RAJAZ

Much better and more consistent than the also great "Mirage" and "Moonmadness", this album has a more mellow and relaxing rhythm than any other Camel release i've listened to. Vocalist and guitar man Andy Latimer looks like the Mark Knopfler of prog world, but what makes him distinct from DIRE STRAIT's mastermind is his guitar playing. Very bluesy and a la Gilmour sometimes, one could say that he is one of the best guitarrists our ears ever had the pleasure to listen to. The best example is the opening track "Three Wishes", where the name David Gilmour will instantly come to your mind after the first notes come from Andy's fingers. He doesn't actually do this in every song here, so there are some others that he plays more creatively and so we can't say that he is ripping Gilmour off. The album's flow is its best characteristic. It needs to be listened in full to be enjoyed, since each song leads to another in perfect shape. My particular favorite here is the beautiful and melancholic title track, one of the most touching songs that this band could make. "The Final Encore" is the most prog here, and progheads will probably claim this as their favorite. I'm a proghead too, but i personally prefer "Rajaz" despite being less complex than the third track, since this song moves me so much inside that in this case i prefer using the "beautiful song" criteria than the "how prog it is" one.