For a review of The Tea Party’s Live in Australia album by Deke at Stick It in Your Ear, click here!
THE TEA PARTY – Transmission (1997 EMI)
Tea Party fans are often split on Transmission. There is little doubt that the previous Edges of Twilight album was a high water mark. With over an hour of exotic and varied folks-blues-rock hybrids, it’s a favourite for many. The band took a stark turn on Transmission, embracing electronics. Jeff Martin produced the album himself, and you could not expect a more opposite album to Twilight. Thanks to the opening single “Temptation”, the album was another hit. Most fans seemed OK with the changes.
At first, it doesn’t seem like anything is unusual in Tea Party land. “Temptation” (the album version anyway) opens with a fair bit of exotic strumming on some sort of stringed instrument, as the Tea Party often do. Then the samples and looped drums kick in, and they are huge! Middle Eastern exotics, radio noise, keyboards and a killer riff all combine with loops to create a new kind of Tea Party. So far so good — the experiment paid off.
Martin had a penchant for odd song titles on this album, like “Army Ants”. Vocals furiously distorted, this makes for a heavier Tea Party. Jeff Burrows is providing some excellent drum backbeats, but at times they are buried under other sounds. The title track “Transmission” is way better though, burning like electronic incense. Static, loops and acoustics return for “Psychopomp”, one of the five singles they released. While it takes a while to get there, “Psychopomp” boasts a powerfully melodramatic chorus, Martin roaring as he does. “Gyroscope” has a spinning sound, one of the more hypnotic tracks (and also a single). One of the more impressive singles was the ballad “Release”. This was eventually given an EP of its own which we’ll look at another time. A basic keyboard/drum ballad, it is simple and bleak but hard to forget. It almost reminds of early 80’s Robert Plant.
There isn’t a lot of variety and distinction between the songs. “Alarum” repeats the formula: Electronic effects, exotic sounds, roared-out chorus. This was the disappointing factor with Transmission. The band had established themselves with a diverse sound, but that sound is narrowed on Transmission. All the same ingredients are there, but they are focused by the electronic lens, which sharpens them but also bleaches them to all one colour. “Babylon” is one of the exceptions, with drum & bass elements, and off-kilter song structure. It was appropriately given a very bizarre music video. An interesting experiment, but not as affective a song as something simpler like “Release”.
The Tea Party had some fun in other ways too. They like hidden bonus tracks, but this time they didn’t stick one at the end. They stuck an instrumental (dubbed “Embryo”) at the end of track 8 (“Babylon”). It’s actually a cool little piece of music.
Since the Tea Party are an ever-evolving band, it was safe to assume they would not stay in the electronics lab forever. Their next album, Triptych, was different again. Transmission remains their most loop-heavy album to date. At least they did it at the right time — The Prodigy’s massive mainstream album The Fat of the Land was released mere months before. The public were ready and hungry for computer-precise beats and samples, and the Tea Party delivered a unique hybrid with their own brand of rock. For the most part, it worked.
3/5 stars
Dude! Thanks for the link….
Fair Review….. I recall at the time of this album’s release that these guys were gonna be one of those bands that was not gonna rehash the same sound. TP were gonna push forward and this being major label album number three it didn’t sound like the other two that came before it!
Cool stuff….
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Also meant to add that I linked your Edges review onto my review as I only meant to do that for the last 3 weeks when I had the review done! Hahaha….call it old age !
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Thanks buddy that’s both of us!
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Other 3 that came before! Don’t forget the first one from 1990! Which I will be digging up soon since there has been so much interest in the Tea Party lately. I’d like to get your live reunion CD.
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I only know the Tea Partys Major Label stuff Mikey so i will look forward to your review!
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A lot of the songs from the first album ended up on Splendor Solis so I’m sure you will dig it. They also covered Train Kept a Rollin on it!
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Cool Stuff did not know that it exsisted!
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Were you and Deke in Tea Party cahoots, or was this another Wayne’s World soundtrack moment of great minds thinking alike? I mean, a day apart? Crazy.
This is a cool write-up that makes me want to re-listen to the album. Transmission was where I started to get off the bus a bit. I loved the first two, and by this one I wasn’t maybe ready for the next part of their growth… which probably isn’t fair, but I was just following my ear.
Yup. Time to revisit. Thanks!
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Deke was inspired by my Edges review…as was I…and we just happened to have reviews ready at the same time! No colluding just coincidence. And I’m sure we will see more this summer as we all dig back to the retro sounds of the 90s!
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Good to see you spanning the Commonwealth, Mike!
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I did?? But I always write about Canadian bands.
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Just like Temptation, Lebrains reviews never let me down.
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Thanks Bop, here’s $10 for saying that.
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No need for money Mike. I do really like Japanese imports though.
;)
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I forgot about Release – well said about the beauty of its simplicity. I love how the made us wait for the chorus until the end!
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How interesting, I’d not heard of these dudes before but I really, really like ‘Babylon’ (sadly not a Faster Pussycat cover though).
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I know eh? And surprisingly the rare bootleg only B-side that only I own called Bathroom Wall is also not a FP cover.
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No way. You’ll be telling me that House of Pain aren’t an Irish rap Faster Pussycat covers band next!
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What? Of course they are. What else would they be?
That movie, Whiplash? It was supposed to be Whipped, and based on FP, but they couldn’t get the rights.
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I quite like what I’ve heard of these folks. Good reviews from you and Deke suggest I need to investigate further pronto. Damn you!
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