BREATHLESS

I decided to review this album and give it a low rating because I think that CAMEL are best served if their weakest albums are NOT used by newbies as first approach to their music.

This is a good album for hard fans who can appreciate the jazzy period with Richard Sinclair during which Camel were sounding exactly as Caravan. Personally I don't like this period even if each single track alone is not bad.

Let's start from the good: as many other reviewer mention, "Echoes","summer lightning" and "You make me Smile" are good songs, Echoes is also mentioned in a forum thread as one of the best Camel's song at all. What is disppointing for me is that with Rain Dances and Breathless they have lost the intensity of the first 4 albums. There's more brain than heart here.

I imagine a person who has never heard anything of Camel choose an album from Rain Dances to The Single Factor (with the exception of Nude). He will never become a fan.

So even if Camel and Caravan's fans can like it so much, if you are not into Camel, please start from their first or their last albums. "Mirage" and "Rajaz" are my suggestions.

2 stars