THE POLITE FORCE

Most fans of this band will tell you that this, their second album, is the best of the lot. Compared to their first album, it's a tad better but not by much. It does start off with their best song, "A Visit To Newport Hospital". The song begins with a sludgie durge beat ala Black Sabbath, (Stewart is a master keyboard player!) for about a minute, then it grooves with that familiar Canterbury sound we all love so much. Campbell's deep throaty voice chimes in with some wonderfully Canterbury lyrics and it's groove time until the end when it returns to the sludgie durge from the beginning. Excellent! What follows is what for me brings this album down a peg. Now, I'm not against having horns in prog, but in this band it just doesn't feel right. "Contrasong" is mainly vocal with some time changes here and there, but the horns don't work for me, sorry, and Campbell's weak voice is exposed. Then what follows, "Boilk" is exactly what the tiltle suggests...HUH? If you're into noise for noises sake, then you'll be alright with this 9 minute excuse for a song. Me, it's trash and a waste of time. Sure, back in 1971 this might have sounded like something new and exciting. But now it's just trash. The last song which is broken up into four parts, "Long Piece No.3" is said by some as the best side long Canterbury song, better then 'Mumps" or "Nine Feet Underground". Sorry, but it doesn't come close. It starts well but by midpoint in part 1 it gets boring. Not until the end of part 1 does it pick up. Part 2 has a theme that pops up during part 3 and it's the best melody during the whole song. If you're a fan of early keyboard bands like ELP and The Nice, then this song is up your alley. I miss having a guitar to color things. In fact, my whole problem with Egg is the lack of guitar to take some of the dull off the edge. Things trudge along for the most part and it gets monotonous. Heck, I love Stewart's keyboards and Brooks drumming, but when you color things monochromatically, well.....yawn.....