樂評：Camel《A Nod and A Wink》

01-23

樂評來自：http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1710477

豆瓣：A Nod & A Wink (豆瓣)

蝦米試聽：蝦米音樂

"A Nod And A Wink" is the fourteenth studio album of Camel and is also their last original studio album until now. It was released in 2002. It"s true they released a new version of "The Snow Goose" in 2013, but this isn"t an original new work. The album was dedicated to Peter Bardens, their former keyboardist and one of the main composers of the group with Andrew Latimer, in their first musical period. Sadly Bardens passed way in January of the same year, in 2002.

《A Nod And A Wink》是Camel的第十四張錄音室專輯，也是他們到目前為止的最後一張。發行於2002年。他們曾在2013年發行了《The Snow Goose》的新版本，但不是原創作品。專輯是獻給Peter Bardens的，他是樂隊從前的鍵盤手，也是樂隊初期和Andrew Latimer一樣最重要的作曲家。Bardens遺憾地在同年1月去世。

The line up on the album is Andrew Latimer (vocals, flute, guitars and keyboards), Guy LeBlanc (backing vocals and keyboards), Colin Bass (backing vocals and bass guitar), Denis Clement (drums), Terry Carelton (backing vocals and drums) and J.R. Johston (backing vocals).

專輯製作人員是：Andrew Latimer (主唱, 長笛, 吉他與鍵盤), Guy LeBlanc (合聲與鍵盤), Colin Bass (合聲與貝司), Denis Clement (鼓), Terry Carelton (合聲與鼓) and J.R. Johston (合聲).

"A Nod And A Wink" has seven tracks. The first track "A Nod And A Wink", is the title track and was written by Latimer, Hoover and LeBlanc. It"s an incredible song to open the album and represents one the greatest moments on it. This is also one of the lengthiest songs composed by them. It"s a song where the music flows constantly and has also a great musical structure. This is a great epic song that moves beautifully and where the vocals fit very well. The second track "Simple Pleasures" written by Latimer and Hoover is a very beautiful and melancholic song and represents for me one of the most beautiful moments on the album. It has a great rhythm section very well accompanied by great guitar work. On this album, and particularly on this song, we can feel the similitude of the styles of Latimer and David Gilmour on guitars. However and despite that, I think Latimer has his own style. This is really a very enjoyable and beautiful song. The third track "A Boy"s Life" written by Latimer and Hoover is a song that begins very calm, with acoustic guitar and vocals. It"s a song with different musical passages with calm and nice moments and fast and explosive moments. This is also a slow and an acoustic track. The second part of the song is really good and has a fantastic guitar work too. This is the song which is particularly dedicated to Bardens and it has in me strong emotional feelings. The fourth track "Fox Hill" written by Latimer and Hoover is a happy song very well structured. This is a song with great electric guitar work, fantastic keyboards and good drumming work too. It has even a mini drum solo. It"s an enjoyable song, very consistent, that delivers an excellent musical composition. This song reminds me strongly Genesis in Peter Gabriel"s era, particularly the lengthy and great epic songs made by them, like "The Battle Of Epping Forest". It"s probably Latimer"s musical composition more close to Genesis" sound. I"ve no problem with that because, in the first place I love Genesis and in the second place the typical Camel"s sound is always present all over the song. The fifth track "The Miller"s Tale" written by Latimer and Hoover is a short and sweet acoustic ballad in the typical Camel"s style. The first part of the song begins with acoustic guitar played in Steve Hackett"s style and the second part is a typical symphonic song. It"s the simplest track on the album and is probably the weakest too. However, it"s a very beautiful and a peaceful moment, with good flute and great acoustic strings works. I enjoy it very much. The sixth track "Squigely Fair" written by Latimer is almost an instrumental song that takes us to the good old times of Camel in the 70"s, and that reminds us strongly their third album "The Snow Goose". It"s a song full of good flute and acoustic works which brings us an enjoyable and beautiful moment of peace and tranquillity. This is one of the highest moments on the album. The seventh and last track "For Today" written by Latimer and LeBlanc is another song with a guitar sound very close to the floydian style. This is a song very well sung and with great guitar work, with a guitar solo really stunning, and also good drumming. Oh Boy. The final of the song is absolutely incredible and represents for me a real hymn to their music and to the progressive music in general. Here we can feel the emotion of the music at its peak. That is really astonishing. This is, in my humble opinion, a great and a perfect ending not only for this album but probably and sadly for their thirty years of career.

