into the songs.
There are some OK parts. Sasquatch is always good. There are a few nice muscial interludes here and there, like during Highways of The Sun. You Are The One is also enjoyable.
After progressive rock was killed off by the excesses of bands like Yes and Emerson,Lake and Palmer, many progressive rock groups moved to pop. Progressive Pop became very popular, with Alan Parsons leading the way. During this period, groups like Yes and Genesis changed their sound dramatically. Spin off groups like Asia and Mike and the Mechanics were also very successful.
Camel started moving in this direction with Rain Dances (but weren't fully committed). But, eventually, Camel became the Alan Parsons Project, bringing in Chris Rainbow and David Paton, who were previously with Alan Parsons.
IF YOU LIKE ASIA, 1980'S YES, MIKE AND THE MECHANICS, EARLY 1980'S ALANS PARSONS, THEN YOU WILL PROPBABLY LIKE THIS. I don't, so I don't appreciate this. I think that Chris Rainbow and David Paton brought down the quality of Alan Parsons, and I think they do it to Camel. But, everyone has their own musical preferences (which is why I try to describe what the music is like as opposed to just saying it is bad or good).
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