THE CIVIL SURFACE

Egg's reunion album, originally issued through Virgin records and recently rereleased under licence by Esoteric Recordings, is a bit of an odd bird. As detailed in the Esoteric version's liner notes, which provide a decent history of the band's career, there was never any question of Mont Campbell, Dave Stewart and Clive Brooks resurrecting Egg full time: this album was simply an attempt to record some unreleased Egg songs for posterity before the members returned to their various full-time projects, with a couple of tasteful Mont Campbell-composed wind quartets to pad things out a little.

Although the title is based on a similar pun to that of their previous album (The Civil Surface instead of The Civil Service, like The Polite Force instead of The Police Force), the sound is very different - much more laid-back and relaxed, perhaps reflecting the tone of the recording sessions. Dave Stewart brings along some influences from his day job in Hatfield & the North - there's even a guest appearance from the Northettes, Hatfield's backing singers - and indeed if you didn't know this was an Egg album you might be tempted to guess that this is a collection of long-lost Hatfield demo tapes.

I say demo tapes because there are a few problems with the production. In particular, whilst Clive Brooks' drum work is excellent and a key component of the music, it is mixed far, far too loudly much of the time; Dave Stewart has gone on the record as saying that this was an issue. The problem was especially bad on the Virgin CD reissue, and in fact I didn't like the album when I first encountered it precisely because of that. To my ears, the Esoteric Recordings remaster goes a long way towards correcting the problem, bringing out the true joys of the album for the first time. Many of the songs focus on the interplay between Brooks' drums and Dave Stewart's organ, with Mont Campbell's bass work and other contributions providing a subtle touch. Ex-Uriel bandmate Steve Hillage guests on Wring Out the Ground (Loosely Now), Lindsay Cooper and Tim Hodgkinson of Henry Cow lend a hand on many tracks, and all in all there's an impression of various Canterbury scene luminaries having a good time giving Egg a suitable send-off. Part of me wonders what the songs would have sounded like if Egg had recorded them in 1972; would they really have had this dreamy, Hatfield-like air, or would they have had a bit more of the dark intensity of the Polite Force? We'll never know, although anyone lucky enough to have attended an Egg concert back during the band's lifetime probably have some idea.

While Canterbury fans will doubtless want to get their hands on the album, it's neither the best the scene has to offer, nor a complete waste of time (despite the issues with the mix): it's good, and pleasant, but nothing more than that. Three stars.