EGG

Egg is the debut album from Canterbury/ psychadelic rock band Egg. The album was released in 1970. Egg came out of the ashes of the psychadelic UK based Arzachel. A great psychadelic rock band which only managed to release one legendary album in 1969. All three members of Egg were in the lineup of Arzachel. The only one missing from the Arzachel lineup is guitarist/ vocalist Steve Hillage. Egg continued the style of Arzachel on this debut album, but the music is generally more sophisticated and less psychadelic than on Arzachel´s sole album. The difference between the two bands also comes down to the lack of Steve Hillage guitar playing which means that Egg is a power trio without guitar.

The music has influences from several genres like psychadelic rock, jazz and classical music which makes Egg´s music pretty diverse. The focus in most songs is on Dave Stewarts organ playing but the rythm section of Clive Brook on Drums and Mont Campbell on bass and vocals are also very much a part of the music. Mont Cambell has a pleasant voice. It´s not especially distinct but pleasant like in most Canterbury music.

Songs like While Growing My Hair, I Will be Absorbed and The song of McGuillicudie the Pusillanimous (or don't worry James, your socks are hanging in the coal cellar with Thomas) are good psychadelic tracks with vocals and Dave Stewart´s organ playing little melodic figures. Fugue in D Minor is a rock version of a classical piece. The lead melody is of course played on the organ. Both They laughed when I sat down at the Piano...and Boilk are small piano, organ experiments that are nice breaks from the longer tracks. The main attraction on the album is Symphony No 2 though. A 22:26 minute long instrumental song with lots of both classical themes and more psychadelic excursions. It´s a great joy to be listening to this song even though there is a couple of minutes of the song that I could have done without. The noise making from Dave Stewart was probably considered innovative at the time, but today it´s just plain annoying.

The musicianship is excellent and I cannot praise Dave Stewart´s control of his organ enough. He is without a doubt one of my favorite organ players.

The production is a bit muddy but far better than the almost bootleg sound on Arzachel´s album.

There are many power trios playing rock music with a classical touch out there. Emerson, Lake & Palmer is the most obvious one to mention. Egg stand out from the rest though as they have a subtle and soft approach to the genre that is admirable compared to the pompeus and most of the time overblown symphonic approach of ELP. Egg deserves 4 stars for this wonderful debut album.