Greetings!
Andrew's Health
This is officially the last time we will talk about Andrew's health. The bone marrow transplant has been a complete success, and I think the dark days are well and truly behind us. As I've said in past newsletters, he continues to have some challenges to face, but he is a strong-willed individual, and he will find way to overcome them. So, it's no longer about health problems. It's about the music...
The Opening Farewell
Andrew and Denis have now finished work on the DVD, and Denis has completed mixing the audio. Once all editing and mastering is complete, we'll send the masters off to the plant and it will be a matter of weeks before it's on sale in our shop.
Track listing:
Lady Fantasy
Lunar Sea
Unevensong
Another Night
Hymn to Her
Ice
Echoes
Spirit of the Water
Stationary Traveller
Slow yourself Down
Drafted
Mother Road
Rhayader
Rhayader goes to town
For Today
Time: 2 hrs 7 mins
Format: NTSC*
Region: 0 (no restrictions)
(*This format will play on all equipment enabled for NTSC)
It would be hard to believe this was from 2003 had we not been through such an intense passage of time since then. In my darkest hour, I had not wanted to even consider releasing it posthumously. And so, it is with tremendous pleasure, that I announce the pending release of this DVD.
The lads have worked hard to restore the problems of audio that occurred on the night, and I think they've done a fabulous job. To my ears, it sounds exactly as it did on the night and, while it has all the rough qualities of a first-night performance, it was a tremendously fun gig.
Something special...
We have decided to offer something a little special for this release. For a donation of £30 towards the production of The Opening Farewell, we'll list your name in the Special Thank You section of our liner notes. For £40 donation, we'll print your name and send you an autographed copy from our first run. There is a choice for these selections when you visit our shop. If you just want to pre-order a copy, it will be autographed by Andrew as well.
****OFFER EXPIRES: 26 SEPTEMBER 2010****
In The Meantime...
In between work on the DVD, Andrew and Denis have been writing material for the next Camel album. It is still in an embryonic state, but the two seem to be expanding their musical relationship and lots of good sounds have been emitting from the studio of late. No definitive dates are going to be announced until a cohesive body of work has been created. However, I think it safe to say that a Camel album is in the future and I, for one, am just about breathless with anticipation.
iCamel... iTunes
iTunes have formally invited Camel to join their online music store. We are truly pleased to join the downloading community, and have readily accepted. The contracts are being executed at this time, and material prepared for upload to the iTunes store. We hope to launch our iTunes availability within the next few weeks. We'll send out an eBeast with our launch date on the iTunes website.
High Voltage Festival
Although we were disappointed by Camel missing the High Voltage Festival, it looked a great success with excellent attendance. We subsequently realised live performances will require more effort than we were all able to give just yet, most especially Andrew. The pain in his hands continue to pose a challenge, and we couldn't risk committing to such a huge undertaking just yet. We are looking into ways of dealing with this problem and are feeling optimistic about the possible options for the future.
T-shirts, etc.
We are about to revamp Highly Collectable's shop with a new range of items. We've been talking about introducing some fun things, along with some nostalgic ones. Our t-shirt section will be expanded to offer short and long-sleeved shirts, and we'll include size 3XL by popular request. The new shirts are much lighter in weight, and have a somewhat more tailored look.
We are expecting stock very soon of Moonmadness and Rain Dances so you are welcome to place a pre-order now.
PayPal at Highly Collectable's Merchant Shop
By popular request, we have added the Paypal faciity to our website, so you can now use this account to pay for merchandise at our shop if you don't have a credit card.
As always, thank you for your kind messages of support. We all promise to not be so quiet from now on.
Very best wishes,
Susan Hoover
