Eggs Over Easy Retrospective

(I should rename this blog "There Is Nothing Wrong With Nepotism!").

My illustrious brother-in-law is Austin de Lone, who is routinely described as 'Legendary'.

'Well, I guess if you stick around long enough, good thing happen,' he tells me.

He is one of the originators of Eggs Over Easy, the scintillating American country rock band who undisputedly started Pub Rock in the early Seventies. For non-afficianados of this prolific band which was made up of Austin (keyboard, guitar and vocals) Jack O'Hara (guitar, bass and vocals) and the late Brien Hopkins, (keyboards, bass, guitar & vocals), read their created detailed entry on Wikipedia!

Austin, Jack and Brien 

This ain't a parochial music column, but I must state here the band, who undisputedly paved the way for the Punk movement had a compelling repertoire of over hundred songs, fifty originals and covers, and during the early Seventies regularly wowed their packed out audiences at the late and lamented Tally Ho club in Kentish Town.

Awed disciples, which included future musical stalwarts like Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Loudoun Wainwright III and the West Coast spawned Huey Lewis worshipped at their musical shrine.

Nick Lowe

Unfortunately, I didn't get my hands on their Good 'n' Cheap vinyl at the time, but now, miraculously on June 24th,Yep records is due to release the entire restored and remastered Good'N'Cheap catalogue.

Elvis Costello

Elvis and Eggs Over Easy

Eggs Over Easy, the criminally overlooked American band that invented pub rock, influenced the careers of artists on both sides of the Atlantic — from Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, to Loudon Wainwright III and Huey Lewis — and laid the groundwork for a grass-roots movement that would spawn UK punk, is finally getting its due with Good ‘n’ Cheap: The Eggs Over Easy Story, a definitive 3xLP/2xCD set to be released June 24 via Yep Roc. 

Huey Lewis 

Loudoun Wainwright III

Additionally, founding band members Jack O’Hara and Austin de Lone have just played a special reunion show at NYC’s Rockwood Stage 3 which reportedly drove their fans old and new mental with enthusiasm. For the first time ever, the entire Eggs Over Easy catalog, lovingly restored and remastered, is available as a deluxe set. 

Included in this collection is the band’s debut album Good ‘n’ Cheap, produced by Link Wray and originally released on A&M Records in 1972; their rarely-heard second LP, Fear of Frying, originally (if barely) released on Lee Michaels’ Squish Records in 1980; two songs from the band’s lone single released on Buffalo Records; and the previously unreleased London ’71 sessions recorded at Olympic Studios, and produced by Animals bassist and Jimi Hendrix producer Chas Chandler. 

The 2xCD package includes a 24-page booklet, and the 3xLP set features an 8-page insert, with extremely rare photos, show flyers, press clippings, musician and writer credits, plus the definitive story of the band by acclaimed music writer Gene Sculatti, who called Good ‘n’ Cheap a “near-masterpiece” when he originally reviewed it for Creem Magazine in 1972. 

Dave Robinson

With roots stretching back to late 1960s Berkeley, CA, the three principals in the Eggs – songwriters Jack O’Hara, Austin de Lone, and Brien Hopkins – were lured to London in 1970 by Chandler with the promise of a record deal and sessions at Olympic. When said deal proved apparitional, the Eggs “did what any American band would do,” recalls Stiff Records co-founder and original Eggs fan Dave Robinson, “They went to the nearest bar and said, ‘Give us your worst night.'” 

Chas Chandler

Which is how Eggs Over Easy leapt onto the pages of pop music history. Their humble Monday night gigs at a former Kentish Town jazz club called the Tally Ho – pub rock ground zero – would become the hub for a new network of artists, venues, and music biz makers and herald a sea change in the direction of underground and eventually popular music. 

“There were hippies there, skinheads, Rastafarians. I remember, most especially, a Sikh bus driver with a turban on and his bus driver uniform dancing away. It was an unbelievable scene with people hanging off the ceilings. There was this fantastic feeling that you were in on something extraordinary.” – Nick Lowe on Eggs Over Easy at The Tally Ho.

 I haven't delved into iTunes for a while but after viewing this 'criminally overlooked' band's explanatory documentary on YouTube, I have pre-ordered the entire Eggs Over Easy catalogue from:
Yep Roc Store Pre-Order: Yep Roc Store

Digital Order from iTunes. (Available from June 24th).