Camel, the quiet prog band whose instrumental Snow Goose drew a lawsuit
Paul Gallico, author of The Snow Goose, sued a Guildford rock band over their wordless concept album based on his story. Legend says he hated smoking and confused Camel with the cigarettes, but in truth he was a heavy smoker objecting on copyright grounds. The album still became their breakthrough.
Guitarist Andrew Latimer, drummer Andy Ward and bassist Doug Ferguson had played around Guildford as a trio called Brew before advertising in Melody Maker for a keyboard player in 1971. Peter Bardens answered, auditioning on a borrowed Hammond organ, and after a detour to Ireland to honour his old contracts, the four renamed themselves Camel and debuted in December 1971 supporting Wishbone Ash. Their first album sold poorly, but the second, Mirage in 1974, showed Latimer's skill on flute and caught on in the United States, earning a three-month tour there.
The Snow Goose arrived in 1975. To settle Gallico's complaint the band printed Music inspired by on the cover and removed his story from the back. Success brought a concert with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall that October, and Melody Maker readers voted them Britain's Brightest Hope. Line-ups then churned: Ferguson quit in 1977 when Ward pushed toward jazz, and Bardens left after Breathless in 1978, with players from Caravan filling gaps and linking Camel to the Canterbury scene. Nude, in 1981, told the true story of the Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda, and later that year Camel quietly broke up.
Latimer kept the name alive through session work for Decca before moving to America. In 1991 he relaunched Camel on his own label, and later records included Harbour of Tears, named after an Irish port from which famine emigrants sailed, and Rajaz, inspired by an Arabic poetic metre said to echo a camel's footsteps. The most recent studio album, A Nod and a Wink, came out in 2002.
Treatment for myelofibrosis kept Latimer offstage for years, but he returned to touring in 2013 with full performances of The Snow Goose. Marillion, Opeth and Steven Wilson all cite the band, and Rick Astley has said his first concert, a Snow Goose show, blew his mind.
Source: Camel (band)
