Camel - Mirage (74) - 8.5/10
Camel's finest hour!
Camel - Snow Goose (75) - 7/10
Instrumental. Loads of flute. Often beautiful, but unfortunately uninspired and boring at times.
Camel - Stationary Traveller (84) - 6.5/10
Song-oriented and quite commercial, but I find it good anyway.
Canarios, Los - Ciclos (73) - 6.5/10
Remake of Vivaldi's Seasons. Interesting enough, but I actually like the original better, so it is difficult to recommend this.
Carmen - Dancing on a Cold Wind (73) - 7/10
Flamenco-rock, but very different from the way Triana and Mezquita did it. This concept album
about a gypsy girl is in my opinion overrated. The vocals are too emotional, and they are there almost all the time. Those who like the vocals, however, should find this quite good.
Cathedral - Stained Glass Stories (78) - 8.5/10
Bass guitar is used in a brilliant manner by this band, making them sound like Yes at times. The elsewhere flamed vocals sound OK in my opinion. Quite reminiscent of Anglagard.
Celeste - Principe di un Giorno, a.k.a. Celeste (76) - 9/10
Extremely tranquil and pleasant. Almost no drums. Wonderful music.
Coltrane, Alice - Journey in Satchidananda (70) - 7.5/10
Alice Coltrane was by this time the widow after the much more famous John Coltrane. One might think that her last name, and not necessarily her musical skills, has given her a name in avant-garde jazz. On hearing this record, however, one finds out that this is definitely not so. Journey in Satchidananda is an easy-going mix of jazz and Indian music. As far as my knowledge goes, this music must be very, if not totally, unique. This excerpt from Coltrane's own liner-notes may give you a hint of what to expect - the record is inspired by her "own beloved spiritual perceptor" Swami Satchidananda: "Anyone listening to this selection should try to envision himself floating on an ocean of Satchidanandaji's love". You can't write that kind of thing in the liner notes unless you have some excellent music in stock, and this record does. What may first strike you is Cecil McBee's excellent repetetive bass lines on the backdrop of Rashied Ali's rich-sounding drums and some percussion. The Indian-flavoured instruments here are tamboura, played by a certain Tulsi, and Alice Coltrane's harp. These two instruments provide a wall of sound present throughout, at tremendous effect. On top of this comes Pharoah Sanders' saxophone solos. While he's famed for his crazed playing on his own Karma and several of John Coltrane's records (Ascension in particular), he plays more calmly here. Most of the record is soothing and in a relaxed tempo, but still makes a powerful impression because of the massive sound coming particularly from the tamboura and the harp. The tracks are a little similar to each other, but the music is of such high quality that it never gets off-putting or boring. The tamboura must be given much of the credit for this - a great instrument which mysteriously manages to give both punch and a meditative feel to the music. Eleven and a half minutes of the record (the live-recording "Isis and Osiris") sees bassist Cecil McBee replaced with Charlie Haden, and the tamboura replaced with the string instrument oud. This yields some of the sought-after variation, and the jam is outstanding, with the audience applauding midway through and all. Most prog fans will probably enjoy this more than most prog.