(Review from progarchives.com, progreviews.com, wikipedia)

In 1974, Dave Stewart, now signed with Virgin as a member of Hatfield and the North, also got a deal for Egg to record their unreleased material, which resulted in the farewell album Civil Surface.

Beginning with a metronome click, sped up drums, and organ fanfare, “Germ Patrol” is the sound of an Egg rehatched. The masterstroke on the album, however, is “Enneagram”. This track expertly synthesizes all of the Stravinsky ostinati, jazz chords, and space sounds that Egg had touched upon earlier in their career but hadn’t quite mastered. Shorter, but just as telling of things to come, is “Prelude”, filled out by the Northettes on vocals. Not everything is as revelatory as the previously mentioned tracks, but other tracks are enjoyable nonetheless and feature a sense of humor.

In addition to the keyboards of Dave Stewart here we have a wind quartet, various wind instrumental virtuosos, and a female vocal trio. The overall impact of this is to give the album a modern classical feel, with many pleasant sounds. The compositions are generally more fusion based, straying at times towards krautrock. There are at times strong hints of the wonderful work of early 70′s multi- instrumentalist Yoel Schwarcz and his work with Continuum. The complex counterpoint and tart harmonies on this album set the stage for the sound that would later be National Health’s trademark.

Line-up:
- Dave Stewart / organ, piano; bass (6)
- Clive Brooks / drums
- Mont Campbell / bass, voice, French horn and piano
with
- Jeremy Baines / Germophone & Bowle
- Lindsay Cooper / oboe, basson (1-6)
- Tim Hodgkinson / clarinet (1-6)
- Amanda Parsons / vocals (4)
- Ann Rosenthal / vocals (4)
- Barbara Gaskin / vocals (4)
- Steve Hillage / guitar (5)

Track List:
01. Germ Patrol – 8:31
02. Wind Quartet 1 – 2:25
03. Enneagram – 9:09
04. Prelude – 4:17
05. Wring Out the Ground Loosely Now – 8:10
06. Nearch – 3:27
07. Windquartet 2 – 4:44

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