Top 10 Camel Songs

Photo: By Ueli Frey (DrJazz.ch) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Our Top 10 Camel Songs list looks at one of Europe’s most loved progressive rock bands. The band was formed in England in The early 1970′ by founding member Andrew Latimer. The band Camel released their first album in 1973 entitled appropriately Camel. On the first record the band consisted of musicians, Andrew Latimer on guitar and vocals, Peter Bardens on keyboards, Doug Ferguson on bass and Andy Ward on drums. The band released the songs “Never Let Go,” as the first single off the album and in fact the first single of their career.

A year after their debut album was released, Camel changed their record company and released their follow up album entitled Mirage. With the same lineup of musicians from their debut record, the band’s second album would prove to become one of their most loved albums. It was the record that established the band a loyal following whom have remained loyal to the band for over 45 years.

The band Camel released four albums in a row at the start of their career without any personal changes. This was a rarity in progressive music where so many bands like Gong, King Crimson, Yes and many others went through major personal changes during their first three records at least.

From 1973 to 1984, the band Camel released ten albums. The band went on a seven year hiatus and returned in 1991 with the Dust and Dreams album which was inspired by the events of the 1930’s Dust Bowl and the work of John Steinbeck who wrote the novel The Grapes of Wrath. The novel was about about the despair of the displaced farmer due to the Dust Bowl and economic conditions caused by over farming, over tilling, and the stock market crash.

Andy Latimer’s Camel returned again in 1996 with the album Harbour of Tears. The album Rajaz was released in 1996 and the band’s final album A Nod and a Wink was released in 2002.

While the band was well known in Europe, they were not that well known in the United States outside the circle of dedicated progressive rock fans. This list has been complied to tun people on to the band who do not know their material and also offer a subjective view of our favorite Camel songs.

# 10 – Lady Fantasy

Opening up our top 10 Camel songs list is the amazing piece of music entitled “Lady Fantasy.” Leading off with this suite defines that the order of pieces we have chosen here is really insignificant as we would argue that this could also be listed as the number one. “Lady Fantasy,” was the closing suite of music on the band’s 1974 album Mirage.

# 9 – Chord Change

The Camel instrumental piece “Chord Change,” was released on the band’s 1976 album Moonmadness. The Camel song “Chord Change,” was written by Andrew Latimer and Peter Bardens.

# 8 – Stationary Traveler

The Camel track “Stationary Traveler,” is the most recent Camel song on this list. The song was released on the band’s 1984 album of the same name.

# 7 – Rhayader /Rhayader Goes To Town

Our selection in the number seven spot on this Top 10 Camel Songs list is reserved for a two song combination entitled “Rhayader /Rhayader Goes To Town,” that is featured back to back on the great album The Snow Goose. The record was released in 1975.

# 6 – City Life

Camel released the album Nude in 1981. The song “City Life,” appeared as the album’s opening track. As with so many of Camel’s albums, Nude was a concept record bathed in the genre of progressive rock and originality.

# 5 – Ice

The song “Ice,” has always been one of our favorite Camel songs. The great track was released on the I Can See Your House from Here album. The record was released in 1979. The album also featured a new lineup with Colin Bass replacing Richard Sinclair on bass. The band also featured new members Jan Schelhaas and Kit Watkins.

# 4 – Dunkirk

The Camel song “Dunkirk” was another great track from the legendary album, The Snow Goose. The album featured sixteen sings on one vinyl record.

# 3 – Never Let Go

“Never Let Go,” was the band’s first single they ever released. The song appeared on the band’s debut album Camel in 1973.

# 2 – Lunar Sea

Lunar Sea is the second track from the album Moonmadness to appear on this Top 10 Camel songs list. We tried to spread out our picks for this list from different time periods, but the band’s early to mid seventies period was just too good.

# 1 – The White Rider (Nimrodel/The Procession/White Rider)

We opened our top 10 Camel Songs list with this track’s opposite album side suite. The band’s great Mirage album featured two vinyl sides that were both anchored by epic musical suites. “The White Rider,” piece appeared on the album’s A side.