CAMEL

After hearing Mirage, The Snow Goose, Moonmadness and Rain Dances, I was interested to hear where it all began. I had read through some reviews here that this album was more of a rocker than a prog rocker but I was amazed at how jazzy it came across to me. I wasn't impressed by how the the first song starts off, Slow Yourself Down is a great song but it seems to start off like it's in the middle of the song, not the beginning. (maybe it's just me) But the falsetto vocals in the middle are a highlight.

Mystic queen showcases some very nice subtle guitar work by Latimer certainly inspired by Gilmour to some degree. The rest of the pieces are a nice mix of rock/jazz fusion with quirky melodies mostly coming from Peter Bardens keyboards. In fact, I think this album features more keys as highlights than any other early Camel album.

If you're a big Latimer fan, Iwould recommend Mirage, The Snow Goose and Moonmadness over this one.

3.5 out of 5