''Mirage'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

, released on 1 March 1974. It features songs such as "The White Rider", "Lady Fantasy", and "Supertwister" which includes a showcase for

Andrew Latimer Andrew Latimer (born 17 May 1949) is an English musician and composer. He is a founding member of the progressive rock band Camel and the only member who has been with them since their formation in 1971. Best known as a guitarist and singer, L ...

's flute. There are five tracks on ''Mirage'', two over 9 minutes. Those two are multi-part songs: "Lady Fantasy" and "Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider", the latter being about ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

''. The album was released on Gama Records/

Deram Records Deram Records was a subsidiary record label of Decca Records established in the United Kingdom in 1966. At the time, U.K. Decca was a different company from the Decca label in the United States, which was owned by MCA Inc. Deram recordings w ...

Mick Rock Michael David Rock (born Michael Edward Chester Smith; 21 November 1948 – 18 November 2021) was a British photographer. He photographed rock music acts such as Queen, David Bowie, Waylon Jennings, T. Rex, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and ...

shot the inner sleeve photo.

Creation

Gama Records was looking for an outlet for their projects and quickly signed a long-term deal with Decca/London branch label,

. The first fruits of this collaboration was Mirage. For this first installment, the Gama Records label makes a production effort well above that of the first album with MCA. The first step was to have a weight producer like David Hitchcock (

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

Caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

), and half a dozen sound engineers including

John Burns John Elliot Burns (20 October 1858 – 24 January 1943) was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics and Battersea. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was ...

, Bill Price or Howard Kilgour and distributed between

Island Studios An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Decca Studios Decca Studios was a recording facility at 165 Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead, North London, England, controlled by Decca Records from 1937 to 1980. The building was once West Hampstead Town Hall, and had been converted to a recording studio b ...

and the

Air Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

Andy Latimer Andrew Latimer (born 17 May 1949) is an English musician and composer. He is a founding member of the progressive rock band Camel and the only member who has been with them since their formation in 1971. Best known as a guitarist and singer, La ...

and

Peter Bardens Peter Bardens (19 June 1945 – 22 January 2002) was an English keyboardist and a founding member of the British progressive rock group Camel. He played keyboards, sang, and wrote songs with Andrew Latimer. During his career, Bardens worked al ...

brought out the best of their songwriting skills. Musically the record is a big step up from the first album. The band recorded five songs with some changes in rhythms and melodies that would mark the sound of the group in the future.

Critical reception

There was no promo single, nor did it chart in the UK, but the general media response to the finished record was very promising. The prestigious

Sounds magazine ''Sounds'' was a UK weekly pop/rock music newspaper, published from 10 October 1970 to 6 April 1991. It was known for giving away posters in the centre of the paper (initially black and white, then colour from late 1971) and later for covering ...

was one of the first to praise the work and Andy Ward and Doug Ferguson were described as a well-oiled machine. Even further was ''The Beat Magazine'' that declared ''Mirage'' "Album of the Month", and finally came the surprise when the record entered the Billboard Top 200 at number 149 and remained visible for no less than 13 weeks. Today, ''Mirage'' is considered one of the essential Progressive Rock albums of all time, occupying position 21 on the list of the 50 Essential Progressive Rock Albums by

Rolling Stone magazine ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...

. In a ''

Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...

'' album review, critic Matthijs van der Lee declared ''Mirage'' as Camel's "magnum opus". The album was voted no. 51 in the Top 100

Prog Prog may refer to: Music * Progressive music ** Progressive music (disambiguation) ** Progressive rock, a subgenre of rock music also known as “prog” *** Progressive rock (radio format) * Prog (magazine), a magazine dedicated to progressive ...

albums of All Time by readers of ''

'' magazine in 2014. Prog Sphere considered ''Mirage'' to be the band's best album, writing that it is a prog classic that should be owned by anyone that is a fan of

Release details

* 1974, U.S., Janus Records * 1974, UK, Deram Records SML 1107, Release Date 1 March 1974, LP * 2002, UK, London 8829292, Release Date 3 June 2002, CD (remastered edition)

Track listing

Personnel

Camel *

– guitars, flute; vocals on "The White Rider" and "Lady Fantasy" *

– organ, piano,

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

, Fender electric piano,

Hohner clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

; vocals on "Freefall" and "Lady Fantasy" * Doug Ferguson – bass * Andy Ward – drums, percussion Production * Produced by David Hitchcock * Engineered by Howard Kilgour and Bill Price

Charts

References

External links

Official Site

Camel - ''Mirage'' (1974) album review by Daevid Jehnzen, credits & releases
at

AllMusic.com AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Camel - ''Mirage'' (1974) album releases & credits
at

Discogs.com Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...

Camel - ''Mirage'' (1974) album to be listened
as stream at Play.Spotify.com {{Authority control 1974 albums Camel (band) albums Deram Records albums Albums produced by Dave Hitchcock Albums with cover art by Mick Rock