MOONMADNESS

This is very easy to review. It's Camel's masterpiece: the album on which they have finally found their definitive sound, but as it happened with Pink Floyd, their first big international success is also the starting of their troubles and the beginning of a huge number of changes in the lineup. It's unfortunately the last studio album featuring the very prog bassist Doug Ferguson.

The short opener "Aristillus" is no more than an intro that could have been developed a bit more. The album starts effectively with a great track. "Song Within A Song" is a 7 minutes track that contains all the elements of an epic and my favourite track of this album.

On "Chord Change" we discover for the first time the jazzy side of Camel. This track has unusual signatures on which Latimer plays very cleanly. A taste of the albums to come. Only when it slows down there are reminds of Snow Goose. It features also a great hammond background.

"Spirit Of The Water" is Pete Bardens' masterpiece in terms of songwriting. Until now Camel weren't famous as lyricists. This two minutes song is a poetry. In two minutes Pete Bardens is able to transmit the feelings that Dave Gilmour has put into the 8 minutes of High Hopes.

The side B is opened by "Another Night". it's strongly connected to Snow Goose even if it has lyrics. What makes this album a mastepiece is also the fact that it contains elements of both the early Camel and what they were going to become.

As Another Night, "Air Born" is a fantastic slow song. The vocal effect enhances the voice of Andy Latimer. This song is effectively made of a part with lyrics, in line with Snow Goose and an instrumental part which anticipates the athmospheres of Rain Dances.

"Lunar Sea" is the epic. It features great solos of both Bardens and Latimer. The odd signature on the jazzy part is strongly sustained by Doug Ferguson's bass and Andy Ward sweats a lot on the drums. Another little masterpiece (little only because it's below 10 minutes). It's technically speaking the best track and an excellent closer.

Maximum rating of course.