MIRAGE

The progression in attitude from Camel's debut is palpable here. Every aspect of their sound is bolder, and for the most part it works, in spades, even if the opener "Freefall", is rather clumsy and uninteresting.

On "Mirage", Camel pushes lead instruments to the fore and backing instruments to the aft, resulting in a much less jammy setting, but one that still allows for considerable interplay between the members. This works very well in "Supertwister" which is the first piece to really show off Latimer's flute, and for the most part in the excellent lengthy suites, of which "Lady Fantasy" is the best known to this day. Even the vocals are somewhat bolder, even if they sound disturbingly like Jim Morrison of the Doors at times. "Earthrise" is an excellent instrumental with a catchy central riff and a break led by Latimer that gives us more clues as to his future orientation. There are parts of "Nimrodel" and "Lady Fantasy" that break out a bit too harshly instrumentally, as if the band has not quite smoothed out the edges. Of course, that it is not necessarily a negative quality.

"Mirage" is the album that broke Camel into the big time and proved they would not dissolve into thin air on closer examination.