THE POLITE FORCE

Egg's second effort shows the band retreating from the more blues-inspired Arzachel. It is (slightly) less psychedelic and helped define the band's unique, identifiable sound. The album opens with a diminished fuzz organ riff that eventually leads into a light jazzy organ lead bit in 7/8. Mont Cambell's bass playing is throughout the entire album, keeping the low end down and very prominent. Clive Brooks' drumming isn't too flashy but for sure is an important part of Egg's success. Dave Stewart makes use of a wah-wah pedal with his organ to add light psychedelia just after a piano is added to add great texture. Vocals are added but I don't consider them necessary. The song weaves in and out of vocals and fuzz organ solos before some of the previous themes are introduced. The song then ends where it started, the heavy diminished riff in 4/4. The dizzying second song, Contrasong, features brass and prominent piano weaving in and out of odd time. The piano becomes less prominent and allows the brass and organ to solo as the bass plays its progression. The song goes back to its dizzying section and ends. The third song, Boilk, opens with the sound of pouring water. Noisy, unfavorable sound effects are added, making the soundtrack of a bad acid trip. Mellotron was included but sadly was not included in any other songs. I believe Egg could have used the mellotron in other titles without straying too far from their organ-led sound. The final song, Long Piece No. 3, is divided up into 4 parts. The song opens with an aggressive fuzz organ and bass riff (possibly in whole-tone). The song continues to sound extremely aggressive due to the organ's diminished harmony and heavy distortion. The fuzz organ is removed as a less barbaric organ plays. A soft piano extract is added before the song heads into the next theme. Organ, bass, and drums pound ahead in odd time. After measures of light organ solos, consonance is reached. Beautiful piano arpeggios are played to get away from the destructive nature of the last few minutes of the song. The previous theme is played once more. Long Piece No. 3 goes into the Part 2. This is reminiscent of the opening song's light jazzy feel. An ambient psychedelic section is added. The organ, bass, and drums reunite and play a new theme sounding similar to one of A Visit To Newport Hospital's themes. They play the opening section again and heads to Part 3. This openings with a seemingly fun atmosphere, but suddenly turns aggressive, and back to sweet. Tension continues to build and is released. Dark fuzz organ is added below what I believe to be Dave Stewart's Tone Generator. The final section of the song begins with a cool melody and unexpectedly plays on of the darker themes from the first section of the song. Egg plays a new theme and finally unleashes the most aggressive theme from Part 1. I recommend this album to anyone even vaguely interested in odd time signatues (only one Egg song in existence doesn't include odd time), Canterbury Scene, the fuzz organ, and or incredibly creative music. Egg has painted a variety of colors on the progressive rock movement.