Zappa was an influence on English musicians (see Hugh Hopper's Facelift, in 7/4) as was Dave Brubeck (The NIce's Rondo. anyone?) The English added a particular tilt to it.
I've loved this song for a long time. It's one of the best commentaries about playing prog, and it's almost before prog. All I have is a very muffled cassette. The album has been very hard to find, sadly.
They played progressive music. Dave Stewart when on to many better things from Hatfield and the North and Bill Bruford. Mont Campell played some and ot involved in teaching and other aspects of music. Not sure what exactly the drummer did. He is excellent though.
By the late 1970's Art Rock or Progressive Rock was being shunned by the industry. Also fans were changing
It was more or less just a change in tides within the media. Certain journalists had decided to conspire against Prog Rock and began to bolster the ratings of Punk-Rock acts that had arisen sometime in the mid-70's. Despite this, progressive rock still had a large fanbase throughout the 70's to mid-80's, with many acts and new album releases from several artists within the Prog-Rock genre keeping up with the 'Top Ten' charts.
My original comment referred to their lack of mainstream recognition
[continuation] ... in comparison to other prog-rock groups and artists that were continuing to produce music regardless of the trends that had turned an eye away from them.
I agree with you to a point. Genesis is a good example of a Prog band that, for a while, managed to balance two idioms. Other band just sold out like Yes, and Kansas. It's always been about sales for record companies and not the art of music. The few exceptions and Cuneifirm & ReR records. But even they are begining to sound Mundane to me.
As do I. I'm a fan of both progressive music and punk-rock, among other genres. I recall a documentary conducted by the BBC on progressive-rock, it had a lot of incites and commentary from various prog-rock artists from the time, including that of Mont Campbell, surrounding the history and lore of prog. I believe it's called 'BBC Prog Rock Britannia'.
@PabzGLRP I knew these guys and they really were not into the commercial scene, they simply wanted to explore where their music took them. The interest in unusual time signatures stemmed from their respect for, and the influence of, Soft Machine.
It actually becomes quite easy after a while. Once you learn to stack twos and threes together you can hammer out any odd time signature you like.
@whoopjohn - Hmmm - don't know about the time signature thing being easy - I thought they were a really clever band and no other band has attempted what they did with the time signatures. I love Soft Machine - and they did have strange time signatures - but they were a lot easier to rock along to on the drums and nowhere near the nightmare that Clive Brooks had to face with this lot.
@NeilThompson30 How about the Dave Brubeck quartet, with Take 5 and a host of other songs in 9/8, 7/4, 11/4, 13/4 etc. Once you start to count dinga-diggety, dinga-dinga-diggety, diggety-diggety-dinga you can stack up any combinations.
@whoopjohn - fairplay but Take Five is a hell of a lot easier to play than any Egg track. It's in 5 time all the way. The mad thing about Egg is that every bar would be in a different time to the one before and no other group has done that. I personally think they got all their influences - Bartok, Holst, Stravinsky, Soft Machine, The Nice and (for Mont's vocal tracks, especially I will be absorbed) The Peddlers (who they used to gig with) - mixed this all up and added their madness to it.
@NeilThompson30 I think Zappa exceeded the complexity of Egg, especially with different time signatures playing at the same time. Quite capable at changing signature from one bar to the next also.
@NeilThompson30 I have to disagree, Sir. Ever listen to National Health? There were two former members of Egg and they did some really crazy things with time signatures, like 25/8.
I'm looking for Seven is A Jolly Good Time cd,this is a great album
hudent 5 months ago
Oh my god I love it...
Kitarasti 6 months ago
Zappa was an influence on English musicians (see Hugh Hopper's Facelift, in 7/4) as was Dave Brubeck (The NIce's Rondo. anyone?) The English added a particular tilt to it.
GaryXGomes 8 months ago
Brilliant and funny.
tekalynn 9 months ago
What a great song!!!!!!!
timeabstract 10 months ago
Great song,...love this band
tabtrader 1 year ago
Crazy time changes...amazing.
OrisLover 2 years ago 2
Love the B side of this single also (that actually came out in 1969, well before the first album) - a brilliant track called "You Are All Princes".
Possibly the best track Egg ever did (and with a killer Dave Stewart harpsichord solo!) its the very definition of sixties keyboard prog for me.