《A Nod And A Wink》有七首歌。第一首歌"A Nod And A Wink"是主題曲，由Latimer, Hoover 和LeBlanc創作。這是不可思議的開場曲，代表了專輯最偉大的時刻之一。這也是專輯中最長的一曲。這首歌的音樂不斷流動變幻，但有很偉大的音樂架構。這是很優美的史詩之作，歌聲也配合得很好。第二首歌"Simple Pleasures"由Latimer和Hoover創作，非常優美和憂鬱，是專輯最美妙的時刻之一。它有很偉大的節奏，伴隨偉大的吉他演繹。我們可以在專輯——尤其是這首歌中看到Latimer的吉他風格和David Gilmour的是很相似的。不過儘管如此，我認為Latimer有他自己的風格。這真的是很令人愉快和美麗的歌曲。第三首歌"A Boy"s Life"由Latimer和Hoover創作，開頭非常安靜，有木吉他和歌聲。它有著不同的音樂段落，有時是安靜的美妙的，有時是快速的有爆發性的。它有緩慢的木吉他部分，而第二部分是神奇的吉他演奏。這首歌是特別獻給Bardens的，它帶給我很強烈的情緒感受。第四首歌"Fox Hill"由Latimer和Hoover創作，是很歡快的歌，但結構很好。有偉大的電吉他部分，奇妙的鍵盤和不錯的打擊樂部分。它甚至有一個迷你鼓的獨奏。它一直令人很愉快，提供給我們一個優秀的音樂組成。這首歌強烈地讓我們想起Peter Gabriel時期的Genesis，特別是他們的長篇史詩，比如"The Battle Of Epping Forest"。這或許是Latimer刻意讓風格接近於Genesis。我不介意，因為我首先很喜歡Genesis，其次典型的Camel聲音依然充斥在全曲中。第五首歌"The Miller"s Tale"由Latimer和Hoover創作，比較短，有甜美的木吉他演奏，是典型的Camel風格的民謠。開頭是Steve Hackett風格的木吉他，第二部分是典型的交響搖滾。這是專輯最簡單的歌曲，或許也是弱點所在。不過，它很優美與平靜，伴隨不錯的長笛和偉大的木吉他演奏，我很喜歡它。第六首歌"Squigely Fair"由Latimer創作，幾乎是純器樂作品，把我們帶回Camel七十年代的美好時光，使我們強烈回憶起《The Snow Goose》。歌曲都是美好的長笛演奏和不插電的樂器，帶給我們一個平和寧靜的享受。它是專輯的一個至高點。第七首也是最後一首"For Today"由Latimer和LeBlanc（介紹見此：https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/25090099）創作，是另一首吉他風格很接近Pink Floyd的歌曲。這首歌唱的很好，有很偉大的吉他演奏，吉他獨奏真的是驚人的，鼓也打得不多。我和你們說，歌曲的最後部分絕對是不可思議的，我認為它代表了對於他們音樂和前衛搖滾的一種真正的讚美。我們可以感受到音樂達到了它的巔峰。這真是令人驚訝。在我看來，這是專輯偉大的、完美的結尾，但不幸的或許也是他們三十年職業生涯的結尾。

Conclusion: Fifteen years have passed since the release of this album, and due to Latimer"s health problems, this was probably their last original studio work too. However, I think they can be proud to leave us a great musical legacy. Camel is one of the few groups that always maintained a certain musical coherence and never forgot their progressive roots. I want to leave my deep admiration and my personal thanks to one of the greatest and most important prog rock bands and to leave also my homage to Bardens. He was one of the finest keyboardists ever and his presence in the first musical period of Camel was one of the keys of their sound. He and Latimer are one of the best prog composers" duos of ever. "A Nod And A Wink", is a truly masterpiece. It"s very well produced and all songs have good arrangements. The quality of the musicians needs no comment. The album has a more melancholy and mellow style than earlier works of Camel, but it fits the process of getting older, not only Latimer, but also his fans from the past, of whom I"m one too.

結論：專輯發行後已經過了十五年，由於Latimer的健康問題，這也許是他們最後的錄音室專輯了。不過，我認為他們可以為留給我們一個如此偉大的音樂傳奇而感到無比自豪。Camel是少有的一直維持統一的音樂風格、並且始終不忘懷他們前衛根基的樂隊。我要給這支最偉大和最重要的前衛樂隊深深的欽佩，同樣也致敬給Bardens。他是最好的鍵盤手之一，他在Camel樂隊早期的存在是他們獨特聲音的一個關鍵。他和Latimer是前衛作曲家的最佳搭檔之一。《A Nod And A Wink》是真正的傑作。它製作精良，所有歌曲都被細緻安排。音樂的質量毋庸置疑。相比Camel早期的作品，這張專輯顯得更憂鬱和成熟醇厚，但它比較適合已在慢慢變老的人，不僅僅是Latimer，也是他一直以來的粉絲，我也是其中之一。

熊貓哥哥註：日版還有一首特別附贈『After All These Years』，也是五星佳作！