''Camel'' is the debut studio album by English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

, released on 28 February 1973 by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

Timeline

By August 1972,

were signed to MCA Records. They quickly entered the studio to record their first self-titled album, ''Camel''. A collection of individual songs, chiefly from Andrew Latimer and Peter Bardens, the album was greeted with muted success and MCA did not take an option for a second album. By then, the group had acquired the management team of Geoff Jukes and Max Hole of Gemini Artists (later to become GAMA Records) and had moved to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

, where they would remain for the next 10 years.

Tour

gigged 9 months of the year and firmly established a reputation for their live sound in the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They shared the stage with other artists such as

Stackridge Stackridge were a British rock group which had their greatest success in the early 1970s. History Classic period Stackridge Lemon were formed from the remains of a previous band, Grytpype Thynne, by Andy Davis and James "Crun" Walter during 1 ...

Barclay James Harvest Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Oldham, in September 1966 by bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd (b. 1948), guitarist/vocalist John Lees (b. 1947), drummer/percussionist Mel Pritchard (1948–2004), a ...

, Gong, Hawkwind, Pink Fairies,

Global Village Trucking Company James Edward Lascelles (born 5 October 1953) is a British musician and the second son of the 7th Earl of Harewood and his first wife, Marion. Lascelles is a second cousin once to King Charles III. Music When young, Lascelles had classical pian ...

, and

Spyro Gyra Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1974. The band's music combines jazz, R&B, funk, and pop music. The band's name comes from ''Spirogyra'', a genus of green algae which founder Jay Beckenstein ...

Reception

In their ranking of the band's 14 albums, Prog Sphere placed ''Camel'' at #4, calling the song "Never Let Go" the real highlight on it. They wrote "this debut is not just another example of a stepping stone, but an accomplished work in its own right. While not as good as the group’s later albums, it is a most excellent start and an essential Camel release, as well as a very good starting point to get into their wonderful music."https://www.prog-sphere.com/specials/camel-albums-ranked

Reissue

The album was remastered and reissued in 2002 on

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

with two bonus tracks: the single version of "Never Let Go" and a live version of "Homage to the God of Light", a staple of the band's early shows. A studio version of the latter had appeared on keyboard player Peter Bardens' debut solo album ''The Answer'' in 1970.

Track listing

Personnel

;Camel * Andrew Latimer –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

;

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(1, 4) * Peter Bardens –

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

VCS 3 The VCS 3 (or VCS3; an initialism for ''Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3'') is a portable analog synthesizer with a flexible modular voice architecture introduced by Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited (EMS) in 1969. EMS release ...

synthesizer; vocals (5, 8) * Doug Ferguson –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

; vocals (2, 6) * Andy Ward –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

;Production * Engineered by Roger Quested * Sleeve design by Modula

Release details

* 1973, UK, MCA MUPS 473, Release Date February 1973, LP * 1977, UK, MCA MCL 1601 Release Date Approx 1977, LP * 2002, UK, London 8829252, Release Date 3 June 2002, CD (remastered edition)

References

External links

Official site

Camel - ''Camel'' (1973) album review by Daevid Jehnzen, credits & releases
at AllMusic.com
Camel - ''Camel'' (1973) album releases & credits
at

Discogs.com Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...

Camel - ''Camel'' (1973) album review by Matthijs van der Lee, credits & user reviews
at SputnikMusic.com
Camel - ''Camel'' (1973) album to be listened
as stream at Play.Spotify.com {{Authority control Camel (band) albums 1973 debut albums MCA Records albums Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios