Saturday 18 March 2023

Egg – "BBC Sessions And More (1968-1972)"


Eggs are an essential part of the modern Diet, and so are Prog Royalty Egg,served gloomy side up ,raw ,for your full English Breakfast.....No Black Pudding here however, as this stuff is as White as you can get.
The following statement of fact will make yer average Q-Anon cowboy twat vomit up his early morning Grits,but ,and once again, thank fuck for the BBC and the much maligned "Deep state" (who of course own the Beeb....not).Y'know WOT...they,yes 'They' can have it (da world).Which do you prefer? Living under the yoke of some fantastic secret world government running everything, or Egg?....I know which one i'd prefer....pssst,it begins with an 'E'.
 Despite having wiped a few medium sized warehouses of classic TV shows and Radio Sessions from a famously myopic period in popular culture before 68',they came good and preserved most of what was then becoming clear as a Golden age, even a  new Renaissance of the Arts.
Egg were one of those bands that one had heard of yet never bought their records. Obviously very talented musicians,they could play in any dodgy time signature one could care to mention....13/12 anyone?
Of course, this kinda talk is a real turn off for the ladies,or anyone non-binary,which seems to be everyone these days,so there's no great prospect of Egg making a comeback.Not that they'd want to,as the prospect of endless touring playing for static spotty longhairs,earning fuck all money, and never getting laid is a great reason for Punk Rock. However, as has now been well documented, most of the first wave of UK Punx were all into Egg,and in fact anything Prog as it turned out. The second wave were somewhat different,and stupider,so we get Sham 69, UK Subs and The Exploited.
EGG - extolling the benefits of a woolly sweater,and putting a brave face on not getting any (Adult) lady action  

You may have noticed the droning voice of a late Paedo-DJ introducing "Long Piece part 3" ,no not Jimmy Savile,the other one that got away with it by dying,whom is somewhat idolised by sad trainspotters comme moi,everywhere.He manages not to mention School Girls on this appearance,in reverence to Egg;but any proof you want can be found in his Biography,and on the cover of the Ruts "The Crack" LP; but like Glitter,one must separate the wheat from the chaff,and the man from the music. I hear the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury has now been re-named....don't wanna upset anyone who's middle-class now would we?
The last three tracks are in fact the pre and post Egg band Uriel/Arzachel, with Canterbury chum, Steve Hillage.A project put on Ice while Hillage was on University duty.The first 11 tracks are actually EGG,and markedly superior, no offence to Steven intended.
Would love to imagine a collaboration between Egg and Egg,Eggs,or even those Lovely Eggs? There being a small 50 year musical gap between the suggested incumbents. Noticing the terrible attempts at humour,on tracks 4 and 9,these more 'modern' type bands could certainly help out in that department. That's another thing the ladies,binary ones, or non-Binary ones,require in a sexual partner which,in lonely hearts app speak,a GSOH!
This acronym does however get trumped by a.... Ferrari of course.Sorry to be cynical (again!) but its a set in stone fact.

Notes for the very sad:
Tracks 1-3 recorded for BBC 'Sound Of The Seventies' on 22nd February 1972.
Track 4 recorded for BBC 'Sound Of The Seventies' on 13th March 1972.
Tracks 5 & 7 recorded live for BBC 'In Concert' on 4th February 1971.
Tracks 9-10 recorded for BBC 'Top Gear' on 5th September 1969.
Track 11 recorded live at Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London, 22nd February 1971.
Tracks 12-14 recorded at Studio 19, London in November 1968 as Uriel(otherwise known as Arzachel when Steve Hillage was around).

Tracklist:

1 Germ Patrol 5:30
2 Enneagram 8:45
3 Wring Out The Ground (Loosely Now) 7:57
4 There's No Business Like Show Business 3:12
5 A Visit To Newport Hospital 7:52
6 An Announcement by John Peel 0:31
7 Long Piece No. 3 (Parts 2, 3, 4) 16:38
8 While Growing My Hair 3:43
9 Seven Is A Jolly Good Time 3:05
10 McGillicuddle The Pusillanimous 4:56
11 Saturn 6:22
12 Swooping Bill 3:25
13 Ego Man 4:08
14 The Salesman Song 2:57


17 comments:

parmalee said...

