DREAM OR REALITY

Tea for Two started as the duo of German musicians Oliver Soerup (guitars, bass pedals) and Michael Schumpelt (keyboards, flutes) around 1984 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.They derived their name from the two cups of tea always served by Mrs. Schumpelt at Michael's home, when the two of them were meeting for practice.Initially a project of melodic Pop, Rock and Folk ballads, the duo was joined soon by Stephan Weber on vocals and later drummer Reiner Kraemer and bassist Uwe Haass to form a stable core that would play numerous lives in a certainly proggier style.In 1993 Tea for Two debuted with the self-released album ''Dream Or Reality''.

From the opening 12-min. epic ''Way of Life'' the band's influences become more than evident, sounding extremely close to MARILLION or DEYSS, performing a melodic and lyrical Progressive Rock with an attempt towards symphonic-inclined compositions, featuring smooth guitars and lots of piano/keyboard textures.Musically the album stands at a decent level, but there are two problems that really hurt its true potential.Firstly it is the voice of singer Stephan Weber, who tries hard to be expressive and sensitive, but the result is like a man singing, while someone has grabed him from the nose.Secondly the production's quality is not really on par with the decent music.The mix is hardly acceptable and the instruments sound like if being recorded ''live in studio'', not to mention some plastic-sounding keyboard themes.Still the album has some cool music to offer.This is a Neo Prog album with bits of folky tunes here and there through the presence of lighter, acoustic passages and medieval flutes.The style is both based on melancholic yet theatrical atmospheres and mellow instrumental washes with dreamy synths, mellow pianos and melodic guitars, far from extraordinary but within the acceptable values of the genre.A pair of more bombastic passages with sharper keyboard interludes prooves that the band was actually talented and could have easily thrown a more fair dose of energy into this release.

Many people will reasonably turn their backs to this album and the below average vocal and recording qualities are the main reasons for it.However Neo Prog fanatics will find some interesting moments in this otherwise rather pre-mature Tea for Two release...2.5 stars.