Caamora: She

[Nicky007]

I think that we should have a proper Caamora She thread, so here it is, guys.

I was a real lucky sh* (not she) today:  I was conducting my usual enjoyable Saturday afternoon visit to Malmö Skivhandel (skiv=disc), browsing thru the new stuff, when to my great surprise, I found Caamora She, even to the very reasonable price of 200 Dkr.

So no more browsing and straight home to listen to it.

The first thing that struck me was the very tasteful packaging and graphics. (Where the h* did Clive find all that money ?  )

The second thing that both struck me immediately and proved to be lasting was that this is a true symphonic rock epic - not some syrupy Lloyd Webber or Abba product. I'm not saying this cause I like Clive or cause I'm a big Arena fan - man, this is obvious. OK, more straightforward melodic music than Arena, and without the ruffstuff, but She's definitely ( ) serious, both in lyrics and music.

What probably surprised me most is that Clive is a a real fine singer - well, man of many talents. If his fingers fu'd, he sure could convince me as a singer. Clive, great singing !

Of course, Agnieszka's and Christina's singing is of the sort that constantly sends shivers down one's back, and when they do the harmony thingy - hyueydoey 

OK, get back to you guys later re the contents. Meanwhile, maybe someone else would care to share.

Nicky.

[Teunis]

Well, you've said it all, except one man: Alan Reed. What a terrific voice this man has too  . And I find the moments that the choir is singing so beautiful. Goosebump moments, and I really experienced that at the live DVD. Awesome stuff indeed!  . But can you mention one project of Clive that sucked? That man is a genius .

[Nicky007]

Well, after the first few listens, what particularly stands out is The Bonding and Embrace The Fire, and guys:  These are simply insanely good 

I would say, even better ..... argh, even ..... try again: even better than ....... no I can't bring it across my lips *¤"&%?*# 

Pusle says:  What Nicky's trying to say is that these two songs strike him as even better than what Arena has done.

Nicky again:  OK, now I'v regained my speech. I just wanna say that if anyone has nurtured any thought of She being inferior to Contagion or Pepper, well then forget it! forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it...........................

Clive and guys and gals, thanks so much for this very special treat 

Nicky.

[Nicky007]

Deeply impressed !  This is BIG, guys. Everything here is taken to the utmost:  drama, philosophy, music, musicianship.

Again and again Wagner's Parsifal comes to my mind. We're up in this league, and there's more stuff that compares than most pundits would care to admit.

Just like in Parsifal, Clive grapples with the big ideas here: Love, sin, remorse, redemption, rebirth, twin souls, fate, destiny.

The drama is based on the epic She by Henry Rider Haggard. I had actually never heard of this book before learning of it through Clive's She. Both use an adventure story as a vehicle to draw in the reader/listener to join in on reflecting on the big questions of life. As I haven't read the book, I can't say where HRH's philosophy stops and Clive's begins. In any case, the continuation is now yours, "my love".

The musical centerpiece is The Bonding. The dramatic mood there reminds me very much of Act 3 in Parsifal. Christina Booth delivers a stunning rendition of The Bonding.

Now, if the music community doesn't receive this fascinating work with reverence, than it's really fubb 

Nicky.

[Lake of despond]

I agree in most of the facts stated here just must add I liked the Bonding much more in Agnieszka's interpretation, it carried more emotions and melody...
But naturally everything that Clives does is a masterpiece, I expected She to be this grand and impressive!
So big thanks for another spiritual music pleasure to our mr. Polly

[erik]

Caamora - She is an amazing achievement by Mr. Nolan and all the other people involved! I ordered the box set as soon as I could, together with the 2nd and 3rd EP I still had to get. Wow, hats off, what a great epic journey!

Great vocal performances and the best vocals by Clive so far, he has really grown as a singer. It’s a very vocal and melodic album, i.e. not so many instrumental parts as in your average prog release, but the songs are absolutely interesting and captivating enough. There simply isn’t one bad track on it and that’s quite a feat with an album of this length. I wonder what the additional hour of material that Clive had to discard to trim the album down to a workable length is like.. Maybe some of that will make it on to a future release.

The live performance is stunning and the theatre in Katowice is very suited for this kind of show. To make the album is one thing, but to pull it off live like this, with limited rehearsal possibilities, is simply amazing.

So get it if you don’t have it already, it’s a must have and deserves as much support as possible!

