MOONMADNESS

What else can be said that hasn't been said before about this humongous record? It's powerful, melodic, with beautiful harmonies, interesting structures, mad and/or emotional guitar solos (courtesy of mr. Andrew Latimer), atmospheric but excelently-fitting keyboards, simple, yet precise bass playing, drumming that contributes not only to the rhythm section, but also to the melody, and, of course, the extra bonus of the flute. The bass and the vocals are the two points that could be most criticized from this album. I personall love the vocals on this album, and also enjoy the bass.

This album covers a lot of ground, without being incoherent at all. Nice ballads, jazzy jamming, classical inspired bits (specially the flute part of Air Born), etc.

The remastered version comes with some treats for Camel fans: the single version of Another Night, A demo version of Spirit of The Water (excellent for beginners in piano) and live versions of Lunar Sea, Preparation/Dunkirk (from The Snow Goose) and Song Within A Song.

For good or bad, this is the last album with the original line-up. Frictions started between Doug Ferguson and Andy Ward, because Andy Ward was getting better and better and wanted to play jazzier music. Doug thought that this was straying away from the roots, so the band had to made a decision between Doug or Andy Ward, and they chose Andy. This is a bit ironic, because Doug was the one who suggested a sax player should be included in the band (which brought even more desire for Andy Ward for jazz).

So, enjoy one of the late masterpieces of prog! Recommended for bands or musicians that want to start playing symphonic rock, because it's so much fun and not as difficult as other bands.

Edit (July 7, 2009): corrected some mistakes.