BREATHLESS

The second album with Collins/Sinclair on board keeps watering down the sound and is much weaker than its predecessor, "Rain Dances". It is amazing to hear how such a fine group of competent musicians feel restricted to open-up their minds and step into more adventurous exploration of music. "Breathless" sounds like a "lite version" of CARAVAN and in a few songs with Sinclair on lead vocal you could wonder is this really CAMEL? However, this is not a classic CARAVAN sound I am talking about - rather it is the late 1970s sound of mixing pop, AOR and new wave influences in a quite disasterous way. "Echoes" and "Sleeper" are probably the best moments, which bring some of the old CAMEL pleasure, especially in Latimer's fine guitar work and Bardens' keys. The rest of the album, although not entirely unlistenable, contains nothing worth of attention. Jazz-rock elements are more present, particularly towards the second half of the album, but it is unfortunately the style closer to awful Muzak than to any adveturous prog rock. This is only for CAMEL collectors.