ECHOES

I never liked compilations. In my opinion what is nice about separate releases is the whole feeling they have. Especially in progressive a band can change completely from one release to another and this has even been a problem in categorizing prog bands making it difficult to put them to only one prog sub-genre while they may have passed from two or even more during their career.

For example Camel's sound during the 70's is very different from the 80's. However, strangely enough I think "Echoes" is a really fine release. It manages to capture many interesting moments from Camel's career. Camel has always released quality music and as a result many great songs are missing but on the other side all the songs are great.

This compilation consists of two cds. The first one includes songs from the more "progy" period of camel (8/12 of the songs are from the first four releases of camel). The second one has songs from the later camel releases which are more pop sounding though equally great. What makes "Echoes" a great compilation is that the songs are put in chronological order and are a fine representation of all the different phases of Camel. If you are new to Camel buy this Compilation. You will get a pretty good picture of Camel's music and be able to start buying cds starting from the period that sounded most interesting to you. The booklet also is really informative and can help you a lot to get in the world of Camel.

Three Stars!