THE POLITE FORCE

Egg

Canterbury Scene

4.12 | 498 ratings

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Dobermensch
Prog Reviewer

Egg's best effort is a wonderful album of really tricky time signatures, great keyboards by Dave Stewart and wild experimentalism in the form of the universally reviled 9 minute 'Boilk'.

The opener, 'A visit to Newport Hospital' is a great tune reminiscent of Soft Machine - but is far better and more adventurous than the murky production and waywardness of the aforementioned band. 'The Polite Force' is where Egg came of age, delivering something unique and exciting.

'Contrasong' is a weird and wacky number with strangely off kilter brass instruments and drumming which, I defy anyone to drum along to in time, with its alternating 5/8 and 9/8 time signatures.

I can see why people might choose Caravan over Egg, being that they're a far easier listen, but if you want a more challenging propostion then Egg could be the fellows for you.

And then we have 'Boilk'. Poor old damned to hell 'Boilk'. Certainly not easy on the ear, but I love this kind of stuff. Structureless, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in to create a mayhem of sound which borders on Musique Concrete. Personally I love it.

The Egg forerunners 'Arzachel' were certainly a breeding ground for this type of music. An album which I'd recommend to fans of this recording.

'Long Piece No.3' takes up the whole of side two. What I want to know is what happened to Long Piece No. 1 & 2. Anyway, Dave Stewart reigns supreme again in this rather odd 21 minute opus. I don't know why I like him so much, as I usually hate the organ sound, but he just hits all the right notes for me sounding like a more dramatic and important Rick Wright from 'Atom Heart'.

Some serious showing off by Clive Brooks on drums again makes this quite possibly one of the most difficult percussive albums I've heard - and that's coming from a drummer! Brilliant

Dobermensch | 5/5 | 2011-2-18

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