The Snow Goose is the third album by the band Camel

Camel (band)

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.-1970s:...

. released in 1975. The success of "The White Rider" suite (based on J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

and appearing on the band's previous album, Mirage

Mirage (Camel album)

Mirage is Camel's second album, released in 1974. It features some of their best-known songs, including "Nimrodel" and "Lady Fantasy". It is also a showcase for Andrew Latimer's flute, notably on "Supertwister"....

), inspired the group to write more novel-inspired conceptual suites. The band considered several novels on which to base their next album. For a time they settled on Siddhartha

Siddhartha (novel)

Siddhartha is a novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian man named Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha.The book, Hesse's ninth novel , was written in German, in a simple, powerful, and lyrical style. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential...

, by Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...

, and some songs were written before the idea was abandoned in favor of Paul Gallico

Paul Gallico

Paul William Gallico was a successful American novelist, short story and sports writer. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictures...

's novella The Snow Goose

The Snow Goose

The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk is a short novella by the American author Paul Gallico. It was first published in 1940 as a short story in The Saturday Evening Post, then he expanded it to create a short novella which was first published on April 7, 1941.The Snow Goose was one of the O. Henry...

. The album's name, originally simply "The Snow Goose", was altered to Music Inspired by The Snow Goose to accommodate legal protests by Gallico. The album was originally due to feature lyrics based around Gallico's text, but due to his objections, an instrumental was made instead.

The album reached silver status in 1981, and is considered by many to be their most accessible work. It is remarkable for having no lyrics and orchestral (plus rock) instrumentation. This, along with the band's subsequent release Moonmadness, is considered by fans to be the band's greatest albums.

Side One

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

Side Two

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

Bonus Tracks on 2002 Remaster

1. "Flight of The Snow Goose" (Single Edit, A-side of Decca F-R 13581, Previously unreleased on CD) – 2:05
2. "Rhayader" (Single Edit, B-side of Decca F-R 13581, Previously unreleased on CD) – 3:09
3. "Flight of the Snow Goose" (Alternate Single Edit) – 2:49
4. "Rhayader Goes to Town" (Recorded Live at The Marquee Club) – 5:07
5. "The Snow Goose / Freefall" (Recorded Live at The Marquee Club) – 11:01

Japanese SHM 2CD on 2009 Disc2

track1 - track11 : Recorded Live From BBC Radio One Concert 1975

1. Rhayader Goes To Town
   
2. Sanctuary
   
3. The Snow Goose
   
4. Migration
   
5. Rhayader Alone
   
6. Flight Of The Snow Goose
   
7. Preparation
   
8. Dunkirk
   
9. Epitaph
   
10. La Princesse Perdue
    
11. The Great Marsh
    
12. Selections From The Snow Goose (BBC 2 Old Grey Whistle Test 1975)
    

Personnel

• Andrew Latimer
  Andrew Latimer
  Andrew Latimer is an English musician and one of the original members of the progressive rock band Camel. He is mainly a guitarist and singer, but also a flautist and keyboardist....
  
   – Electric, Acoustic and Slide Guitars, Flute, Vocals
• Peter Bardens
  Peter Bardens
  Peter Bardens was a keyboardist and a founding member of the British progressive rock group Camel. He played organ, piano, synthesizers and mellotron and wrote songs with Andrew Latimer...
  
   – Organ, Mini Moog, Electric Piano, Acoustic Piano, Pipe Organ
  Pipe organ
  The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
  
  , ARP Odyssey
  ARP Odyssey
  The ARP Odyssey was an analog synthesizer introduced in 1972. Responding to pressure from Moog Music to create a portable, affordable "performance" synthesizer, ARP scaled down its popular 2600 synthesizer and created the Odyssey, which became the best-selling synthesizer they made.The Odyssey is...
  
  
• Doug Ferguson – Bass
• Andy Ward – Drums, Vibes
  Vibraphone
  The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
  
  , Percussion

• David Bedford
  David Bedford
  David Vickerman Bedford , was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music....
  
   – Orchestral Arrangements
• Rhett Davies
  Rhett Davies
  Rhett Davies is an English record producer and engineer.Rhett Davies' father was trumpet player Ray Davies; they are no relation to Ray Davies of The Kinks. Davies became a studio engineer at Island Records studios in the early 1970s, and his first session was the recording process for Brian Eno's...
  
  – Recording Engineer
• Original Sleeve Design by Modula.

Release details

• 1975, UK, Decca Records 291 034, Release Date April 1975, LP
• 2002, UK, London 8829292, Release Date 3 June 2002, CD (remastered edition)
• 2009, Japan, Universal, UICY-94132/3, 27 May 2009, 2CD (SHM)

External links

• "KEI" - Short animation inspired by "Camel" music "The Snow Goose" (Sanctuary)