THE POLITE FORCE

EGG were made up of Dave Stewart, Mont Campell and Clive Brooks. The three had been part of another band previous to this called ARZACHEL along with Steve Hillage. That band was very psychedelic and that sort of explains where the song "Boilik" came from, as it seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the album. Stewart would hook up again with Hillage in a band called KHAN after this release. He would also play again with Mont Campbell in the band NATIONAL HEALTH.

This album starts off with "A Visit To Newport Hospital" a wondrous track that contrasts Stewart's heavy organ (at the start, and at the end of the song) with the main section that is bright and catchy with reserved vocals from Campbell. Great tune ! "Contrasong" features a guest four piece horn section of sax and trumpet. The bass is prominant 2 minutes in along with horns and organ. Vocals are back after 3 minutes. "Boilik" is the experimental and psychedelic track. There is the sound of water being poured down a drain? Anyway we get different strange sounds coming and going, with some mellotron early and lots of electronics. We finally get a melody 8 minutes in as Stewart plays some organ. A very psychedelic tune.

"Long Piece No.3." is made up of 4 parts. Part one is lead by the organ and drums. Part two is a highlight for me along with the first song. It has a catchy sound of organ and drums before it stops and some spacey sounds arrive. The original melody slowly comes back in this one. Part three has lots of tempo changes and some fuzz organ before 2 minutes. There is a heavier sound before 4 minutes.The final part is an uptempo passage.

I laughed when I read where someone called the Canterbury genre an inbred genre. It does seem like most of the bands are connected somehow. I find that kind of cool actually, trying to connect the dots. This is a must-have for Canterbury fans.