Camel - Moonmadness - England [Import] - (United Kingdom - Import) - [CD]

Reissue and remastered with previously unreleased bonus tracks. Includes new liner notes, prevoiusly unseen photos and memorabilia.

Arguably, alongside its immediate predecessor Music Inspired by The Snow Goose (the record which encouraged readers of Melody Maker to vote Camel "The Brightest Hope" in that publication's 1975 year-end poll), Moonmadness is Camel's most acclaimed work; a creamy fusion of soft progressive rock exquisitely coloured with fluttering flutes and recorders (witness the icicle prettiness of "Spirit of The Water"), protracted jazzy extemporisation and--in contemporary parlance--the sort of gossamer "chill-out" passages precursive of latter-day electronic moodists like Air.

Conceptually, four of the pieces are based on the personalities of each band member and even if Peter Bardens and Andy Ward opted-out of offering psychological profiles by penning instrumentals (both fidgety jazz-rock nymbers, "Chord Changes" from Bardens and "Lunar Sea" from Ward), Andrew Latimer compared himself to a soaring glider on the wispy "Air Born" and bassist Doug Ferguson--whose "Another Night" spoke of "dark clouds", "feels like I'm fading" and "can't face the morning"--seemed in dire need of some tea and sympathy. And he probably felt a whole lot worse when the record company badgered Camel into releasing a truncated version as a single (both sides of which are included here as bonus tracks), an unhappy compromise for a band bent on steering clear of the commercial path. Of course, Camel's lack of a natural vocalist at that time proved a hindrance to greater success and--like dinosaurs--they were oblivious to the impending impact of the approaching punk meteorite. Regardless, Moonmadness is an enchanting period piece from a more innocent era. --Kevin Maidment