THE POLITE FORCE

This is my favorite album is a masterpiece. It holds my favorite song in the entire progressive genre (Newport Hospital). I contacted Stewart and Campbell about this, and exchanged emails back and forth with Campbell for a while. They really deserve all the praise they can get.

A Visit To Newport Hospital starts with a basic chord progression with a hammond organ through fuzz to give it one of the earliest examples of 'progressive metal' (just because it's slow doesn't mean it can't be metal). I would even consider it Doom Metal due to the usage of extremely heavy and low minor chords. After this it turns into the greatest track ever. A jazzy introduction to the main song itself. When the song actually begins about 2 minutes in, it's got some of the best chords repeated possible. Absolutely hypnotic and Dave Stewart is a master of dissonance. After the verse we have an absolute EPIC organ solo, with a really interesting compositional structure. Stewart basically plays fuzz wah through the left and right channel (two different solos, one in each ear) against the standard chord progression of the track. Absolute genius. It's rare to hear a solo that's actually 2 solo's at once that fuse absolutely perfectly together. The notes struck are perfect from beginning to end, and they invoke a nostalgia in me that I can't explain, and that very few songs can achieve for me.

I never really enjoyed Boilk until I listened to it extremely loud, and that's how it is meant to be played. It's purely psychedelic when played loud enough to cause crustal deformation (and really piss off the neighbors who probably grew up listening to punk). This goes for Boilk 1 and 2 (from the first album).

Long Piece no. 3 is yet again a genius track, this time on the compositional side. I've practiced drumming to this song for a long time and the intro was pretty hard to nail (I got 4/4, 5/4, 7/4, 9/4, repeat, alternating toms and snare). Meanwhile Stewarts organ is playing a different time signature that introduces interesting poly rhythm that persists for most of the song.

Overall, this is hands down a masterpiece and all 3 band members are legends and amongst the most musically talented of the era.