As Accessible As It Can Get: "Moonmadness" (1976) by Camel

On 26th of March 1976, Camel released their fourth studio album Moonmadness as a follow up for the success of The Snow Goose (1975).

The album holds a peculiar place in the history of Camel as it is the last one to include the original (and arguably the most prolific) line-up, which consisted of Andrew Latimer, Peter Bardens, Doug Ferguson, and Andy Ward. Having made an all instrumental album, which caused their popularity to skyrocket, the band returned back to incorporating vocals in their songs while still keeping it low for the instruments to shine on their own.

In late 1975, the material for a new album was written in about three weeks and the band recorded Moonmadness in January and February of 1976. Latimer commented that though they rushed to finish the album, the product was something that he was proud of. Indeed, it wouldn’t even sound daring if one were to argue that there are no weak tracks in the record. This is perhaps because each track was intended to be based around the personality of a band member. Guitarist Andy Latimer was "Air Born", keyboardist Peter Bardens was "Chord Change", bassist Doug Ferguson was "Another Night" and drummer Andy Ward was "Lunar Sea".