A COMPACT COMPILATION

Back in the earliest days of the compact disk, unless an album was a huge hit at that time, it wasn't very likely to be released. So record labels would produce compilations of bands, from popular to obscure, to test the waters for the value of releasing the individual albums. And the labels also recognized that prog fans comprised a good sized proportion of the audiophiles, who were the first to jump into the digital music world. So at that time, there seemed to always be a number of prog compilations available.

Such a compilation was this one, from Camel. Rhino Records released this one, comprising songs from the first four albums from this great band. The selections were well chosen, spotlighting the musical proficiency of the band, with only a few songs featuring vocal parts.

I'd say that this is a good jumping off point for someone not familiar with the band, looking for an introduction. For the true fan, now that all the albums have long since been released and remixed, go for the full albums.