Camel
Moonmadness

"The Snow Goose", the fully instrumental atmospheric concept, had reached #22 on the UK charts, bringing Camel a large audience and new concert engagements. However, external pressures pushed them to set aside the ethereal impressions for just instruments and produce a more conventional album with a distinctly progressive stamp. It's 1976: perhaps some have already sensed it, but the end of the dream is near, the majesty of prog, grown out of all proportion, is about to collapse under its own weight; bands like ELP or King Crimson seem to have quickly and definitively stepped off the stage, but there are still some final attempts. Genesis rediscover themselves as great musicians even though abandoned by their frontman, Yes are about to return to the studio, many others won't give up so easily, and among them, Camel, who release yet another masterpiece.

Even Moonmadness is, albeit subtly, supported by concept themes, which can be interpreted in two different ways. Firstly, four of the seven tracks are designed to represent the personalities of the musicians: Air Born represents Latimer, Lunar Sea Andy Ward, Chord Change is Peter Bardens, and Another Night becomes Doug Ferguson. Secondly, just as the title suggests, the album seems to present us with a man who, gazing at the Moon, is bewitched by its magnificence and distance, dreaming of reaching it.

It begins with contemplation: "Aristillus" is, in fact, along with Autolycus, one of the largest and most recognizable craters on the illuminated side of the Moon, and the notes of the short march take us high, into the cold sidereal towards the distant satellite and towards them, while Ward's voice, filtered and robotic, repeats their names. Next is one of Camel's most beautiful songs, "Song Within A Song", which represents a subdued eulogy before the dream and the night, the only moment when the beloved Moon appears to our eyes, and then of the music itself. It begins in a relaxed manner, with soft keyboards, flute solos, and refined drumming, and unfolds like the sky in the magical chorus where Ferguson's filtered voice intones his poetry. Then, in the second part, it becomes more assertive, agitated, the voice gives way to Bardens' dense solos and rhythmic guitar: the song and the night have their anthem.

The instrumental "Chord Change", colored with jazz fusion hues, presents itself as a very varied piece, but played with relaxed and earnest precision: here, a more frenetic first part gives way to a second where two long and serene guitar solos first and keyboards later create an atmosphere of quiet abandonment, like getting lost in space without gravity... Great percussive work by Ward also in the finale, which resumes the opening rhythms. It is followed by the fairytale interlude "Spirit Of The Water": here too, the voice echoes distant and enchanted, accompanied by just the piano and delicate flute counterpoints, creating a tiny ethereal world and immensely fascinating.

The rhythm changes markedly with the belligerent and powerful "Another Night", which, opened by syncopated keyboard riffs, characterizes itself as a sort of vigorous march driven by the bass and a dry martial drumming. The chorus for guitar and voice alone dampens this majestic progress; the beautiful instrumental interlude with emphasized rhythm and unsettling background guitar. We find very little of the relaxed melancholy of the other pieces, but the song nonetheless succeeds in generating with extreme simplicity a sense of inevitability and oppression expressed also by the nocturnal lyrics and gloriously resolved with a Hammond solo and then guitar fading out. It almost seems like a terrestrial and mechanical preparation for the leap towards the Moon, completed with "Air Born", which opens on a flute melody supported by the piano; with the entry of the other instruments, one feels lifted high, beyond the clouds, into a place without boundaries where Earth seems very distant. The beautiful guitar arpeggios and the Moog's spatial sounds in the instrumental section, the epic and intense conclusion that is colored legendary with the powerful sound of the synthesizer and the mellotron as if to underscore the end of the journey.

Here unfolds before us the lunar landscape. "Lunar Sea" draws inspiration from the lunar "seas," those immense absolutely flat depressions that characterize the surface of our satellite, and specifically from the "Mare Ibrium," near the two large craters Aristillus and Autolycus. The keyboard intro sets before us the silver magnificence of a vast plain under space, then the rhythm slowly rises from the depths, and almost takes us flying over the surface; the perfect understanding between Ward and Ferguson. The latter crafts an unforgettable rhythm with a very simple but genius bass riff, and over this fabric, the great Bardens embroiders with long and distorted Moog notes, evoking craters, canyons, and mountains of a world that is not ours while Latimer limits himself to the refinements. The piece becomes more muscular when the four launch into a wonderful jazzy improvisation where Latimer takes the lead with his guitar: everything is perfectly balanced, an exceptional figurative music that takes shape with lightness and simplicity. The monumental otherworldly journey ends with the return home, the drums slowly fade away, and the keyboards resume their flight, but this time the Moon moves further away, its craters become tiny eyes, and everything settles into a satisfied silence after a rumble that fades away.

Many claim that Camel's masterpiece is "Snow Goose", but I do not hide my particular affection for this wonderful album, also their first work that I listened to and that enchanted me forever. Here is the voice of the Moon and here is how this great band magnificently captured its magic that enchants man since the beginning of time. It is useless to insist on their dry but perfect style, on the simplicity and evocative power of their melodies, on their impeccable instrumental mastery. This is music that engraves the soul: "you and the song will remain together forever".

Only progressive rock could reach so high, and albums like this and many of its contemporaries render what music has produced after '77 superfluous and chaotic (with very few exceptions). No fear or doubt, let the lunar madness infect you too; nothing will be the same again.