DUST AND DREAMS

Here is a fine musical adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel 'The Grapes of Wrath' and perhaps CAMEL's most symphonic album yet. It is rarely aggressive and doesn't showcase any particular musician - for example, you won't hear too many LATIMER guitar or flute solos on it, although the few you will come across are very memorable. The strength of the album rests on its atmospherics, where a melancholy mood pervades. The music is extremely moving and flows so well you won't want to let go until you've heard the album to the end. It's hard to pick any particular track as they all tend to flow into one another, making the whole album seen like one single track with many variations.

The most notable ones are "Mother Road", a little CAMEL rocker that starts off innocently enough but develops some muscle along the way. "Needles", whose nostalgic harmonica intro blooms into a full-bodied symphonic tune - the 'lump in the throat' inducing type, if you know what I mean. Two others have the same effect: the short instrumental "Whispers" and the poignant "Rose of Sharon", with its interplay of male and female vocals. "End of the Line" is quite similar to "Watching the Bobbins" - very PINK FLOYD like, some would say. "Cotton Camp" and "Broken Banks" are those rare numbers on the album where LATIMER really takes flight into one of his heartfelt solo performances, the type you just can't get enough of. When you reach the end of the CD, you're under a spell, as if you were just coming out of the theater after seeing the movie. Personally, I've fallen in love with this album.