A Fantastic Journey: "Mirage" (1974) by Camel

On March 1st 1974, “Mirage”, the second studio album by Camel, was released. Seen by many people as the most underrated progressive rock band, “Mirage” may be the most known record put together by the band.

The album, which coincidentally was released exactly a year and a day after their debut, was greeted with a much warmer response. Clocking at 39 minutes with only 5 songs, “Mirage” features Camel at its best. Their signature sound (achieved by the band’s most celebrated line-up, which consisted of Andrew Latimer on guitar, Doug Ferguson on bass, Peter Bardens on keyboards and Andy Ward on drums) shines through the mellow melodies, is nourished by Latimer and Bardens’s extensive solos and finally reaches your ears to take you to a place somehow known yet still far enough to keep you at the edge of your seat.

In 2014, Prog readers voted the album no. 51 in the Top 100 Prog Albums of All Time while Prog Sphere called it the band’s best album and a prog classic. The overall positive opinion about “Mirage” is expectable since it features some of the most known sections from Camel’s discography, like the entire “Lady Fantasy” medley and the “White Rider” section of “Nimrodel”.