THE SNOW GOOSE

The story of "The Snow Goose" inspired not one but two progressive rock classics: this and (later) Anthony PHILLIPS' "The Geese And The Ghost". To paraphrase Charlotte, that must be some goose. CAMELl's inspiration led them down a different path than PHILLIPS, choosing a rockier road with islands of calm (literally, if you recall KING CRIMSON's album of the same name), built from the foundation of "Mirage"'s more sublime passages (when Latimer's flute and Bardens' keyboards take the lead) and yet suggestive of mid '70s PINK FLOYD when Andy L. plugs his electric back in and lets loose.

Picking out individual tracks is not what this album is all about; "The Snow Goose" consists as one wonderful entity, captivating from beginning to end. However, this is perhaps CAMEL's most uncommercial venture, even as it aspires to greater heights than any of their records before or since. If you found yourself entranced by the instrumental passages of "Nimrodel" and "Lady Fantasy", then by all means take a ride of "The Snow Goose". But that baffling contingent who find in I Can See You House From Here a summit of some sort might be content to leave Goose's high-minded aerie to more adventurous climbers. If you're intent on finding representative passages to sample (at the buffered buffet table of thirty-second morsels available on some commercial sites), touching your musical tongue to "The Great Marsh", "Rhayader", "The Snow Goose" or "Friendship" will give a good indication of the album's merits. The concept of CAMELin a bucolic mood may not please everyone, and they're welcome to skip along to "Moonmadness", but anyone who believes prog music can be achingly pretty will find on here un paradis trouvé (a paradise found).