Edgar Broughton Band - EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND***

Evening Over Rooftops/The Birth/Piece Of My Own/Poppy/Don't Even Know Which Day It Is/House Of Turnabout/Madhatter/Getting Hard (Into)/What Is A Woman For/Thinking Of You/For Doctor Spock

Self titled final chart album from the London blues-rock band headed by Edgar Broughton which features some heavy blues mixed with progressive rock. The cover was not to everyone’s taste. (UK:28)

“A more varied offering, and as such manages to be much easier on the ear. Still pretty heavy in places, but much more melodic with it. Lyrically weird, coupled with some far out guitar playing, this band succeeded in being well ahead of their time.”

“The psychedelic songs all are great, the ones that gravitate to progressive rock are a notch less interesting and the folk motifs I liked least but they are good all the same.”

“Such a brilliant album, which could have been their breakthrough, if not for that horrible tasteless cover, which probably put many people off. On the other hand, commercial success was never on this band's agenda.”

“Considerably more patchy and self-indulgent than previous releases, their third still contains some decent, hard material, despite the use of some strings and horns, which do nothing to aid the cause.”

“Despite its misleading title, this is in fact the Edgar Broughton Band's third album. It is, however, their most commercial. That's not saying a lot, as they never were and never intended to be starlets of the pop charts. They're way too cerebral and provoking for that. That's not to say they're tuneless. Far from it. Get one of Edgar's melodies stuck in your mind and chances are it'll be there for months. But their style and production technique is truly creative.”

“This is one of the truly great records of the period - beautiful, melodic, versatile, intelligent music. In retrospect, Edgar was one of the best and certainly one of the most underrated. The standout song is Evening Over Rooftops with what must be an awesome evocation of storming starlings. The imagery is as powerful as any created in rock lyrics.”

“Lyrically, politics and a need for social justice run through all these songs. It's hard to pick favourite tracks here as the album is pretty cohesive.”