This week on Musical Musings: Five of the Best, I’m joined by the erudite Armando Venditti to dig into one of Canada’s most distinctive and criminally under-celebrated rock bands: The Tea Party. Formed in Windsor, Ontario around 1990, the trio of Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows built a sound they cheekily christened “Moroccan roll” — hard rock and blues shot through with sitars, ouds, hurdy-gurdies and Middle Eastern textures, all wrapped around Jeff Martin’s brooding, Jim Morrison-esque baritone. They were huge in Canada and Australia, drew constant comparisons to The Doors and Led Zeppelin, and made records that felt like they’d been dug out of some candlelit alchemist’s library.
Armando’s five trace nearly three decades of that journey — from the bluesy early single “The River” (Splendor Solis, 1993), through the world-music masterpiece “Sister Awake” (The Edges of Twilight), a deep cut in “The Badger,” the electronic reinvention of “Emerald” (Transmission, 1997), and a leap to 2021 for “The Beautiful.” A smart, generous introduction to a band that always aimed higher than the radio ever asked them to.
Tracklist
- The Tea Party — The River — Splendor Solis
- The Tea Party — Sister Awake — Tangents - The Tea Party Collection
- The Tea Party — The Beautiful — Sunshower
- The Tea Party — The Badger — The Edges of Twilight
- The Tea Party — Emerald — Transmission
