Camel - Nude
#24
January 1981
Camel
Nude
Genre: Prog
2.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Drafted
I took a break from listening to music from the 80s. About a solid week, actually. A palette cleanser. Well, if you call 00s emo “cleansing”. I needed it. 1981 hasn’t been a boffo year so far. It feels like a hangover from a great decade opener.
So. I took a break.
I came back to this record.
Lemme ask a question: Outside of Green Day’s two concept opuses, is story driven novel rock solely the wheelhouse of prog? And, if so, what’s the compunction to play music that is soft and loose and complex and also based entirely on telling a story? Marillion and Floyd and a host of others do this. And, I’ve stated before, I have a great deal of trouble following stories that are made in this format. I want to enjoy the music but I also feel like I have to spend extra time reading and then absorbing through poetry.
This one follows the true story of a Japanese soldier who is marooned on an island and doesn’t know the war has ended.
A lot of it is instrumental so if you don’t know what’s going on, the album sure ain’t gonna help you. Onooda was the penultimate soldier to surrender. In 1974. I wish the album was a more interesting depiction of what sounds like a great story. But it’s not. The Wikipedia entry does a better job of that.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm7eV8JFFvI&list=PLlvn8uktX5Ltf36AwIMB-TXGaNPCgmehs
