Audio CD review:
Camel - Pressure Points: Live in Concert

Camel - Pressure Points: Live in Concert

Band: Camel Title: Pressure Points: Live in Concert Rating: Release Date: 25 October, 1990 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Pressure Points 2: Drafted 3: Captured 4: Lies 5: Sasquatch 6: West Berlin 7: Fingertips 8: Wait 9: Rhayader 10: Rhayader Goes to Town

Customer Reviews Poor song selection It is 46 minutes long. GUEST APPEARANCES FROM PETE BARDENS AND JIMMY HASTINGS This is from a 1984 concert from the tour to support Stationary Traveler. The sound quality is very good but not perfect. I like that is has a live, booming feel to it. Audience noise is kept to a minimum and almost not existant during the playing. This CD was originally available only in Europe and then went out of print. It has been reissued and should be available now in the US. The band on this album is mostly the same as Stationary Traveler, including Chris Rainbow, who made Camel sound like the Alan Parsons Project. It also includes appearances by Pete Bardins (the original keyboard player) and Jimmy Hastings (who has played on other Camel records and with many other Canteburry bands). At only 46 minutes, you that this CD does not represent the complete Camel concert. They almost always played two hours. So, why were these particular songs chosen for the CD? I have no idea, and they are not a very good choice. Most of the songs come from 1979 through 1984, not Camel's best artistic period. Many are straight forward songs in a Alan Parsons sort of vain. Many are not very interesting. The performance of these songs is not that great and not too much different than the studio versions. They all do have some great Andrew Lattimer guitar snippets, but they are not long enough for him to really open up. In many of the places, the back up musicians are not very good. There are some very lame keyboard solos. Jimmy Hastings and Pete Bardens do add some great moments, but they are not many. With 4 keyboard players in the group, Bardens is rarely heard. There are some moments on this CD. The instrumental, Sasquatch is played with energy and at a manic pace. Pressure Points has some good sections (although is does wander aimlessly as some point out). The two tracks from Snow Goose are also good througout. But, I do hate "excerpts" from long compositons like this. What you get is the main theme being over played compared to the rest of the work, and that can just get annoying. For great live Camel, start with A Live Record, and then get On The Road 1970. If you have to get something from the eighties, then get On the Road 1982 which is much better than this. Great Live Album Unfocused? It is a singular piece of genius, that expands beyond the limitations placed upon the original presentation on "Imaginary Traveler". Pressure Points is the highlight of this album. Camel had some great music, and some formulaic fillers. This album takes their best tracks, and expands and reinforces them. . Camel Fan I watched their live concert on BBC and subsequently bought their LP, "Pressure Points". I "discovered" Camel when I was living in England in the early 1980"s. After that, I began to search for great (as opposed to good) rock groups that had really great guitar solos. I owe Camel my loyalty to the British experience and wait for more to come from that island. This CD is a good example of early rock and progressive music of the '80's. Thanks, Camel!. . You can see a complete list of all Camel discography, or go back to the Camel tabs