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Rating: Pana, what are your favorite Camel albums?
Snow Goose. Then Mirage, followed by Breathless.
Why the first two positions?
Snow Goose is their perfect album. Beautiful music, evocative atmospheres. Never a dull moment. In Mirage, I already find some fillers (the shorter tracks) but oh well, Lady Fantasy and especially Nimrodel make it an absolute masterpiece.
But above all, why Breathless?
Yes, Moonmadness and Rain Dances are considered better, I know. And they are two beautiful albums. But there's a but: I find many empty minutes in them. They boast beautiful tracks (Song Within a Song, Chord Change, Lunar Sea in one, First Light and One Of These Days in the other) but then? Let's face it, the various singles are half nonsense.
But Breathless?
Breathless gives more to pop than Moonmadness gives to prog. There are excellent melodies, phenomenal guitar parts, unforgettable tracks (Echoes above all, then the guitar in Summer Lightning, the lively The Sleeper) but every track has something to say. I also find that the shorter and more commercial tracks surpass the attempts of the two previous albums. I don’t find any fillers here. Rainbow's End closes the album excellently, as a brief tearjerker. The title track is enviable, and Wing And Prayer is very Caravan-esque.
So is Breathless a pop album?
Yes, and it should be taken as such. As one of the most beautiful and refined pop-rock albums ever listened to.
Would you add anything else?
That it is the third time they put a camel on the cover, and it’s starting to get a bit annoying. But it doesn't affect the album's worth (as SydBarrett96 would say).
Who is SydBarrett96?
We're going a bit off-topic, don't you think?
I think so. To sum up?
In summary, I consider Breathless a great album. For the living room and the bus. The dreamy atmospheres of the old classics join with a more concise song form suitable for everyone and everything.
Now tell me...
Oh no! It's Saturday and they’re waiting for me in the square. Bye!
Bye to my mom, who isn’t celebrating her birthday today. Uncongratulations.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Breathless (04:20)
(Latimer/Bardens/Ward)
She is my first love
Graceful in all her ways
Folding the hillside
Turning the sky from night into day
She won't fail to take my breath away
So soft this silence
She brings before the dawn
A time of twilight
When all the world waits to be reborn
Nobody knows her name
No one knows how she came to be here at all
Giving her loving
Hoping to everyone
Old as the hills
Young just like the rising sun over fields
That lie away beneath her feet
Ev'ry time we meet
She takes my breath away
Andrew Latimer Guitars
Peter Bardens Keyboards
Richard Sinclair Lead Vocals, Bass
Mel Collins Soprano Saxophone, Flutes
Andy Ward Drums
02 Echoes (07:20)
(Latimer/Bardens/Ward)
Out of the mist rising
Ten thousand navajo braves
Shining like golden eagles in flight
Climbing high on the plains
Born of the Earth set free
To run away with the sun
So free to sing in tune with the world
Gladly dance for the rain
So many moons have flown
Now all your ghosts dance the long shadows
War cries that died on your lips
Echo above the plains
Andrew Latimer Guitar, Lead Vocals
Peter Bardens Keyboards
Richard Sinclair Bass
Andy Ward Drums
03 Wing and a Prayer (04:46)
(Latimer/Bardens)
High rise blocks out the gloom
The pavement sticks like glue
You're getting nowhere
As you ride on a wing and a prayer
You're crying out loud
A face lost in the crowd
A voice no-one can hear
You'll get by on a wing and a prayer
So let it be
Let the breeze carry you to the sea
Let the wind take you where it will go
You'd better believe it, lay me where
(Love is everywhere, risin' me found and out)
And you can feel it you're halfway there
(Feels like you're gonna drown)
Just another lovesong ain't reachin' out no one's there
(Ain't no big thing)
Once you got the feelin', make you wanna sing
Just hold on to a wing and a prayer
Just a little homegrown, lights be
(Lots of smoke in the air)
Take it or leave it, it comes all for free
(You'll slowly slip away)
Just another love song ain't no big thing
(All senses prevail)
Once you get the feelin', makes you wanna sing
You'll fly home on a wing and a prayer So let it be
Let the breeze carry you to the sea
Let the wind take you where it will go
(Now you wonder how why)
You better believe it, love is everywhere
You can feel it, you're halfway there
Just another love song, ain't no big thing
(You can fly everywhere)
Once you got the feelin', makes you wanna sing
If you trust to a wing and a prayer So let it be
Let the breeze carry you to the sea
Let the wind take you where it will go
Just another love song, ain't no big thing
Once you got the feelin', make you wanna sing
Just another homegrown, there's lots of things
Take it or leave it, it comes all for free
If you trust to a wing and a prayer
You better believe it, love is everywhere
You can feel it, you're halfway there
Just another love song, ain't no big thing
Once you got the feelin', make you wanna sing
If you trust to a wing and a prayer
Andrew Latimer Guitar
Peter Bardens Electric Piano, Lead Vocals
Richard Sinclair Bass, Backing Vocals
Mel Collins Flutes
Andy Ward Drums
05 Starlight Ride (03:26)
(Latimer/Bardens)
There's a road that I must go
There are short cuts that I know
But I know that we'll make it eventually
On a starlight ride
There's a fire down below
(that remains in me)
When the chilly winds will blow
(it will comfort me)
But as long as we let all our feelings show
It will never die
Feel the magic in the air
(On a summer night)
See the road ahead is clear
(Not a soul in sight) Let's take every moment and drink it down
Like a mellow wine
In the slipstream of the night
(I hear music play)
Though its road is crystal bright
(Seems so far away)
And it leads us from here to forevermore
On a starlight ride
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Other reviews
By Hetzer
"Echoes... is a magnificent piece, I believe among Camel’s best, which will rightly always find a place in their live sets from now on."
“Breathless did not disappoint me at all. It is a courageous and quite successful attempt to persevere on a path that the musical world had forgotten.”
