Camel
Dust And Dreams

After the release of Stationary Traveller (1984), Camel, led by the sole surviving member Latimer, had to endure seven difficult years before being able to produce a new album. Fortunately, with the establishment of a new operational base in Mt. View (CA) and the creation of Camelproductions, Andy Latimer managed to release "Dust And Dreams" in 1991.

The album is a concept album consisting of sixteen tracks for a total of forty-seven minutes and fifty-five seconds. Personally, I found this album particularly successful both artistically and technically. The structure of the concept is convincing, and each track is enjoyable and never predictable. Essentially, it is an instrumental album with only four sung tracks. The album draws inspiration from "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. The title of the CD is decidedly laden with meanings, and in the excellent booklet (printed on recycled paper) there are some artistic black and white photos sourced from the "Library of Congress" that reinforce its meaning. Notably, the cover features a child, and the back cover depicts an old man bending down to pick up a sack. Two different moments in a human being's life, that of youth, laden with dreams and hopes with plenty of time available, and that of old age when many dreams have vanished and the available time is drawing to an end...

Often, the life journey a person must undertake is precisely about realizing dreams, finding (or creating) a job, finding a home, creating a family, raising a child. Unfortunately, sometimes a bad event occurs, and what you can do is either start all over again or, "grit your teeth" and keep going until the end of time...

This CD also maintains high compositional standards like the entire Camel discography (or nearly so). The tone of the work is melancholic and extremely profound in its concepts. Latimer's guitar "touch" is always moving and convincing, and even if his singing style is not particularly brilliant, it is always sincere and full of passion. As always, there are no "monstrous" technicalities, there are no extensive solos, all the music is perfectly calibrated and balanced. Among all the tracks on the album, I would like to highlight "Go West", a simple and moving ballad sung by Andy. "Mother Road", a more rhythmic piece sung by Andy with excellent guitar solos. The beautiful "Rose of Sharon" sung with a delicate and refined voice by Mae McKenna. Also unforgettable is "End of The Line" sung by Andy with excellent Blues-style guitar solos. This might be my favorite track. "Cotton Camp", "Broken Banks", and "Hopeless Anger" are highly valuable instrumentals with a focus on guitar and drums.

A less immediate album compared to other Camel works, which requires more listens to be fully appreciated but will linger in the heart much longer over time, at least it did for me. Before concluding, I just want to add two words for the great "CameLatimer": "DON'T GIVE UP!".