[bluepony]

Deeply impressed !  This is BIG, guys. Everything here is taken to the utmost:  drama, philosophy, music, musicianship.

I couldn't have said it better, Nicky!

The drama is based on the epic She by Henry Rider Haggard. I had actually never heard of this book before learning of it through Clive's She. Both use an adventure story as a vehicle to draw in the reader/listener to join in on reflecting on the big questions of life. As I haven't read the book, I can't say where HRH's philosophy stops and Clive's begins. In any case, the continuation is now yours, "my love".

You should read the book, too - but try and get it in the "original" (i. e. "ancient English") version, that'll be fun!

[Nicky007]

NP  Caamora:  The Bonding

This song is HOT. And Christina sings like a dream 

It actually reminds me of Mike Oldfield's Moonlight Shadow - just as wonderful a song, and Maggie Reilly sings similarly and as beautifully on MS.

The difference is that MS is BIG - I mean, this is really a song you hear played on radio and everywhere.

Actually TB even has a catchier rhythm - but that also belongs to our times.

So how come The Bonding can't break thru that barrier 

Humans - incl. roomies btw - continue to puzzle me with their inconsistency 

I mean, who is it that's promoting mediocrity and thus preventing the best music from getting proper publicity ?

What/who are the powers that insist on feeding us junk music ?

And why are people satisfied with that ?  Why don't they have greater demands re music ?

I think that if a guy like Clive got a sizable bag of money, that would give him freedom to develop his genius along different paths, and even help other aspiring talents to develop theirs; I don't think he'd sell out - would you, Clive ?


Another thing is that it would be interesting to get the background for the name "Caamora" 

Nicky.

[PH]

1. Who is it that's promoting mediocrity and thus preventing the best music from getting proper publicity ?

2. What/who are the forces that insist on feeding us junk music ?

3. Why are people satisfied with that ?  Why don't they have greater demands re music ?

This is very simple.

1. Radio stations and DJs are the ones who promote music and prevent the best music from getting airplay. But record labels have a hand in that too. The DJs only play what THEY like. Sometimes the public can ask for a song, but most of the time they ask for a song that's already very popular. Why? Because they know it from the radio. It's all they know. It's a vicious circle.

2. Record labels and Radio stations insist on feeding us junk music. They play it all the time. And tv programmes like Idols or X-Factor make sure that the vicious circle continues. Of course it's not about the music anymore. It's about 'a total picture' as they say. But that means that it's not about the music, but the 'artist', the idol is in the middle. They even don't write their own songs most of the time. It's about making money. But I'm not telling anything new here, because we all know it.

3. People are satisfied with that, because they simply don't know! It's not a big issue for them. To them, music isn't the same as for us. Here in the Shattered Room, there are people who care about the music and the bands that make this music. Music is our hobby, our passion. We don't listen to just songs, we listen to ALBUMS! And we want to know what it's about! We read the lyrics, we want to be gripped by the story or the philosophy that's hidden in there. We stare at the artwork for hours. We put an album on, turn the lights out and just listen to it.
For them (the mere mortals ) it is just music. Something you turn on when you want, and turn off when you want. Just to make noise. Some musical wallpaper, preventing you from falling asleep in the car. Or preventing from thinking too hard. They don't care for the artwork, they might as well buy an album with the singer's face on it. (So cheap...) Or they don't buy the album at all! They download the songs they like through iTunes and the likes. Music isn't their hobby.

You know the people who listen to music with only one earphone in? That are the people who don't care for music. It's just something you put on and off when you want to.


Of course, everything what I just said is perhaps a bit extreme. We need to relativise.



-Paco

[Nicky007]

Fine and very precise analysis, Paxi 

Yes, I agree     (I didnt even know that there was X-Factor outside of Denmark, good grief.) 

I'm just puzzled by the fact that everybody is talking about how important music has become in society, but still people don't seem to be taking it seriously somehow 

There's a lot of intelligence around, but strangely it goes mainly in other directions than art (and care for life - probably there's a connection).

But in a sense it's always been like that. When you look back thru the centuries, you see some of the most sensitive and intelligent people becoming court jesters and travelling circus artists in order to survive. They were above everybody else in spirit and therefore could twist things to make others laugh (of course they couldnt be too personal), so they didnt get their heads chopped off or attacked in other ways.

