HARBOUR OF TEARS

Camel´s second studio album of the 90's, "Harbour Of Tears" is the port of the city Cobh in the southwest of Ireland, of where once the emigrant ships ran out to America. Paul Burgess, who played with Camel since 1984, decided to retire from drumming and he is not present in the album The album is generally more relaxed and moody than Camel's previous studio release.

1. Irish Air - departure song, a'capella performed by Mae McKenna. 4,5/5

2. Irish Air (instrumental Reprise) - 5/5

3. Harbour Of Tears - 5/5

4. Cobh - 4,5/5

5. Send Home The Slates - marriage of the traditional Irish folk songs and the bombastic swing of American bands exploress that momentary hesitation present in every heart. 4,5/5

6. Under The Moon - a final guitar spasm interlude... Superb! 5/5

7. Watching The Bobbins - 5/5

8. Generations - 3,5/5

9. Eyes Of Ireland - majestic clash of orchestration and progressive guitar-driven storytelling. 4,5/5

10. Running From Paradise - 5/5

11. End Of The Day - 4,5/5

12. Coming Of Age - brutally intervenes with the dreams of all varieties, and we are captured by the heartbreaking, aggressive solo of Andy Latimer. 5/5

13. The Hour Candle (A Song For My Father) - A masterpiece of a song, this is one of the better moments in the history of Camel: a heartwrenching solo of Andy Latimer, the orchestral intermezzo, electronic passages as if ripped from the flesh of late 70s, and an incredibly rocking blues theme lulling us into progressive moonwalking. The again, Mae McKenna silently hums to herself, somewhere just behind the border of consciousness, a dream of the past, of everything left behind. It ends with 20 minutes recording of the sound of waves crushing at the seashore. The journey is over. 5/5

Final Note: I am deliriously happy that Camel survived the 80s, a tough period for any progressive band of the 70s, and has a bright future ahead, as this 1996 album shows beyond any doubt. In any case one "Harbour OF Tears" is for me one of the best Prog albums of the 90's even if perhaps it's not the right place to start.

4,5+5+5+4,5+4,5+5+5+3,5+4,5+5+4,5+5+5= 61

61:13 = 4,6

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive music.

Curiosity: The concept for the album came to Andy after the death of his father in 1993. Andy searched for his lost family roots, retrieving very little, yet coming up with the concept for Camel's next album.