Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Camel
Label: Decca Records
Released: 1975
Rating: 5/5
After the relative commercial success of the excellent album »Mirage« (1974), which made them known as one of the brightest hopes of symphonic progressive rock, the members of Camel decided to make a concept album that was completely instrumental. That is, no vocals. The news was, of course, an immense shock for their American label, which wanted to rake in fat stacks of cash off the band’s name. The band didn’t much care, though, and set out to make another masterpiece that in many ways even surpassed its outstanding predecessor. »The Snow Goose« (for copyright reasons the album’s full name is actually »Music Inspired By the Snow Goose«, but most labels and fans of the band don’t bother with that) is a concept album based on the novella by American writer Paul Gallico. The idea for the concept came to the band as enthusiastic readers of literary classics. Out of several literary candidates, Siddhartha among them, the book they finally picked was bassist Doug Ferguson’s favorite.
The unexpected success of their epic composition »White Rider« (Mirage, 1974), based on The Lord of the Rings, also played a part in the decision to go for a concept album. On »The Snow Goose« there are no gaps between the tracks; they flow straight into one another, which boosts the intensity of the whole concept even more. So even without any lyrics, you can conjure up the album’s entire story in your mind as you listen. Supposedly the band originally even planned to record spoken passages from the book between the tracks to tie the story and the individual pieces together, but the idea was scrapped because of the copyright problem. In between, which is far better than any spoken passages, there are lots of shorter pieces, mostly built on acoustic guitar, piano and mellotron, linking the longer tracks together. With the help of numerous orchestral arrangements, they keep the whole concept flowing seamlessly.
So you won’t run into any longer epics on the album, even though those are quite typical of the band’s character and work, but rather lots of shorter pieces, of which only two run longer than five minutes. Camel are, of course, superb musicians. On this album Latimer proves he was not just an excellent guitarist and decent singer but also a very good flutist. Ward was one of the most talented and unique drummers of his time. Ferguson’s thick bass lines were always distinctive too. And it’s always a pleasure to listen to Bardens’ organ and mellotron mastery. The excellent orchestral arrangements were written by David Bedford, who is best known among wider audiences for working with Mike Oldfield on his »The Orchestral Tubular Bells« (1975).
A quick rundown of the intriguing concept, which is really a war drama about the power of friendship and love: the story is about a lonely man named Rhayader, scorned for his unusual appearance, who one day nurses a wounded snow goose. The goose is brought to him by a young girl named Fritha, who, caring for the injured bird, overcomes her fear of Rhayader and befriends this reclusive, hermit-like bird lover. Soon after, the healed goose flies away, which deeply saddens both of her caretakers, who had grown close thanks to her. As a result, Fritha stops visiting Rhayader from then on, and he, who misses the snow goose no less, becomes lonely and miserable.
That feeds into his fateful decision to join the soldiers fighting on the French coast, even though the snow goose comes back into his life and loyally follows him on all his campaigns from then on. Later Rhayader is killed in a battle on the water in the thick of the war, while trying to protect the town from attackers. The snow goose appears again in the middle of the chaos and lifts the morale of the remaining defenders. After the battle ends happily, the townsfolk name her »La Princesse Perdue« in gratitude, as a symbol of the hope that always remains despite the horrors of war. Fritha, who soon after his departure starts to miss Rhayader, spots her beloved snow goose in a flock of birds and realizes that the strange man, whom so many people had feared even though he was goodness incarnate, will never return. »The Snow Goose« is thus a sad yet strikingly beautiful story about the power of love and comradeship. With such a complex, dramatic and tragic concept, it’s no wonder Camel tell the story through their music mostly with gorgeous soundscapes and an orchestral mood built on that typical Celtic melancholy only islanders can conjure up.
After the opening »The Great Marsh«, with its mysterious, mystical synthesizer-generated backing vocals and brilliant mellotron line, comes »Rhayader«, one of the band’s classics, which also came out as a single. With Latimer’s excellent opening flute solo and Bardens’ piano it charms the listener in an instant, and the same goes for the rest of its wonderful rhythmic structure. Bardens’ organ solos add even more to the exceptional beauty of this composition. Next up is »Rhayader Goes To Town«, which features outstanding Latimer solos and a signature wah-wah effect on the guitar, plus esoteric Bardens solos on mellotron. Fast and slow rhythmic sections trade places all the way through, creating pure magic. The best part is surely when Latimer’s guitar, run through the wah-wah, joins forces with the organ, after which Latimer immediately serves up his trademark slide guitar solos. Through them he coaxes out exceptional melancholy, complemented by the harmony between guitar and keyboards. Pure perfection and another classic from the band.
