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""Moonmadness" is perhaps Camel's most delicate album, shrouded in an ethereal and poetic atmosphere."
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4/5
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After the very successful "Snow Goose", totally instrumental, Camel, under the aegis of the duo Latimer - Bardens, will find its cruising rhythm with this "Moonmadness", very representative of the style it will adopt until the 80's: a licked and inventive progressive rock, at the borders of soft jazz and symphonic, with a predilection for the instrumental sections (Latimer will never be a great vocalist).
Vocal parts are kept to a minimum here: three tracks are entirely musical ('Aristulus', 'Chord Change', 'Lunar Sea'), vocals are very much in the minority on all other tracks, except on the lovely ballad 'Spirit of Water'. The four band members share the few vocals, often covered by effects.
As in 'Snow Goose', Latimer's flute is extremely present, be it in the opening of 'Song Within a Song', or inside 'Air Born' (how romantic!) or 'Spirit of Water'. This instrument has a lot to do with the ethereal and poetic atmosphere that permeates the album, often aided by the delicate keyboard arpeggios.
The synthesizers play a major role in the solos, with sounds that are often elaborate. At that time, Peter Bardens' influence was probably more prominent than Latimer's. The guitar solos on 'Moonmadness' don't really have the intensity of those we'll find later on (in fact, as early as 'Breathless'), and keyboards have the upper hand here ('Aristulus', 'Song Within a Song', 'Lunar Sea').
The writing is sometimes quite similar to certain jazz pieces: the use of staggered rhythms (5/4 or 7/8) on certain sections reinforces the variety in the listening. We then witness remarkable successions of atmospheres, as in 'Chord Change', starting with jazzy, with a lot of percussion work, broken up for a calm guitar passage, the rhythm then evolving a bit like 'Rhayader...', thanks to some very nice organ work, before coming back to the tempo of the beginning, which is a nice variety in only 7 minutes!
Of course, the production is a bit outdated, and the rhythmic is sometimes not very dynamic ('Another Night'), but when listening to it, even if 'Moonmadness' is less ambitious than 'Snow Goose', it remains a little poetic pearl in the work of Camel. Highly recommended to romantic minds! - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Aristilus - 01:59
02. Song Within A Song - 06:48
03. Chord Change - 07:18
04. Spirit Of The Water - 02:09
05. Another Night - 07:00
06. Air Born - 05:04
07. Lunar Sea - 09:14
LINEUP:
Andrew Latimer: Chant / Guitares / Flûte
Andy Ward: Chant / Batterie
Doug Ferguson: Chant / Basse
Peter Bardens: Chant / Claviers
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(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
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Top of the page
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(1) COMMENT(S)
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READERS
4.2/5 (12 view(s))
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STAFF:
4.2/5 (6 view(s))
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OTHER REVIEWS
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OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT CAMEL
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