The Snow Goose | ||||
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Studio album by Camel | ||||
Released | April 1975 | |||
Recorded | Island Studios, Decca Studios (overdubs), London | |||
Genre | Progressive rock, instrumental rock | |||
Length | 43:05 | |||
Label | Gama/Decca | |||
Producer | David Hitchcock | |||
Camel chronology | ||||
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The Snow Goose is the third studio album by the band Camel, released in 1975. The critical success of "The White Rider" suite (based on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and appearing on the band's previous 1974 album, Mirage), 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, by Hermann Hesse, and some songs were written before the idea was abandoned in favour of Paul Gallico's novella The Snow Goose. The album's name, originally The Snow Goose was altered to Music Inspired by The Snow Goose to accommodate legal protests by Paul Gallico. The album was originally due to feature lyrics based on Gallico's text, but this was abandoned due to the copyright objections. The music was mostly written over a fortnight in a cottage in Devon, England.
Recording began in January 1975 at Island Studios in London with producer David Hitchcock and engineer Rhett Davies. Later overdubs were recorded at Decca Studios and engineered by John Burns. The London Symphony Orchestra participated in the recording, with David Bedford supplying the arrangements.
The 'duffle coat' on the album's credits was used by Andrew Latimer and Doug Ferguson on "Epitaph" to simulate a flapping of wings by waving it in the air.