It was inevitable that Egg would be compared with Emerson, Lake & Palmer -- a trio of bass/keyboards/drums with the bassist also singing, coming along at the very end of the 1960s, incorporating serious classical influences (and directed quotations) into their extended pieces.
On their second album, The Polite Force, they try for a higher wattage sound than Emerson, Lake & Palmer, without as high velocity a brand of song.
Dave Stewart's organ playing is as aggressive and melodic as Keith Emerson's, and he accomplishes a lot with less in the way of high-speed histrionics.
That doesn't mean they aren't given to some electronic excesses.
The album is diverting enough in its successful spots to carry the rest of it, but there are some missteps -- including one track dominated by guest horn players -- that were enough to keep this album from being a favorite, even among art-rock fanatics.
Reissued in Japan in the late '90s as part of the Decca/Deram psychedelic retrospective series.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Visit to Newport Hospital | Egg | Play | 08:25 | 19 MB | 44 MB |
| 2 | Contrasong | Egg | Play | 04:23 | 10 MB | 24 MB |
| 3 | Boilk (including: Durch Adams Fall Ist Ganz Verderbt) | Egg | Play | 09:24 | 21 MB | 43 MB |
| 4 | Long Piece No. 3 (Part One) | Egg | Play | 05:07 | 11 MB | 26 MB |
| 5 | Long Piece No. 3 (Part Two) | Egg | Play | 07:37 | 17 MB | 38 MB |
| 6 | Long Piece No. 3 (Part Three) | Egg | Play | 05:02 | 11 MB | 27 MB |
| 7 | Long Piece No. 3 (Part Four) | Egg | Play | 02:52 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 42 mins | 98 MB | |||||
| 42 mins | 220 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clive Brooks | Drums, Group Member |
| 2 | Paschal Byrne | Remastering |
| 3 | Mont Campbell | Bass |
| 4 | Michael Davis | Trumpet |
| 5 | Mike Davis | Trumpet |
| 6 | Bob Downes | Sax (Tenor), Saxophone |
| 7 | Egg | Primary Artist |
| 8 | Henry Lowther | Trumpet |
| 9 | Christopher Palmer | Wind |
| 10 | Mark Powell | Liner Notes, Producer, Reissue Coordination |
| 11 | Neil Slaven | Liner Notes |
| 12 | Phil Smee | Package Design |
| 13 | Stephen Solloway | Flute |
| 14 | Dave Stewart | Keyboards |
Egg
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |