Moonmadness

Ahh Camel... My last review of yours was my proudest yet. You inspired me to commit almost three hours of my life to listening to you to get the review as how my heart wanted it. Now you got another album here. Let's see if you can inspire me again...

Aristillus: Very nice introduction to the album. Sets up a cherry upbeat mood with some happy synths singing away.

Song within a song: I like the dreamy first half and hey we got Camel actually singing
this album. This song brings an image of a fun adventure within the dream the lads talk about in the song. I enjoyed the electric guitar and synth dynamic. Yeah this is the quality instrumental I have come to expect out of Camel. Good stuff.

Chord change: It's not flashy and it doesn't want to be. Just a chill afternoon tea time listening and I don't even drink tea. Shout out to the guitar and organ for keeping this song an engaging listen. It would be pretty flat without them.

Spirit of the water: The song title itself brings a vivid image and atmosphere. This song just enhances it. I imagine the spirit itself is the one singing this song as you take a splash in the local creek. Seeing the spirit is one surprise, its strange song/ message is another. You stare at the ethereal being in wonder and confusion as this unbelievable event is taking place. You are probably dreaming but you don't want to wake up, the song is so entrancing that you want to stay here forever. But as the final piano note plucks, the being disappears as quickly as it appears. You haven't forgotten this experience to this day and have yet to tell a soul. You have gone to the humble creek several times over the years hoping to see the spirit once more but to no avail. Unfortunately the creek has been drained several years ago so the hopes of ever seeing your brief acquaintance is buried beneath what is now a parking lot nobody uses.

( There we go! That's the inspiration I needed! Hopefully you enjoyed my little tragic yet whimsical story inspired by listening to this song. As I have stated before the last album's review is one big story inspired by listening to it.)

Another Night: On a particular place on particularly foggy nights there is a ghost band singing about waiting for that silver moon that they longingly sing over and over again for. They repeatedly comfort themselves by saying another night would make it alright. Only few firsthand witnesses have claimed to see this spectacle over the years. The witnesses claim to be in a dreamlike state of being halfway dead and alive when the mysterious fog rolls in and the spirits appear to sing this strange song. It's the same surreal experience for all of the witnesses. Unfortunately we haven't had a foggy night in decades in this humble town. So the spirits have become more folktale than possibility these days with no way to confirm whether these spirits even existed in the first place.

Air born: The only image this song brings up is flying along amongst the clouds in peace. The song is still a very enjoyable listen. Like the past two.

Lunar sea: While flying along It quickly turns into nighttime. In my aimless wandering amongst the stars I happen to see a vast endless sea in the distance. I quickly fly on over to see an endless amount of spirits within the water. Every single one is joyfully singing and dancing in hopes to see a few brethren lost somewhere in the land behind you. They turn to you to help find them. They remind you that you are their leader and you have been aimlessly wandering around the sky for many many years after you have learned the gift of flight. You learn of the spirit of the water trapped under the concrete. You learn of a group of spirits lost to time pleading to see the massive moon resting on the endless sea around you. So you quickly come to terms of the heavy responsibility placed on you and the regret of rejecting it for all this time. At once you glide to the large city not too far away and come to a small parking lot. You use your massive strength to lift the heavy concrete to find a weak whimpering spirit that is forever grateful that you managed to find it. There's a particular person who happens to be around to witness this. They are staring at both of you in wonder and confusion. The weak spirit perks up a bit in recognition of the person. The spirit pleads to bring the person along. In your love for the spirit, you oblige. The three of you wander around a bit more until you land upon at a particular place and the weak spirit has gathered enough strength from your healing that it summons a great fog. With the moon following you wherever you go, the conditions are perfect to free the group of spirits trapped in this particular place to be freed. You don't remember why they have been trapped there in the first place it's been so long. But nonetheless they are eternally grateful for the two of you freeing them. All of you then come back home to the lunar sea where a grand party soon after takes place in celebration of everyone being where they belong.
THE END

While not quite as great as the last album, this was still a great addition to Camels discography. It took a bit to find inspiration but once the spark came, I took off with it. This is yet another consistently great album with the added benefit of actual singing this time. Recommend you check it out!