Forse più della ristampa degli antologici Arzachel e The Metronomical Society, di cui certamente possiedono copia già dal 2007, agli appassionati di Egg, Uriel, Arzachel e The Ottawa Company farà piacere quella dell'istruttivo (e divertente) libretto Copious Notes scritto da Dave Stewart - con validi contributi di Mont Campbell e Antony Vinall - proprio per accompagnarne l'uscita. Allora andò subito esaurito, ora però è di nuovo disponibile - come lo sono quei due preziosi cd - presso Burning Shed.
This compact booklet tells the inside story of Uriel, Egg, Arzachel and the Ottawa Company from the formation of Uriel in early 1968 to the making of Egg's final album The Civil Surface in 1974. The text is crammed full of personal memoirs, anecdotes, short stories, random recollections, social observation, period details, musical analysis and song lyrics, as well as a priceless collection of archive photos taken by Terry Yetton and the musicians. An essential read for Canterbury and prog fans, UK music historians and collectors.
"While compiling the sleeve notes for the two Egg archive CDs I asked my colleagues to send me their recollections of the era. Mont Campbell and Antony Vinall (a lifelong friend who was at school with us and wrote some of the Arzachel lyrics) responded so enthusiastically - and in such great detail - that I couldn't bear to hack their contributions down to size to fit the two CD booklets. Instead, I thought it would be nice to create a special booklet to accompany the CDs which would include our unexpurgated memoirs and other related text. That gave me the opportunity to write at length about the music and add my own memoirs. It also meant we could include song lyrics and many more photos of Uriel, Egg and the Ottawa Company taken by Terry Yetton between 1968 and 1972. Copious Notes turned into quite a labour of love - reading it is probably the closest you can get to experiencing the sights, sounds, smells and sensations of our corner of the experimental / underground UK music scene of the late '60s." (Dave Stewart)