Unhalfbricked 2 years ago 3
I've loved this song for a long time. It's one of the best commentaries about playing prog, and it's almost before prog. All I have is a very muffled cassette. The album has been very hard to find, sadly.
wardka 2 years ago
Egg were such a creative group, too bad their career didn't take off - blame poor marketing I suppose.
PabzGLRP 2 years ago 8
They were marketed by Decca's Deram Records.
They played progressive music. Dave Stewart when on to many better things from Hatfield and the North and Bill Bruford. Mont Campell played some and ot involved in teaching and other aspects of music. Not sure what exactly the drummer did. He is excellent though.
By the late 1970's Art Rock or Progressive Rock was being shunned by the industry. Also fans were changing
Beadbud5000 2 years ago
It was more or less just a change in tides within the media. Certain journalists had decided to conspire against Prog Rock and began to bolster the ratings of Punk-Rock acts that had arisen sometime in the mid-70's. Despite this, progressive rock still had a large fanbase throughout the 70's to mid-80's, with many acts and new album releases from several artists within the Prog-Rock genre keeping up with the 'Top Ten' charts.
My original comment referred to their lack of mainstream recognition
PabzGLRP 2 years ago
[continuation] ... in comparison to other prog-rock groups and artists that were continuing to produce music regardless of the trends that had turned an eye away from them.
PabzGLRP 2 years ago
I agree with you to a point. Genesis is a good example of a Prog band that, for a while, managed to balance two idioms. Other band just sold out like Yes, and Kansas. It's always been about sales for record companies and not the art of music. The few exceptions and Cuneifirm & ReR records. But even they are begining to sound Mundane to me.
I likewd some late 70's and early 80's punk!
Beadbud5000 2 years ago
As do I. I'm a fan of both progressive music and punk-rock, among other genres. I recall a documentary conducted by the BBC on progressive-rock, it had a lot of incites and commentary from various prog-rock artists from the time, including that of Mont Campbell, surrounding the history and lore of prog. I believe it's called 'BBC Prog Rock Britannia'.
PabzGLRP 2 years ago 2
I found the web site. It won't play on my PC. The site gives the message "Only can view in the U. K.
Beadbud5000 2 years ago
@PabzGLRP I knew these guys and they really were not into the commercial scene, they simply wanted to explore where their music took them. The interest in unusual time signatures stemmed from their respect for, and the influence of, Soft Machine.
It actually becomes quite easy after a while. Once you learn to stack twos and threes together you can hammer out any odd time signature you like.
whoopjohn 1 year ago
@whoopjohn - Hmmm - don't know about the time signature thing being easy - I thought they were a really clever band and no other band has attempted what they did with the time signatures. I love Soft Machine - and they did have strange time signatures - but they were a lot easier to rock along to on the drums and nowhere near the nightmare that Clive Brooks had to face with this lot.
NeilThompson30 1 year ago
@NeilThompson30 How about the Dave Brubeck quartet, with Take 5 and a host of other songs in 9/8, 7/4, 11/4, 13/4 etc. Once you start to count dinga-diggety, dinga-dinga-diggety, diggety-diggety-dinga you can stack up any combinations.
whoopjohn 1 year ago
@whoopjohn - fairplay but Take Five is a hell of a lot easier to play than any Egg track. It's in 5 time all the way. The mad thing about Egg is that every bar would be in a different time to the one before and no other group has done that. I personally think they got all their influences - Bartok, Holst, Stravinsky, Soft Machine, The Nice and (for Mont's vocal tracks, especially I will be absorbed) The Peddlers (who they used to gig with) - mixed this all up and added their madness to it.
NeilThompson30 1 year ago
@NeilThompson30 I think Zappa exceeded the complexity of Egg, especially with different time signatures playing at the same time. Quite capable at changing signature from one bar to the next also.
whoopjohn 1 year ago
@NeilThompson30 I have to disagree, Sir. Ever listen to National Health? There were two former members of Egg and they did some really crazy things with time signatures, like 25/8.
dharmaseed 10 months ago
I love music Written In odd time signatures. Its cool That someone else thought so too,and wrote a song about it. This is Awesome.
Highly Original ! 5*
Bassoonandsax 2 years ago 12
Got to check out The Polite Force, Egg's second album.Much better from 1970!
Beadbud5000 2 years ago
Mmmmmm.....a right ol' Thraper of a track.
FreddieSausage 2 years ago
awesome!!!
dandelionchildren 2 years ago