As with many Camel albums, Rajaz is far greater than the sum of its parts and is best listened to in its entirety. The album was remastered and reissued in 2002 on London Records with two bonus tracks: the single version of "Never Let Go" and a live version of "Homage to the God of Light", a staple of the band's early shows. CP-009CD; HDCD). Thank goodness Andy Latimer had the fortitude to see this through to completion; it is the mature work of an indomitable dreamer, if a little downbeat. Albums where the last track is the best track. “Another Night” is even better, featuring a main riff closely bordering on hard rock, some of the best vocals on the album, and, top really top things off, both a guitar and organ solo near the end of the track.
In particular the flute solos are placed here, there and everywhere throughout each of the album’s songs, and every time it makes the songs themselves come to life-so much, that lyrics aren’t even needed, thus giving off the effect that the music actually speaks for itself. There’s hardly any room to do so what with each song being no less than two to five minutes, hence the sixteen tracks. What’s that you say? Songs like “Elke” and “Skylines” throw off any bid at accessibility, while the disc’s title-track is a decent throwback, but a little too short to come off as memorable.
However, sampling this music in small doses really doesn’t do it justice.
The two other similarly experimental tracks, “Fox Hill” and “Squigely Fair,” also take the listener on a wishful journey full of surprises nobody could even imagine. Throughout the record, the moods change very often and still retain the same overall ambience, one of nature, all her seasons, and all the fog, wind, and oak that goes with it. Timeline. The sounds of tweeting birds, whistling trains and breezy winds give way to sparkling keyboards that wouldn’t sound out of place on a children’s TV programme.
The best moment is however the instrumental closer “Lunar Sea” (also known as “Lunacy”), using whacky synthesizers, aggressive bass playing and the sound of blowing wind in its last minute to wrap things up in a truly unique manner. The critical response to experimental/avant-garde albums never fails to confuse me.
Though underdeveloped as many debuts are, the band’s first album gives a strong hint of what’s to come with seven very worthy tracks. The wandering ways of the album make for a confusing feel for radio-play, leaving front-man Andrew Latimer’s motives a little unclear. Which, when listening to Mirage, was something quite astounding. “Chord Change” is another classic Camel mood-changer (as its title already implies), and goes through some rockin’ passages. However, not everything here is as good or indeed unmistakeably talented as it seems. The arrival of Happy the Man‘s Kit Watkins on keyboards results in the presence of “Eye of the Storm”—and if it sounds like a leftover Happy the Man track, that’s because it is—but otherwise the album sees Camel continuing its quest for an accessible, commercial style unhindered by Canterbury affectations or qualms from Bardens about the new direction. That’s not all. Latimer wrote the song about the Gandalf character from The Lord of the Rings (those fantastical kind of themes were really hip among the rock bands of the era, after all), which is easily derived from the lyrics: “Once he wore grey/he fell and slipped away/From everybody’s sight/The wizard of them all/came back from his fall/This time wearing white.”.