MIRAGE

Through this album Camel proved that they had matured in their musical compositions and overall performance. All five original tracks featured in this album are excellent with varied compositions but they all have similar style - yup, Camel's style. One track is truly exceptional and it has become my most favorite track from Camel: "Lady Fantasy".

The album opener "Freefall" (5:47) represents diverse styles with an upbeat tempo music and changing tempo from medium to fast and returns back to medium. The electric guitar work by Andy Latimer dominates the song combined with great Hammond organ work, inventive bass lines and dynamic drumming. "Supertwister" (3:20) is a very nice'n'cool track which starts with a mellow style and it turns into faster tempo with flute as main melody and some touch of jazz music. The song is very relaxing as it has many tempo changes from relatively fast to slow tempo style. The melody is also excellent. "Nimrodel" (9:12) is an epic containing The Procession and The Whit Rider. It starts with nice exploration of keyboard work followed with marching music that suddenly brings to melodic and melancholic music with flute work. The music turns fast in the middle of the track demonstrating fast-paced keyboard work and stunning solo. Guitar rhythm is also a good one to enjoy at right speaker, while keyboard solo at left one. Guitar then continues the solo even though it's shorter. It's an excellent track.

"Earthrise" (6:42) has eastern nuance at the opening part followed with simple guitar fills and keyboard. The music flows in moderate tempo. My favorite track "Lady Fantasy" (12:46) starts off with soaring organ / keyboard sounds followed by dazzling drum work and electric guitar in relatively complex arrangements. It turns into simpler one with guitar melody augmented with Hammond organ work. It's basically the richness of combination between guitar and Hammond organ (like the sound of The DOORS) augmented with bass lines that make this track is a great one to enjoy.

Overall, it's an excellent addition to any prog collection. Overall rating is 4+ out of 5 stars. Keep on proggin' ..!

Progressively yours, GW