Interestingly, programs like X-Factor seem to perpetuate that condition by making fools out of musicians 

Nicky.

[Peter]

Erm, just a 2c noter here:

I believe, the mass public is simply not interested in "better" music, as we define or see it. Why do I think so? For me, most of the music -if not all- we guys listen to is the kind of music that needs to be listened to exclusively, like "to be concentrated on it", doing nothing else but sitting down and listening. What most consumers seem to want is what PH has already explained as a "musical wallpaper" or so. Something that dribbles by in the background, that has easy listening schemes. I might be wrong here with my conception of waht people want or waht certain people MAKE THEM WANT, though...

[Nicky007]

I think you're very right, Cap - altho I can do other things when listening to good music, even stuff like Dillinger and Scar Symmetry; good music actually inspires me and stimulates me to active thinking and doing 

I remember the scenario you'v outlined from my office life. People - mainly staff - would have the radio playing all day quietly. Occasionally there would be something that caught my attention, and I would say like "Hey, what's that ?" or "How about that ?", and my colleague would respond "Oh, dunno, it's only the radio playing."

In other words: They'd have the radio playing all day, and they wouldnt even register what was being played, as long as it wasnt too loud or distracted them in other ways 

There are a lot of people having the radio or TV churning that way in their homes. In fact, sometimes they even have several things running at the same time - and that drives me nuts, cause I actually listen.

So guys, what makes us different 

Nicky.

[PH]

Seems like I'll be getting my Caamora DVD after all!

[Teunis]

Congratulations! It's great, I've been enjoying the DVD this weekend  .

[JJ II]

Caamora did some gigs in South America.

Some googling provided me with this evidence:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=34187459

[Nicky007]

... and  http://caamora.net/

Nicky.

[erik]

Caamora did some gigs in South America.

..and will do more in 2010, but then it's the full-fledged She extravaganza! From their website:

'She' in January 2010
Finally, the dates have been set for the two Santa Cruz, Bolivia performances of 'She'. The shows will take place on 21st and 22nd of January 2010. Negations are already underway to take the show to other South American countries after Bolivia.

[Nicky007]

Negations

What a silly mistake    (at least I hope someone is)

Nicky.

[Niquicho]

Clives announces on his site that 'She' will be performed in De Boerderij, the Netherlands, on September 3, 2011:
http://www.clivenolan.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57:the-triumphant-return-of-she-to-europe

[Teunis]

Yeah, I noticed. Coolies and very tempting .

[PH]

Dunno if this was mentioned somewhere on this forum before, but:
Caamora is now called The Caamora Theatre Company and they are working on a new 'musical' called 'Alchemy'.
It is scheduled to be staged in 2013.

A YouTube video was uploaded on March 30 and there will be a new video every week from now on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-KWFJ0IWM

Good luck to Clive!

[Nicky007]

Dunno why you guys call Caamora She a musical 

To me a musical is mainly show with easy listening music, like Phantom Of The Opera.

Now I consider both the music and the story of Caamora She quite demanding, so to me it's a rock opera.

Who among you guys has actually worked yourself into this album ?

Nicky.

[Teunis]

Who among you guys has actually worked yourself into this album ?

I own the DVD, not the cd. Play it often,  . Think about attending the She show in September in Zoetermeer.

[maddox]

I have the ultimate box, that means two studio cd's, two live cd's and a bunch of DVD's in it.
Looks lovely and sounds lovely though I have to be honest, it's a bit over the top from time to time.

Dunno if this was mentioned somewhere on this forum before, but:
Caamora is now called The Caamora Theatre Company and they are working on a new 'musical' called 'Alchemy'.
It is scheduled to be staged in 2013.

A YouTube video was uploaded on March 30 and there will be a new video every week from now on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-KWFJ0IWM

Good luck to Clive!

Yes, I knew this already it was mentioned on their/his facebook site.
Don't know why it hasn't been mentioned over here but glad that you did, Paco.

Dunno why you guys call Caamora She a musical 

To me a musical is mainly show with easy listening music, like Phantom Of The Opera.

Now I consider both the music and the story of Caamora She quite demanding, so to me it's a rock opera.

Well, both rock opera's and musicals have mainly one ingredient which is music and lots of it, so I can understand the confusion.
Both tell a story, a concept so to me both names are right considering Caamora.

[PH]

Dunno why you guys call Caamora She a musical 

Clive calls it a musical.