MIRAGE

In my opinion Mirage is Camel's masterpiece. With this album Camel truly found their musical identity and all of the potential of the debut album is here fully realized. There are flutes here for the first time on a Camel album and that would become a trademark of their sound from then on. The keyboards are more varied compared to the debut and the vocals are much stronger. Indeed, simply everything about this album is better.

But the most important factor that makes this a masterpiece is, of course, the great material. The album opens with a bang with the bluesy hard rock of Freefall. Supertwister is a flute-based instrumental that perhaps not would be very impressive standing on its own, but here it functions as a perfect bridge between two great songs. The flute sound is enchanting! The only annoying thing about the whole album is the strange inclusion of a sound of a beer can opening and beer being poured into glass at the end of Supertwister.

The excellent Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider explores a theme from The Lord Of The Rings. The electric and acoustic guitar playing together is truly beautiful here. Earthrise is the track that reminds the most of the debut. A more Jazz-Rock/Fusion based piece that really rocks. Speaking of that, I think that Mirage rocks harder than any other Camel album, which is something I like.

The album closes with the 12+ minute classic, Lady Fantasy. The best part of the song is, I think, the part that follows the line "I love you" towards the end of Lady Fantasy. Stunning! And before you know it the album is over. I always find myself playing it at least twice every time. I never do that with Moonmadness or any other Camel album.

One of my all time favourites - a masterpiece of progressive rock.

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