Mirage by Camel

Mirage,  Camel's 1974 masterpiece, is undoubtedly one of the best progressive albums of all time.

The cover depicts the packaging of the eponymous cigarette brand, a strategy by Decca Records to publicize the brand by exploiting the band's name, while Camel itself marketed four-packs of cigarettes, with the album's tracklist printed on the back.

An album packed with complex instrumental passages, with splendid melodies and a high quality throughout.

Latimer's flute is unmistakable, as are the guitars and keyboards, especially in the epic suites.

It's a predominantly instrumental album, only 37 fantastic minutes long, but with five beautiful tracks.

The beautiful opening track "Freefall" and also "Lady Fantasy": I like how they end the song the same way they open it, simple yet very effective, and there's a truly fantastic guitar riff here, the longest on the album, an epic suite divided into several parts that highlights the virtuosity of its classic progressive rock structure.

The tracks are all superb compositions, and the lyrics reference fantasy themes, drawing inspiration from Tolkien's books, as in "Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider" (inspired by "Lord of the Rings").

The song "Supertwister" is also beautiful, with great flute work.

Latimer, a great flutist, has unfortunately been greatly underrated for his lack of charisma, but I've seen many prog bands where charisma wasn't really a strong feature, nothing really unusual in my opinion.

Great album, great melodies, great guitar lines, effective keyboards, a highly recommended album!

Tracklist

1. Freefall (5:47)
2. Supertwister (3:20)
3. Nimrodel / The Procession / The White Rider (9:12)
4. Earthrise (6:42)
5. Lady Fantasy (12:46) :
- a. Encounter
- b. Smiles for You
- c. Lady Fantasy

Duration 37:47

LineUp

- Andrew Latimer - guitars, flute, vocals (3.5)
- Peter Bardens - organ, piano, Minimoog, Mellotron, vocals (1.5), [unconfirmed celesta, clavinet, and Fender Rhodes]
- Doug Ferguson - bass, vocals (5)
- Andy Ward - drums and percussion

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page