Good Bye

Flied Egg’s second and final album, the portentously titled GOOD-BYE FLIED EGG, was a far less eclectic and therefore much more artistically successful affair than their debut LP, but it still sucked major big ones overall. Introduced like a live album, complete with MC and audience applause, the record commences with a couple of hard rock gems in ‘Rolling Down The Broadway’ (re-recorded from their debut), Strawberry Path’s ‘Leave Me Woman’ and an artless and punky version of BB King’s ‘Rock Me Baby’ that ploughs the same adolescent furrows as America’s Kiss and Germany’s Tiger B. Smith. However, the listeners’ hopes are soon dashed when side one concludes with a twelve-minute drum solo. On side two, the record somewhat inevitably sinks into the same mire of eclectic Marmalade/Hollies/American Breed overly-orchestrated backwash that Strawberry Path was always guilty of. Indeed, ‘Out to the Sea’ and ‘Goodbye My Friends’ are trite sub-Supertramp sub-Manilow crimes against rock and Off Broadway abortions of the vilest kind, though the future solo career of drummer Hiro Tsunoda would plumb far greater depths (I know, it’s hard to imagine but believe me it’s the truth – if anything I’m being kind). Peculiarly, the final song on GOODBYE is an almost-nine-minutes organ, drums and guitar workout most reminiscent of ‘Rude Awakening’, the epic song that concluded Creedence Clearwater Revival’s PENDULUM LP. Entitled ‘521 Seconds Schizophrenic Symphony’, its overwrought playing and ridiculous title at least brought the curtain down on Flied Egg’s varied career in a manner befitting their lavish pretensions. — Julian Cope.