THE TEA PARTY

Influences very much worn on their sleeves on the very first indie release in 1991 by The Tea Party. Doors, Zeppelin, Cream, Hendrix and english folk rock like Pentangle and John Renbourn. A competent release but a little too retro in the middle of the Seattle grunge scene at the time. Nothing really progressive here except for the extended "Save Me" which has an up down/up down/up down kind of development to it like Deep Purple's "Child In Time". Incredible drumming from Jeff Burrows and guitar arrangements by Jeff Martin. A great passionate vocal delivery by Jeff Martin with a middle eastern vibe. "Winter Solstice" is a sublime instrumental which reminds me of the winter landscape in southern Ontario after a good dumping of snow (the boys coming from the Lasalle/River Canard area). Luckily for The Tea Party, this was the direction they would embrace on their next 2 long players in "Splendor Solis" and "Edge Of Twilight". 2.5 stars for the whole album, 5 stars for "Save Me", 4 stars for "Winter Solstice".