The Snow Goose
	Produced by David Hitchcock
	Released on April 1975
	UK CHART POSITION #22
	Find it at GEMM
PBC-9856 cover

T he story of The Snow Goose inspired not one but two progressive rock classics: this and (later) Anthony Phillips’ The Geese And The Ghost. To paraphrase Charlotte, that must be some goose. Camel’s inspiration led them down a different path than Phillips, choosing a rockier road with islands of calm (literally, if you recall King Crimson’s album of the same name), built from the foundation of Mirage’s more sublime passages (when Latimer’s flute and Bardens’ keyboards take the lead) and yet suggestive of mid ‘70s Pink Floyd when Andy L. plugs his electric back in and lets loose. Picking out individual tracks is not what this album is all about; The Snow Goose consists as one wonderful entity, captivating from beginning to end. However, this is perhaps Camel’s most uncommercial venture, even as it aspires to greater heights than any of their records before or since. If you found yourself entranced by the instrumental passages of “Nimrodel” and “Lady Fantasy,” then by all means take a ride on The Snow Goose. But that baffling contingent who find in I Can See You House From Here a summit of some sort might be content to leave Goose’s high-minded aerie to more adventurous climbers. If you’re intent on finding representative passages to sample (at the buffered buffet table of thirty-second morsels available on some commercial sites), touching your musical tongue to “The Great Marsh,” “Rhayader,” “The Snow Goose” or “Friendship” will give a good indication of the album’s merits. The concept of Camel in a bucolic mood may not please everyone, and they’re welcome to skip along to Moonmadness, but anyone who believes prog music can be achingly pretty will find on here un paradis trouvé (a paradise found).

TRACK LISTING

1. THE GREAT MARSH    2:03
2. RHAYADER    3:02
3. RHAYADER GOES TO TOWN    5:21
4. SANCTUARY    2:27
5. FRITHA    2:27
6. THE SNOW GOOSE    3:12
7. FRIENDSHIP    5:40
8. MIGRATION    5:40
9. RHAYADER ALONE    5:40
10. FLIGHT OF THE SNOW GOOSE    2:44
11. PREPARATION    3:57
12. DUNKIRK    5:26
13. EPITAPH    2:09
14. FRITHA ALONE    1:31
15. LA PRINCESSE PERDUE    4:54
16. THE GREAT MARSH    1:21
    
    CD reissue bonus tracks
    
17. FLIGHT OF THE SNOW GOOSE (SINGLE EDIT)
18. RHAYADER (SINGLE EDIT)
19. FLIGHT OF THE SNOW GOOSE (ALTERNATE SINGLE EDIT)
20. RHAYADER GOES TO TOWN (LIVE)
21. RIVERMAN
    
    All songs written by Andy Latimer/Peter Bardens. Note that tracks 7-9 presumably have a combined run time of 5:40.

CREDITS

PETER BARDENS -- kyeboards
DOUG FERGUSON -- bass
ANDY LATIMER -- guitars, flutes
ANDY WARD -- drums, percussion
David Bedford -- arrangements

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