»Sanctuary« is a shorter linking instrumental on acoustic guitar and mellotron that creates the feeling of a snowy landscape on a winter night. »Fritha« has an exceptionally friendly melody on flute, keyboards and acoustic guitar. »The Snow Goose« builds a wonderful atmosphere with magical soundscapes and melancholic guitar solos, and it’s one of the album’s peaks. »Friendship« is its opposite: an exceptionally playful composition where it’s not hard to picture the goose honking away beside her new friend. On »Migration« we can hear, among other things, Latimer’s vocal lines, mournfully announcing the goose’s farewell to her rescuers. »Rhayader Alone« lives up to its title, another deeply melancholic piece that mirrors the loneliness of the main hero after the goose and Fritha leave him, and where we can once again hear the central motif of »Rhayader«.
»Flight Of the Snow Goose« has an exceptionally wound-up rhythm and grandiose solos on guitar and keyboards. »Preparation« is symphonic folk rock built on excellent flute and backing vocal harmonies. A tense, mysterious mood dominates, echoing Rhayader’s preparations for the fateful battle. »Dunkirk« was one of the battlefields of World War II, and it’s also the inspiration for one of the band’s best epic compositions. Here Rhayader meets his unfortunate end while defending the town. The epic central motif, built on Bardens’ organ, orchestral woodwind arrangements and a marching rhythm, truly conjures the mood of a great battle. In the second part the rhythm shifts and replaces the main motif, and listeners find themselves in the middle of the fiercest fighting, as Latimer’s supersonic solos and Ward’s excellent drumming with countless fills crank this epic piece up to full drama.
»Epitaph« is a lament for the dead Rhayader, where we again hear that icy, mysterious motif echoing the senselessness of war. »Fritha Alone« is another sad act on piano, as by the end of the story Fritha, too, has become lonely, which suggests she did care about Rhayader’s fate after all. »La Princesse Perdue« is the closing act of this dramatic novella, a grandiose epic symbolizing the snow goose’s return, after the townsfolk accept her as a symbol of hope in hard times. Gorgeous, virtuosic guitar solos, intense rhythm and excellent keyboard arrangements create a positive ending to the tragic drama, despite the hero’s death. »The Great Marsh« closes the album the same way it opened; the mood is wrapped in a fog of mystery.
»The Snow Goose« is a concept-album masterpiece, the record where Camel hit their creative peak. It’s also their most mature work, pairing flawless musicianship with exceptional sonic beauty and a brilliant concept. That’s exactly why it’s their best work, even though it was far from the last of their masterpieces. It’s truly incredible how the band manages, time and again, to combine extreme complexity with melodic motifs. Even though »The Snow Goose« is an instrumental album, for wider audiences it’s almost the band’s most accessible creation, precisely because of those gorgeous melodies that stay in your ears long after listening (or after several listens). »The Snow Goose« is without a doubt one of those symphonic prog rock classics of the 70s that no fan of the genre should be without, and over the years it has had an important influence on the development of concept albums by modern progressive rock bands. This latest reissue contains bonus tracks such as the never-before-released single versions of »Flight of the Snow Goose« and »Rhayader«, a special, likewise unreleased single version of »Flight of the Snow Goose«, and live versions of »Rhayader Goes To Town« and »The Snow Goose/Freefall«, recorded mid-show at London’s Marquee Club in 1974.
Lineup
Andy Latimer – electric, acoustic & slide guitar, flute, vocals
Doug Ferguson – bass guitar
Peter Bardens – organ, minimoog, acoustic & electric piano, pipe organ, ARP Odyssey
Andy Ward – drums, percussion
Production
David Hitchcock
Tracklist
1. The Great Marsh (2:02)
2. Rhayader (3:01)
3. Rhayader Goes To Town (5:20)
4. Sanctuary (1:05)
5. Fritha (1:19)
6. The Snow Goose (3:12)
7. Friendship (1:44)
8. Migration (2:01)
9. Rhayader Alone (1:50)
10. Flight Of The Snow Goose (2:40)
11. Preparation (3:58)
12. Dunkirk (5:19)
13. Epitaph (2:07)
14. Fritha Alone (1:40)
15. La Princesse Perdue (4:44)
16. The Great Marsh (1:20)
Album length: 43:22
The reissue, released by Decca (A Universal Company) in 2002, contains 5 bonus tracks:
Flight of The Snow Goose (single edit) (2:05)
Rhayader (single edit) (3:09)
Flight Of The Snow Goose (alternate single edit) (2:49)
Rhayader Goes To Town (Live 10-30-1974) (5:07)
The Snow Goose / Freefall (Live 10-30-1974) (11:01)
