MIRAGE

The second best Camel album in my opinion, after Moonmadness. In a different way than Moonmadnes, here I can find light and shadows, and that's why I can`t give it 5 stars. The two epics are the absolute highlights of the album and both two became an icon of 70's progressive rock. Lady Fantasy is an outstanding piece, maybe the best of Camel (with Lunar Sea). The instruments combination along the track shows how an overall band effort can bring a great product (is the only song in wich the four musicians share the songwriting). The track is mostly instrumental, with short but great melody lines with Latimer voice. The electric guitar job is outstanding and you can hear quiet moments beside a really strong ones. Nimrodel/The Procession/The white rider is the other prog gem. Maybe the first two minutes are unnecesary, but then we have a stunning progressive rock number composed by Andy Latimer. The keyboard job is fantastic and the melody line too.

The rest of the album is very different. Here we can find two tracks composed by Peter Bardens alone. In my opinion Bardens was a great performer and a great songwriter when he shared the composition with Latimer, but alone is not the same. Free fall is a routine prog track in which I can't find much coherence. Supertwister is a bit better. A short track based mainly in a flute and a bass line. Nothing special. Earthrise was composed by Latimer - Bardens, but is not so good in my opinion. An instrumental in the vein of Freefall. Sometimes the keyboards in those tracks seems to sound like a midi.

Lady Fantasy and Nimrodel are excelent tracks and essential for a progrock listener. The rest tends to be mediocre. Because the two epics, I consider this album a great addition for any progressive rock collection, so I give to it 4 STARS.