Camel – Mirage (Remastered): Album Review

By Mike Ainscoe on 5th March 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

Mirage – Camel album #2 gets remastered with all the trimmings in an Esoteric Camel fest.

Release Date: 28th February 2025

Label: Esoteric / Cherry Red Records

Format: 2CD / Bluray

Stephen W Tayler is becoming the go to man for doing the reworking the back catalogues of some of the ‘less high profile’ bands in the Prog world. His work on the Hawkwind legacy (particularly the Space Ritual package) has been exemplary. He’s responsible for the the 5.1 mix of Mirage (not available for testing) while the original mix is available alongside a new stereo mix for a side by side comparison.

PROG PEERS

Camel have always held their place alongside some of the peers in the Prog Rock field. The flute inevitably leads to thoughts of Ian Anderson and there are some furious organ led instrumental passages that recall ELP at their finest or when the mood cools, maybe a little more of a Doors groove.

There’s a neat little Mark Powell essay on the album in the booklet and setting the scene for their next album The Snow Goose. Clarifying how the band was picked up by Decca for their second album, he points out in a quote from Sounds, Camel isn’t a band people listen to for a quick thrill!

Nine minutes of the Nimorodel ‘suite’ and twelve devoted to Lady Fantasy place Camel firmly in the progressive bracket and with much emphasis on their instrumental prowess in the compositions, hindsight has proved them worthy of their acclaim.

CLASSIC TRACKS

In hindsight, Lady Fantasy in particular stands as an iconic Camel track. Sprawling yes, but with all manner of distinctive parts – the initial keyboard bubble and guitar theme that’s set to reccur; the change of pace and forceful instrumental part where even the bass pops up with a feature part; the gentle vocal section that leads into heavier riffing and a keyboard frenzy and naturally back to the guitar theme.

The Nimrodel suite shows the potential of how powerful Camel could be. Often viewed as a band with a more genteel core, they could rock out and the electricity and eccitement they generate, clearly feeding off one another, is evident. That pastoral side surfaces on Supertwister where the dancing flute is perfect soundtrack stuff.

Again, hindsight proves how remarkable it is how Mirage didn’t bother the charts at the time bearing in mind the musical tastes and fashions of the time – 1973 was surely one of the classic years for Rock music and particularly Prog.

BONUS

Bonus demos include non album tracks The Traveller and White Rider. Both are lengthy workouts, the former boogeying along with some double tracked guitar and a recurring theme giving a Wishbone Ash flavour amidst much duelling with the keyboards. The latter is a more mid paced but extended stand alone number, with the emphasis again on a guitar line that twists and turns and tests out the pedal board. Perhaps one that needed a little tightening to fit the Camel standards.

Here’s the Nimrodel suite: