MIRAGE

After indulging in Jethro Tull, Genesis, plus Yes and their ilk since the 70's, I was very surprised and pleased to add Camel's Mirage to my collection of cd's last year. Where have I been! This discovery was worth a renewed interest in all things prog. Let me start off by saying that Nimrodel/The Procession and Lady Fantasy are true progressive suites that can hold their own to any other bands' epics. Latimer's guitar, flute, and vocals, Barden's moody mellotron, as well as, very good backing by the bass and drums capture the true magnificience of progressive music. The piece "Earthrise" resembles the romantic keyboards of procal harum's - whiter shade of pale. Supertwister is a good synopsis of the sound of Camel at that time. I also hold Moonmadness, Snow Goose and their first album in equally high esteem.