The Snow Goose

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The Snow Goose
Camel studio album

Publication
(s)

1975

Label (s) Decca Records

Title (number)

16

running time

41:06

occupation
  • Doug Ferguson: Bass
  • Andy Ward: drums

production

David Hitchcock

Studio (s)

Island Studios

chronology
Mirage
(1974) 		The Snow Goose Moonmadness
(1976)

The Snow Goose (also: Music Inspired by The Snow Goose ) is the third studio album by the British progressive rock band Camel . It was released on Decca Records in 1975 .

Creation and publication

After a piece based on a literary model had already been published on Mirage with The White Rider , a whole concept album should now follow. Peter Bardens initially suggested Siddhartha or Der Steppenwolf as a template, but the choice ultimately fell on Paul Gallico's story The Snow Goose , a parable on friendship, love and war. However, due to legal differences with Gallico and his publisher, the band discarded all lyrics and recorded the album without them, and Music Inspired by the Snow Goose became its official title.

A CD version of The Snow Goose was first released in 1983, and from 2002 onwards, several remastered and deluxe versions with various bonus tracks were released. a. consisted of live versions. In 2013, Camel Productions released a new recording of the album.

Track list

page 1

  1. The Great Marsh - 2:02
  2. Rhayader - 3:01
  3. Rhayader Goes to Town - 5:19
  4. Sanctuary - 1:05
  5. Fritha - 1:19
  6. The Snow Goose - 3:11
  7. Friendship - 1:43
  8. Migration - 2:01
  9. Rhayader Alone - 1:50

Page 2

  2. Flight of the Snow Goose - 2:40
  3. Preparation - 3:58
  4. Dunkirk - 5:19
  5. Epitaph - 2:07
  6. Fritha Alone - 1:40
  7. La Princesse Perdue - 4:43
  8. The Great Marsh (reprise) - 1:20

Bonus title 2002

  2. Flight of the Snow Goose (Single Edit) - 2:05
  3. Rhayader (Single Edit) - 3:09
  4. Flight of the Snow Goose (Alternate Single Edit) - 2:49
  5. Rhayader Goes to Town (Live) - 5:07
  6. The Snow Goose / Freefall (Live) - 11:01 am

Bonus CD 2009

  1. Rhayader Goes to Town - 5:08
  2. Sanctuary - 1:12
  3. The Snow Goose - 3:03
  4. Migration - 3:31
  5. Rhayader Alone - 1:43
  6. The Flight of the Snow Goose - 2:56
  7. Preparation - 2:04
  8. Dunkirk - 5:10
  9. Epitaph - 1:16
  10. La Princesse Perdue - 4:40
  11. The Great Marsh - 1:57 (Title 1–11: BBC Radio 1 in Concert 1975)
  12. Selections from the Snow Goose - 9:39 ( The Old Gray Whistle Test 1975)

style

Camel play elegant progressive rock on their third album, which is instrumental except for a few wordless vocal passages. There are less rocky passages than on Mirage , the style is calmer and more sedate; the focus is on the varying soundscapes that are intended to recreate the tension and intensity of Gallico's narrative. The atmosphere of the album is mostly elegiac and melancholic.

reception

Although the first reactions after the release were very critical, and the album is still criticized as "a little bit cheesy [...], lame, shallow, sleepy, monotonous, sluggish and unspectacular", The Snow Goose is still considered next to Mirage and Moonmadness as the band's classic. According to Horst Straske from Babyblauen Seiten it is a "milestone in instrumental progressive rock [...] which offers symphonic soundscapes in the highest perfection." eclipsed magazine included the album in its list of the 150 most important prog albums.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Camel Timeline 1964–1981 , camelproductions.com , accessed August 3, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b c d Baby Blue Prog Reviews: Camel: The Snow Goose , Baby Blue Pages , accessed on August 3, 2015.
  3. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: The Snow Goose at Allmusic (English), accessed on August 3, 2015.
  4. ↑ a b eclipsed No. 144, p. 39.