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Music > Soundtracks > Camel - A Live Record: Remastered (2002) Retail CD
added on August 26, 2008, at 11:06 by jeromeknvb

I always felt this album was under rated but my vinyl copy has seen some serious wear over the years and what a delight to see it re-issued, digitally remastered and enhanced with bonus tracks. Fans tend to gravitate to the official bootlegs issued by Camel and, in fairness, they have the advantage of being from a single gig by and large so as to provide an accurate portrait at a particular point in the band's history.With the re-issue of "A Live record" what we now get - more even than when it was released - is a virtual greatest hits album live but to describe it as such would be to under-sell its appeal.The first disc has been significantly bolstered by five bonus tracks - four coming from the 1977 tour dominated by the Rain Dances tracks hence this release now provides a higher than average quota from that album. These tracks were originally omitted as the live release followed on so closely from the studio album and, in truth, the live versions are pretty faithful renditions of their studio counterparts. "First Light", which opens proceedings, is however a lovely version. "Metrognome" is a bit more of a throwaway track and "Unevensong (one of my favorite tracks on Rain Dances) doesn't quite gel live as well as the other tracks. Chord Change is, however, a worthy addition from the 1976 tour and is a tight version.The remaining, original tracks, all benefit from the remastering and sound quality throughout is excellent.Disc 2 concentrates on the Hammersmith '75 Snow Goose show complete with Royal Philharmonic orchestra and I believe it to be the definitive version. The sound quality is truly awesome as is the performance and, to be honest, I would rather this disc than the original studio release.Two extra bonus tracks from the Hammersmith show in 1976 round off proceedings very nicely.If I have any quibble it is that the other tracks from the Marquee 1974 shows and Hammersmith 1976 are spread over the remaining re-issues but at least we now have the opportunity to obtain them all.If you like Camel buy this release. If you want to hear Camel for the first time I would actually prefer this to the greatest hits releases also - although it does not provide a particularly balanced set (there are too many tracks from rain dances for that) it gives a pretty good feel for what Camel were about and shows what great musicians they were live.

front 1413 x 1410 px

back 1774 x 1393 px