Flied Egg: Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Shooting Machine [COSMIC ROCK]

Why you'll love it

This reissue brings back a cult 1972 Japanese rock album in its original stereo mix. Flied Egg mix heavy Hammond organ, blues-driven guitar and prog ambition, with a future guitar star, Masayoshi Takanaka, on bass.

This edition

• Stereo mix
• Single jacket

About the album

Japanese rock in the early 1970s was full of bands soaking up Deep Purple and Uriah Heep and turning them into something stranger, and Flied Egg were one of the best. Guitarist and keyboard player Shigeru Narumo and drummer and singer Hiro Tsunoda had made one album as Strawberry Path in 1971; when a teenage Masayoshi Takanaka joined on bass, they changed the name to Flied Egg, a deliberate pun, and got cooking.

The title track opens with a gritty guitar tone and a big, rubbery bass line. "Rolling Down the Broadway" is pure organ-and-falsetto hard rock, "Burning Fever" stomps, and "Oke-Kus" heads off into keyboard-led prog. "I Love You" adds orchestral strings, "Plastic Fantasy" grooves in a Traffic-like way, and the eight-minute "Guide Me to the Quietness" closes in grand style.

Takanaka went on to become one of Japan's best-loved guitarists, which makes this a very good origin story. Hard rock, prog and a sense of humour about breakfast; we can think of worse ways to start the day.

Also at Kops: more Flied Egg on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Cosmic Rock (cat# COSMRO015), a reissue of the 1972 album.