Mirage - Tales from the Green Sofa (2004)

French band MIRAGE were born in1996 of the fusion of keyboardist Philippe Duplessy, drummer Joël Mondon, bassist Cyrille Forner and his brother guitarist Stephan Forner; Stefan's wife Agnès, who would join them on flute and vocals during concerts, soon became a permanent member of the band. For most of twenty years, all had been CAMEL devotees (as you may have guessed from the band's name) and by 2001 they had gigged, jammed and accumulated enough material to release a first album titled "A Secret Place". This gave them some exposure and fostered a renewed enthusiasm for a second album titled "Tales from the Green Sofa", released in 2004. Besides CAMEL, bassist Cyrille Forner says the band members are also influenced by The ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, KING CRIMSON, PINK FLOYD, The FLOWER KINGS and PORCUPINE TREE as well as by not-so-prog acts such as LED ZEPPELIN and DEEP PURPLE.

Both of their albums, "A Secret Place" and "Tales From the Green Sofa", feature that rich, warm, mellow, melodic guitar and flute play reminiscent of early CAMEL; add some female vocals plus a little touch of jazz fusion and you'll get the picture. Throughout both CDs, you'll be hearing hints of "Moonmadmesss", "The Snowgoose" and "Nude" as well as of "Harbour of Tears" and even "A Nod and a Wink". Overall, both feel a bit like some timeless CAMEL albums. Nothing revolutionary but fairly well done and faithful to the CAMEL spirit, with nice arrangements and a very decent production.