Audio CD review:
Camel - Mirage

Camel - Mirage

Band: Camel Title: Mirage Rating: Release Date: 12 January, 1999 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Freefall 2: Supertwister 3: Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider 4: Earthrise 5: Lady Fantasy: Encounter/Smiles For You Lady Fantasy

Customer Reviews Catchy but non-essential prog rock album They'll never make you forget Genesis or Yes, and they don't "rock out" much, but they have a way with melody, texture, and mood. Camel is a second-tier progressive rock band, built around Andy Latimer's guitar and flute, and (in the early days) Pete Bardens' keyboards. This 1974 album, their second, is never less than pleasant but never compelling. Three songs have brief vocal segments, but the album is mostly instrumental. The first two songs are the weakest of the five pieces here. "Freefall" is generic 70s prog-rock, except for some Allman-esque guitar harmonies in the middle segment. "Supertwister" is a slight instrumental that plays with a 5/8 riff and gives Latimer a flute workout. "The White Rider" suite, a tribute to Tolkien's Gandalf character, is entertaining except for a marching band interlude near the start. "Earthrise" is the catchiest piece on the album, an instrumental that gives Bardens a chance to shine. "Lady Fantasy" is a 12-minute epic, the showpiece of the album, and gives you an idea why there are some diehard Camel fans. For whatever reason, the last movement of the song sounds just like Caravan, especially Bardens' organ solo (Caravan's Sinclair cousins later served stints in Camel). Overall, this is about as good as an album can be without getting a "very good" ranking, and that's because the peaks just aren't high enough. There are AT LEAST six cuts on "The Snow Goose" (and even three on "Nude") that I like better than anything on "Mirage". (1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal). By far one of Camel's best Back in 1972, there was a live recording that was later released in 1992 called On the Road 1972. Camel's self-entitled 1973 debut sounds like a band not sounding very confident, but their followup, Mirage found the band in a much improved form. On that disc shows Camel in a rather raw and aggressive form. They even played "Lady Fantasy" and "White Rider" which later ended up on Mirage (the reason I can tell those early versions were from '72 was Peter Bardens still had his VCS-3 synth, while on Mirage the VCS-3 was gone in favor of the Minimoog). Mirage, of all the studio Camel albums I have ever heard is the one that best captures the raw excitement and energy of the On the Road 1972 disc. When you hear "Freefall" and "Lady Fantasy", you're basically treated with some of Camel's most hard rocking material. "Supertwister" is the first Camel song to feature Andy Latimer flutework, and the song was actually in honor of the Dutch progressive rock band Supersister who themselves had released a handful of albums in the early 1970s on Polydor. Mirage has two different covers. There's one that pokes fun of the Camel cigarette pack, and another with Camel as a dragon, done in a '70s sci-fi fashion. I happen to like the latter better, but for humorous purposes, the cigarette pack cover is pretty silly. Mirage does receive lots of hype in the prog community, and the album is often regarded as a Camel fan favorite, and it's really not hard to see why. If you're a prog rock junkie and this is not in your collection, then you need to get yourself a copy. Mellowing out nicely I love bands that focus on melody, i believe it is the most important factor in music; there must be a good melody. I love the melodies on this album, and from reading other reviews that seems to be the overall concensus. But they're melody is stressed in instrumentation rather than human voice. It's very hypnotic and mellow sounding, nothing like Yes or the keyboard work from Tony Banks, i wouldn't call it progressive as far as virtuosity goes. It's progressive for it's themeatical and chordal development, very much like classical music, but with rock and roll instruments. After listening to Mirage i am very much looking forward to getting their most popular album "The Snowgoose". . You can see a complete list of all Camel discography, or go back to the Camel tabs