Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in 1971. An important group in the Canterbury scene, they have been releasing studio and live recordings steadily, with considerable success, since their formation. Andrew Latimer (guitar), Andy Ward (drums) and Doug Ferguson (bass) had been playing as a trio called The Brew around the Guildford, Surrey area of England. On February 20th, 1971, they auditioned to be the back-up band to singer/songwriter Phillip Goodhand-Tait and released an album with him in August 1971 titled "I Think I'll Write a Song" on DJM Records. This would be their first and last album with Goodhand-Tait. [2] They recruited Peter Bardens (keyboards) and after an initial gig to fulfill a Bardens commitment on 8 October 1971 in Belfast, Northern Ireland under the name of Peter Bardens' On, they changed their name to Camel. Their first gig was at Waltham Forest Technical College, London supporting Wishbone Ash on 4 December. Mirage is Camel's second album, released in 1974, and is one of the group's most remembered albums.[citation needed] It features some of their best-known songs, including "Nimrodel" and "Lady Fantasy", and is also a showplace for Andrew Latimer's flute, notably on "Supertwister". There are only 5 tracks on this record, two over 9 minutes. Those two are multi-part epics: "Lady Fantasy" and "Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider", the latter being about The Lord of the Rings. It was released on Deram Records. As a result of a business agreement between the band and the cigarette company, the album's cover art very closely resembles the cover of the Camel cigarettes packet. 01 - Freefall 02 - Supertwister 03 - Nimrodel The Procession The White Rider 04 - Earthrise 05 - Lady Fantasy Encounter Smiles For You Lady Fantasy LINK
