(Review from progarchives.com, wikipedia)

The Polite Force was Egg’s second album and represents a considerable advance on their debut, both in terms of composition and performance. Overall there’s a greater sense of focus, coupled with an attention to detail and a more solid structure both in the individual pieces and across the album as a whole.

As on their debut, side 1 consists of shorter pieces, though this time there are only three. “A Visit To Newport Hospital” has autobiographical lyrics about the band’s early days as Uriel and shows Mont Campbell’s flair for writing accessible, melodic songs in daunting time signatures. “Contrasong”, the shortest piece on the album, is a an extremely tight piece which alternates between 5/8 and 9/8 and features a punchy horn arrangement by Campbell. H0s ability to sing with such insouciance while playing finger breaking bass lines in such unusual rhythms is staggering, while the ability of the trio as a whole to make such complex music swing speaks volumes about the amount of musical talent they had. “Boilk” is a lengthy piece which veers in to the RIO/Avant prog territory that they had explored on parts of their first album. The incorporation of a theme by Bach gives a neat touch.

The second half of the album is taken up with the imaginatively titled Long Piece No.3, a side long Canterbury adventure. The four sections of the piece flow naturally into each other and each member of the trio gets a chance to shine without taking a flashy solo. As a whole it’s a finely nuanced piece of ensemble playing, writing and arranging which has great charm and sophistication. There’s nothing extraneous on this piece, and the trio play with a maturity and restraint.

Egg finished the year with an increased touring schedule, but in spite of accumulating enough material for a third album, were unable to secure another record deal, and called it a day in July 1972.

Line-up:
- Mont Campbell / bass, vocals, organ (5), Piano (5), French horn (6)
- Dave Stewart / Organ, Piano, tone generator (7)
- Clive Brooks / drums
with
- Henry Lowther / trumpet (2)
- Mike Davis / trumpet (2)
- Bob Downes / Tenor sax (2)
- Tony Roberts / Tenor sax (2)

Track List:
01. A Visit To Newport Hospital – 8:28
02. Contrasong – 4:25
03. Boilk (Incl. Bach: ‘Durch Adams Fall Ist Ganz Verderbt’) – 9:22
04. Long Piece No. 3: Part One – 5:08
05. Long Piece No. 3: Part Two – 7:38
06. Long Piece No. 3: Part Three – 5:03
07. Long Piece No. 3: Part Four – 2:51

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