Forwards

A lot of people are going to be very, very excited to hear that The Egg are back. The last regular broadcasts from their strange, funky and very lovely corner of the universe were towards the end of the last century, concluding with a tip top performance at Glastonbury 2000. And then nish, nada, full stop. If ever there was a cult band, it's The Egg, and those of us who followed their antics, their limb-wrigglingly blissful concerts, and their ridiculously contagious Albumen and Travelator albums were gutted and bemused by the silence.

But now they're back. Forwards startles with the variety on offer, from the indie guitar rockin' "Forwards" to the beautiful vocals of Zero 7-collaborator Sophie Barker on the Air-like "Walking Away", from the string'n'piano lusciousness of "Wall" to classic melodic Egg jams such as "Funky Dube". It will come as no surprise to Egg-lovers that when the Big Chill organization took a poll on their web-site to find out which band their festival goers would most like to see at this year's events, The Egg led the field by a distance.