Egg eccentrics a Seventies wacko band who would have been worth watching

The Rolling Stones are still with us in Australia. Just. They flit to New Zealand this week. Good luck to ‘em. And by all accounts the shows have been great. I respect them. But as I said, there are more bands that I would have clamoured to see down the years than Mick and the lads. Last time I mooted Alex Harvey and his Scottish cohorts as numero uno. I saw them many times. Onto number two who I never saw. In a word – Egg. A three-piece band who I stumbled upon in my youth by chance and who left a lasting impression. It was a rather highbrow Sunday morning show on BBC2 in 1971 called Anatomy of Pop where I was totally blown away by Dave Stewart, Mont Campbell and Clive Brooks. I was probably eating scrambled eggs on toast at the time when this crazed trio came onto the set. The program featured such names as Michael Parkinson, Frank Zappa and others rambling on about music. It was all rather serious. Like turning musical sounds into a chemistry experiment. But the whizz of Egg did it for me. Keyboards from Stewart whirling and swirling, Campbell’s deadpan vocal delivery. Brooks tapping away in time. Who were these weirdos? I found out that they had just released an album – the Polite Force. So underground it wasn’t even in the shops. I had to order it specially from Cowgill’s record section on Clitheroe’s King Street. How radical. Even now, the cover, which looks like semolina pudding mixed with curry, tells you that you were in for something slightly strange. The intro to “A Visit to Newport Hospital” l was worth the order. And the lyrics – “We spent our time avoiding skinheads and the law, it was a freedom that we never felt before…” Out there. Alas, I never saw ‘em live. I dunno if the Stones crowd would have been into ‘em much. But they were original. Watching the Stones must be like shopping at Woolworths or supporting Man United. Everybody does it. Yet I never saw Egg. I recall they supported fellow oddballs The Groundhogs but I never got there. Later when Stewart was part of Hatfield and the North, I did make it to see his band. At Barbarellas in Birmingham and a gig at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Great days. He even had a number one hit with Barbara Gaskin on a cover of “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.” From manic to mainstream. The early Seventies are too often portrayed as a musical wilderness with the good times only arriving with the ascent of punk in 76/77. But I disagree. It was the epicentre of eccentricity. True, Yes did go over the top with “Tales from Topographic Oceans” but elsewhere there were boundless examples of bands being jangled. Even the Stones were at the peak of their powers. Meanwhile in the album desk of Clitheroe Grammar School we were sharing listenings of such icons as Van der Graf Generator, some support band called Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, Quatermass, Hawkwind and many more. Even the Germans got in on the act with wackos like Amon Duul, Tangerine Dream and Can. A glorious overlooked era. So Egg are my number two. I’ll do three, four and five next time – before the Stones depart completely. A clue – they are all Laaaaandon lads. Meanwhile, check out Egg.