(Review from progarchives.com)

Egg’s debut album is an astonishingly assured piece of work, especially when you realise that the three members of the band were all under 20 when it was released. They had emerged from the ashes of Uriel/Arzachel, a band that was formed at the City of London school. Keyboard player Dave Stewart was originally the guitarist, but switched to organ when he realised that the young Steve Hillage (for it was he) was a better player. Hillage then left for university, the remaining trio renamed themselves Egg and built up a solid reputation on the underground circuit. It’s an essential piece of the Canterbury scene jigsaw.

Like the early Soft Machine, Egg was an organ led trio with a particularly English sense of humour to go with the serious musical chops, although where Soft Machine’s work had a jazz flavour Egg were into quoting the classics.

The main composer was Mont Campbell, although the group shared the writing credits (Stewart later said that Campbell was responsible for 95% of Egg’s music). This album, like their follow up, had one side of shorter pieces and a side long instrumental.

The first half is a patchwork of short, eccentric songs and instrumentals. A particular highlight is a jazzy reading of Bach’s Fugue in D minor, which is similar to Jethro Tull’s Bouree. Mont Campbell’s voice has a similar timbre to Richard Sinclair’s and the lyrics have a similar tongue in cheek quality. That, plus Dave Stewart’s distinctive keyboard work, gives songs like While Growing My Hair a kind of proto Hatfield and the North feel.

The second half of the album is a rather more serious affair. The first movement features a very nifty quote from Hall of the Mountain King, while Blane moves into the kind of RIO/Avant progressive territory. The suite is almost exclusively dominated by organ, and a single tone organ at that.

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.

Line-up:
- Dave Stewart / organ, piano, tone generator
- Mont Campbell / bass, vocals
- Clive Brook / drums

Track List:
01. Bulb – 0:09
02. While Growing My Hair – 4:02
03. I Will Be Absorbed – 5:11
04. Fugue In D Minor – 2:49
05. They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano… – 1:21
06. The Song Of McGillicudie The Pusillanimous (Or Don’t Worry James, Your Socks Are Hanging In The Coal Cellar With Thomas) – 5:09
07. Boilk – 1:04
08. Symphony No. 2 (Movement 1, Movement 2, Blane, Movement 4) – 20:40

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