MIRAGE

In the "sacred trilogy" from CAMEL which comprises -"Mirage", "The Snow Goose" and "Moonmadness" - I consider "Mirage" the best between this three albums (although the two others are also 5 stars !!! albums)., and my argument is- While in "The Snow Goose" the band shows a more clear inclination to symphonic-prog and in "Moonmadness" this inclination goes slightly in a "soft space-prog" direction..."Mirage" is more eclectic and including besides space and symphonic- prog other styles such heavy-prog , jazz ...Already in the overture of track 1 "Freefall" the more heavy prog approach appears, with the "explosive" arrangement in this initial passage, and another detachable point of "Freefall" be in guitar and keyboard solo in a jazzy mood and the sequence melody (starting aprox 3 min 24 sec until 4 min 20 sec). The track 2 "Supertwister" remenber a FOCUS theme , where besides Latimer's flute the rhythm section in the more "fast" passages is also a high point. The track 3 "Nimrodel / The Procession / The White Rider" is a real eclectic track, because the parts are totally different in styles... the part 1 "Nimrodel" shows initially (after a brief introduction theme) a martial melody (with percusion and piccolo flute) leading the audience to a soft / mellow theme, the part 2 ( starting aprox. at 3 min 46 sec is a very fast and heavy theme with Barden's keyboards ( hammond-organ and synthesizer) "dictating the game", the part 3 "The White Rider" is a space-prog theme with a fantastic Latimer's slide-guitar solo. The track 4 'Earthrise" as the more close in style of "Moonmadness" musical proposition: a jazz-prog with space-prog hints. The track % "Lady Fantasy" ( another track in 3 parts) is probably the most know CAMEL track and in my opinion dispense any comment. Obviously my rate is 5 stars !!!