Saturday 27 July 2013

Rhayader Goes to Town (Camel, 1975)

"Music Inspired by The Snow Goose", based on a Paul Gallico's novel published in 1941, is a whole instrumental album, one of the best records of this kind and a recognized masterpiece by Camel. "Rhayader Goes to Town" perfectly represents the main features of this work and even if it isn't the most popular song from the album it certainly is one of the best in the lot. Its 5 minutes and more are full of unpredictable and still enjoyable music, including keyboard progressions and a stunning floyd-esque electric guitar solo. The music describes how the citizens react when the eccentric artist Philip Rhayader, one of the main characters of Gallico's book, comes to town.

Camel's line-up in 1975.

The sweetness of the song is also enriched by a good deal of humour, some acid sounds and a creative drumming, so that I always considered this song as kind of an anthology of prog rock main characters. Even so, "Rhayader Goes to Town" has its own distinctive style and is a quintessential Camel song, that's to say fresh, tasty, pure music juice!

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