The Polite Force

The Polite Force is the second album by British band Egg, released in 1971. It is often regarded as the band’s best work and displays an advance in compositional maturity which moves away from the lingering psychedelic-pop sensibilities of their debut album toward a more avant-garde instrumental approach. The music is a fine example of early English progressive rock, bearing many similarities to Soft Machine. Although the music of Egg does have occasional singing, it is mostly instrumental and as such relies on tight ensemble playing and interesting thematic and melodic material with extended chordal harmonies and irregular time signatures.

The Polite Force
Studio album by Egg
Released	February 1971
Recorded	May 1970 (Morgan Studios)
Genre	Progressive rock, Canterbury scene, jazz rock
Length	42:20
Label	Deram
Producer	Neil Slaven
Egg chronology
Egg (1970) The Polite Force (1971) The Civil Surface (1974)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Classic Rock	[2]

Track listing

Side One

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"A Visit to Newport Hospital"	Mont Campbell, Dave Stewart	8:19
2.	"Contrasong"	Campbell	4:19
3.	"Boilk"	Stewart	9:15

Side Two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Long Piece No. 3 — Part 1"	Campbell	5:07
2.	"Long Piece No. 3 — Part 2"	Campbell	7:37
3.	"Long Piece No. 3 — Part 3"	Campbell	5:02
4.	"Long Piece No. 3 — Part 4"	Campbell	2:51

The tracks all appear separately with spaces in between them on both the long playing record and the Compact Disc. On the original long playing record from Deram, "Long Piece No. 3" is listed with the four parts. A time of 20:42 is given as the overall length of the piece, with separate incremental lengths of time given for each of the parts. The reference to the side number and tracks therein is the same as the vinyl album. In turn, the compact disc has 7 tracks.

Notes: The song "A Visit to Newport Hospital" tells the story of the band's origin:

There used to be a time when we lived in the van
We used to loon about with Janice, Liz and Ann
Now looking back it seemed to be a happy time
And so we kid ourselves we didn't really mind
The hang-ups and the lack of bread

There were four of us then, the group was Uriel
We played five nights a week at Ryde Castle Hotel
We spent our time avoiding skinheads and the law
It was a freedom that we'd never felt before
And now we're doing this instead

It was a way of life that was completely new
And so we found that we had quite a lot to do
The time passed slowly and each day was much the same
We ate and loved and slept and no one was to blame
For saying things better left unsaid

Personnel

• Dave Stewart - organ, piano, tone generator, orchestron
• Mont Campbell - bass, vocals (1, 2); piano and organ on "Long Piece No. 3 - Part 1"; french horn on "Long Piece No. 3 - Part 2"
• Clive Brooks – drums

Guests

• Henry Lowther - trumpet on "Contrasong"
• Mike Davis - trumpet on "Contrasong"
• Bob Downes - tenor saxophone on "Contrasong"
• Tony Roberts - tenor saxophone on "Contrasong"

References

1. Eder, Bruce. "Egg The Polite Force review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
2. Henderson, Paul (February 2005). "Egg 'The Polite Force'". Classic Rock. 76. London, UK: Future Publishing Ltd. p. 102.

External links

• Lyrics to The Polite Force