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Liner Notes: Along the Road

Camel had enjoyed significant success through the 1970's. Their Albums Mirage and Snow Goose were hailed as ground breaking and the band was developing a loyal fan base. Sadly, as with so many other successful bands, friction began to develop between the members. By 1978, it was clear that collaboration between Camel's keyboardist Peter Bardens and their guitarist Andrew Latimer was coming to an end. Breathless would be their last album together. The liner notes for that album quote Latimer on the issue:

"Peter and I always get on well when creating, but the problems started when we came to the actual execution of the ideas. In the studio, Peter and I were just stifling each other. I wouldn't let him get any of his ideas out and he wouldn't let me get any of mine out, so it became pretty heavy going. We mutually agreed to part company on the creative level. Richard and Andy wanted to stay with me, so Peter went. I think it was a very good move for both of us."

Peter Bardens finished writing and recording Breathless but had no intention of touring with the band. To replace him, the band recruited Jan Schelhass from Caravan and a cousin of current bassist Richard Sinclair, named David. The tour began in England with 28 shows in October and November of 1978. Eight shows were then played in Europe before the holiday break. The new year saw the band in Japan for 5 shows before heading for the west coast of the United States. At this point the band had a good feel for the new music and the new members were performing the old Camel quite easily.

The Setlist for the California shows contained both old and new material. Since the release of Snow Goose, Camel had been slowly adjusting their musical style to make it more "accessible". By the time Breathless was released, the long intricate instrumental pieces were gone, replaced by more traditional sounding light-rock creations. Still, Breathless was not devoid of surprises. Richard Sinclair included a song called "Down on the Farm" which has sparked many an opinion. For better or worse, it was not included in the live set for the US shows. The setlist performed during this tour contained 3 songs from the new album Breathless, 3 songs from the previous album Rain Dances, and 9 songs from the earlier albums. Though Camel usually plays their songs at a tempo very similar to the studio versions, a number of the songs performed here are lengthened by extra improvisation. “Tell Me”, “Rhayader”, and “Rhayader Goes To Town” in particular are extended by saxophone segments not found on the commercial release. These segments give us a chance to appreciate once more the amazing talent of saxophonist Mel Collins.

The recording of this show is outstanding. The equipment used at the time consisted of a Teac PC-10 and Sennheiser MKH404's. The provider of the first generation cassette used for this project was a friend of the taper and was at this show. He told us that the equipment was brought in by the taper's girlfriend who taped the recorder to the inside of her leg so it would not be discovered. All who enjoy this remastered recording owe a debt of gratitude to this unknown woman. Thanks to her devotion to music we can all re-live this wonderful Camel performance.

PRRP Staff

Notes from the Re-Master

This show came to us as a 1^st generation cassette tape from a friend of the taper. As noted in the liner text, Teac and Sennheiser equipment was used to record the show so we started the remaster with an outstanding quality recording. The Roxy is quite small as a venue so the size of the room did not interfere too much with the overall sound of the show. Fortunately, the taper was able to record the whole performance.

We began by digitizing the tape using 32-bit precision. A progressive asymmetry in the channel strength was noted immediately and fixed. The tonality was quite good but still needed a bit of a boost in the bass range. The adjustment gave the recording a bit more of a punch. Hiss was generally low, but did become annoying in certain sections so a selective hiss reduction technique was used. Other peculiar noises were found intermittently in the Left channel and were subtracted out. The microphones were occasionally bumped and so this artifact was minimized whenever found. Selective tone and dynamic adjustments were used to enhance the recording, depending on the instrument leads at the time. The whole show was tracked and split into the final two discs.

PRRP Staff

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