THE SNOW GOOSE

Camel

Symphonic Prog

4.31 | 2645 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

Not a word now!

For this album, Camel gave up on vocals completely, with the exception of a "Light flight" (Pentangle) type harmony during the "Flight of the snowgoose". The lack of vocals or narration was reportedly due to wrangles between the band and the author of the original short story. This also led to modification of the "Snowgoose" title to become "Music inspired by The Snowgoose". Ironically, the book must have sold many more copies due its profile being raised by the success of this album.

The album demands to be heard as a complete piece, the tracks merely representing sections of the whole. In view of this, there is little point in isolating many tracks for comment, but "La Princesse Perdue" does stand out as particularly beautiful, with its two distinct symphonic sections. Given the oft repeated criticism of the band's vocal capabilities, the decision to make an entirely instrumental album was perhaps a sensible one, and it does work for one album. Had they continued to do so on future albums though, the well may rapidly have run dry.

Overall, the music here is not particularly challenging, the relaxed feel making the album far more ambient than other Camel albums. The individual sections are pretty basic in structure but fit together well to form an excellent package.

A very relaxing and enjoyable album.

The CD version offers the benefit of added continuity over the LP, with the remastered version also including a number of bonus tracks. An alternative version of the entire "Snowgoose" is also available with orchestral accompaniment on the "Live Record" album. That version is arguably superior to the original studio recording.

Easy Livin | 4/5 | 2004-5-9

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