RAJAZ

After the folk excursion of Harbour of Tears 1999 brought what can be considered one of the last masterpieces of the 20th century. Of course, having a 1-to-5 rating don't allow distinctions with other more celebrated masterpieces, but this is one.

Andy Latimer returned to the desert of Mirage, without the spacey-psych tendence of its long time predecessor but with a more mature approach. The good is that all the tracks are at the same (high) level, the bad is that it doesn't have epics like Lady Fantasy or Nimrodel that I consider a sort of "short epic".

This is quite a supergroup, too. Ton Scherpenzeel, the Kayak keyboardist and composerwho was already in Stationary Traveller, Colin Bass (at bass of course) former Alan Parker and onboard since the Single factor and with a very good solo debut, Dave Stewart from Arzachel, a drummer with an incredibly long career.

I will not go track-by-track. Even if not formally a concept, each track is full of heat and sand. It's a follow-up to Mirage 25 years after, like a celebration. It's surprising. Mirage started a journey, Rajaz is probably the homecoming. This may be the reason why there's a subtle layer of sadness behind all the tracks. It's the best place for Latimer's "crying" guitar.

A masterpiece of symphonic Prog and a must for whoever likes Camel, even if I assume that whoever likes Camel has already this album and doesn't need to read any review of it.