Freedom to Music
Posts tagged Egg
Egg – Civil Surface (1974) (@256)
17 Oct 2009
(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
Link in comments.
Egg – Polite Force (1971) (@256)
16 Oct 2009
(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
Link in comments.
Egg – Egg (1970) (@256)
15 Oct 2009
(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
Link in comments.
Arzachel – Arzachel (1969) (@256)
14 Oct 2009
(Review from progarchives.com)
This could be seen as the first Egg album, Arzachel (also known as Uriel) is essentially Egg + Steve Hillage. The band recorded this album in one afternoon, making it all the more remarkable. Boasting ethereal organ from Dave Stewart and the oh-so English vocals of both Mont Campbell and Steve Hillage, this album is a real treat.
The album starts off with the short and efficient “Garden of Earthly Delights”, a track driven by Stewart’s organ and alternating verses sung by Hillage and Campbell. It is an incredible track that gets things off to an energetic and decidedly English beginning. “Azathoth” brings things down a bit, featuring haunting church organ and distant vocals from Hillage. Moving at a slow, stately pace, one hardly expects the organ-noise, which erupts halfway through before falling back into its hymnal melody. “Queen St. Gang” is an understated instrumental which continues much in the vein of “Azathoth”, slowly churning along but progressing beautifully all the while. “Leg” is a bit less successful than the previous three tracks, delving into blues and away from the delicious psychedelia. It reminds of Jethro Tull circa 1968-69 with organ instead of guitar.
The album concludes with two lengthy jams, “Clean Innocent Fun” which is pretty good, though derivative. The second jam, the sixteen minute monster, “Metempsychosis” is in par with any 60s Pink Floyd instrumental in terms of madness. It slowly moves along, gaining momentum, and Hillage and Stewart in tandem are both ugly and hypnotic in this piece. It finally concludes with some distorted organ. Apparently the band watched the clock during the whole jam and only played until they had an album filled. The song is incredible however, but takes a few listens. True, experimental psychedelia at its most acid laced.
This is a good and energetic record. It shows just how talented these young kids were at the time, barely out of high school. Highly recommended to fans of psych, space, blues and canterbury, it hits all of the bases.
Line-up:
- Clive Brooks / drums
- Mont Campbell / bass, vocals
- Dave Stewart / organ
- Steve Hillage / guitar, vocals
Track List:
01. Garden of Earthly Delights – 2:45
02. Azathoth – 4:21
03. Queen St. Gang – 4:25
04. Leg – 5:40
05. Clean Innocent Fun – 10:23
06. Metempsychosis – 16:38
Link in comments.
