Camel: Lunar Sea live

I don’t usually share single tracks from Spotify but I’m making an exception with this one. Camel are often placed mid- to lower-half in the league table of Prog bands. Perhaps too melodic, too reflective, too restrained to be up there with the big guns. They rarely let rip and flex their considerable muscle. But here’s where they really turn it up to 11. The studio version of this track, on the album Moonmadness (1976) is perfectly good, but errs on the side of being nice - especially compared to this version. Definitely one of Andy Latimer’s best guitar solos (oh, those “accidental” harmonics) but it’s the section where he duels with Mel Collins on soprano sax that really elevates this to another level. Collins (dubbed “The Master” by Robert Fripp) wasn’t a member of Camel when they recorded Moonmadness. He’s amazing on this track, recorded at the Colston Hall, Bristol, October 1977. He does something at the end of his solo that I’ve never heard anywhere else and that raises the hairs on the back of my neck every time I hear it - more than 40 years since the first time I listened to it. https://open.spotify.com/track/0T0b0WSeYsU1dBSgaILZJi?si=4SuEtiFVTvyLCcdZhTfWjQ

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