Phil McMullen kindly uploaded every issue of Ptolemaic Terrascope to Issuu, these three containing Dave Stewart's comprehensive histories of Egg, Hatfield and the North, and National Health:

https://issuu.com/terrascope/docs/ptolemaic_terrascope_issue_4
https://issuu.com/terrascope/docs/ptolemaic_terrascope_issue_5
https://issuu.com/terrascope/docs/ptolemaic_terrascope_issue_6

Astute readers will note that Dave Stewart is, in fact, a lot funnier than some of the questionable attempts at humor in Egg and Hatfield might lead one to believe.

This baffled my adolescent mind. Cuz I had these tapes, yet I was also familiar with Stewart's writing (from publications like Keyboard magazine; yeah, lame). I just couldn't reconcile the sophistamucated humor of the latter with stuff like "Poo Poo Extract" or that godawful "There's no business like show business..." crap.

Was Stewart pulling a Cardew, i.e., preaching down to the dumbass proles? I don't think so, cuz if you read the bios you'll discover that Stewart was proper working class, whilst Phil Miller and Pip Pyle (sadly) were the posh ones.

I'd really like some fresh insights into this, as it just doesn't make a whole lotta sense.

p.s. Also, incidentally, I actually did escape from a Rhode Island mental hospital once. Funnily, they actually managed to convince me to go back! (It was just one of those three day "time out" things, nothing major. I'm not like batshit crazy or anything.)

Jonny Zchivago said...

Many Thanks Mr Parma "Don't Call Me Crazy" Lee.
I understand Dave stewart wrote 26000 words on the subject of his former bands.
Comprehensive is the word.
Gives me something to read at least.

Yeah, a rare beast is the working class lad in Canterbury, and prog rock in general actually....all goes to prove the old addage, 'you can't be Posh AND Funny"

parmalee said...

Ha, one of those guys who writes massively boring--yet essential reading, all the same--tomes on prog rock once tried to argue that the "message" of Yes is essentially Marxist. Plenty of Marxists and Maoists in prog, but Yes? Seriously? I suspect that the King of Punk himself--Mr Tony Banks, that is--would beg to differ. (I think all of Yes, except for Bill Bruford, were working class and I believe they enjoyed their riches immensely.)

I think he was the same guy who "argued" that Southern (American, that is) rock bands frequently employ three guitarists because they are inherently lazy.

McCoy South said...

Dave is a decent guy. I think he's just got a lot of muso snobbery in him that sometimes gets a little....drippy.

But speaking of drippy, I mean, damn - he bagged Barbara Gaskin. So like he gives a shit what anybody thinks about him.

Anonymous said...

Cavemen lived shorter lives but at least they did't have to deal with all this acronyms or tags about one's sex life.
Just had to worry about dinosaurs not chewing their (binary?) dicks.
A toast to the axe-wielding, dino-dodging old timers.
And thanks for this record.

Jonny Zchivago said...

Of course you do know that Dino's and Human's did not co-exist?

Richie Muster said...

I hope you don't mind, but i'm going to poach this from you.

Anonymous said...

Of course they didn't co-exist. That's why we´re here.
According to my old lady I'm a caveman and never saw one so far
Danger lurks around the corner if Yes makes a reunion tour though (something very difficult in it's original full line-up)
Keep your axe close and ears open-
And thenks always for the corrosive humour.

Anonymous said...

Minute 3:30 of "A Visit to Hewport hospital"

-"We spent our time avoiding skinheads and the law, it was a freedom like we never felt before"
¿Who said there's no humour in prog?

Anonymous said...

The 'minding my p's and q's' song by Hatfield and The North is another rib-tickler.

Psy Guy said...

Kinda quintessential progressive rock. That organgrinder, omg. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Z,

thanks a lot for this gem and for reconciling me with prog by intoducing me to the wonderful Egg! I even crawled to the darkest part of my cellar to look for my old copy of the Yes Album( still having trouble with the vocals though).

Herr A

northfieldhat said...

There's a guy on bandcamp nailing the egg sound of albums one and two.
Really quite nice.
Kris Geitkowski. Start with Symmetric Communication.

Anonymous said...

@northfieldhat, thanks for the recommondation. Definitly worth getting!

Herr A

Anonymous said...

This looks right up my 11:59pm alley! Many thanks!

Brian

Anonymous said...

I work with a guy who taped Egg live at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. I digitised the tape and it sounds awesome.

Jonny Zchivago said...

Share it with us.