MIRAGE

I love the Canterbury bands with their spacy, jazzy sound and whimsical sense of humor, but, while I respect the band as decent but not near top tier musicians, Camel is a disappointment. Though the material on Mirage is strong and generally well played, I can't shake the seriousness of it all....this stuff is humorless! The synthetic feel of the keyboards dominate while the monotone guitars soar....and soar some more, but never maintain a melody. The vocals, too, give off an air of studio sterility, like took control of the recording sessions. Not even the flutes can add warmth to this cold, cold record. Like I said, the material IS strong - some of the best numbers in the band's lenghty catalouge come from this album, but I still can't recommend it....sounds like Kansas to me.