A COMPACT COMPILATION

This is a a very good prog rock compilation, and a good vivisection of band's career. For some reason, the tracks from the first albums are not included here, neither the tracks from the newer albums. Fine. I first discovered CAMEL through their masterpiece, "The Snow Goose", then I discovered their debut, and then this nice little compilation record. It was a record on right place and in right time, at least for me.

My only negative remark about this one is the inclusion of perhaps a bit too many songs from "The Snow Goose"; of course this is not necessary bad, because it's a nice thing for a newbie to discover, and all the songs from that instrumental album are awesome, hands down. But honestly, I don't like to see (and hear) a different parts and excerpts of a conceptual piece out of its conception.

However, this was a huge discovery for me. It struck me with equal strength as CAMEL struck me when I heard them for the first time: "Freefall", "Lady Fantasy", "Metrognome", "Lunar Sea"... what an incredible collection of songs. We can always argue the selection of the songs for a compilation, but in my opinion, this songs are the most essential CAMEL tracks and the best tracks in the same time (and these are two different things...just check the majority of compilations by other "big" names...most of them are overplayed, if nothing else).

This is not only an excellent introduction to the world of CAMEL, it's also an excellent introduction for a newbie into the world of progressive rock music.