Review: The Tea Party 'Blood Moon Rising (hard rock)

Join Pete Pardo for a review of the new album from Canadian hard rock act The Tea Party, 'Blood Moon Rising'. #theteaparty

[elfensteen]

Hi Pete, great to hear a new "The Tea Party" album came out, I did not know it.. always loved this band over the last 25 years or so, I think they are famous in Australia
don't know in Europe or here in the Netherlands, the albums came out, always made it here in the record shops.. I listen a lot to the "Interzone Mantras" from 2001, latley
thanks for the review !

[ericporter]

Wow Pete, that's a ringing endorsement with a 4.5 star review!

[carlarmou]

Great review Pete. It's one of the most interesting bands ever. By the way, dunno it's just because of the music, but you look younger and more full of energy lately. Stay safe and take care. Looking forward to watching your review of An hour before it's dark

[jeffreyheise]

Heard of the band. Never heard their music. That's gotta change, 'cause this sounds like something I would like. Thanks for the review.

[tommysebastianhalseth]

I love The Tea Party, I got all their records and the Jeff Martin’s solo

[petertaylorson]

Be interesting to hear your ranking Pete. I've really enjoyed their last three albums particularly, although for some reason, Seven Circles seems to get some flack from some long term fans - can't see why personally - damn fine album.

[the_real_schopenhauer]

I can only recommend listening to the first seven Tea Party albums from Splendor Solis to Seven Circles that they released in the nineties to early 00s. They're absolutely amazing and legendary. Their newer material after their hiatus can't live up to it, sadly. At least imho.

[wolf]

The Tea Party's a good band. I really like Triptych, The Ocean At The End, Splendor Solis, The Edges Of Twilight, The Interzone Mantras & their self-titled debut. Their collection Tangents: The Tea Party Collection is also pretty good. Having said that this one doesn't really appeal to me that much. To me this is maybe equal to Transmission, a bit below Icon & slightly better than Seven Circles, Alhambra & Angels (CDS). I guess there's my album ranking too (I don't have their 3 live albums or their Capitol Demo record)....As Pete said this band covers multiple styles including blues/rock, pop, some proggy stuff & Moroccan-influenced stuff (via Led Zep) referred to as "Moroccan roll". I stay away from their Industrial tunes. On their debut there's even stuff that sounds like Jefferson Airplane or "Season Of The Witch" & late 60's/early 70's psyche....

So for Blood Moon Rising, I don't go for the vocals on the first two tracks. "Summertime" is an OK tune, their cover of "Out On The Tiles" is for me a throw-away, so are the other two covers - note I have the expanded edition with a few extra tracks added. The title track is country-ish (?). The rest is so-so, my favorite track is "Our Love". This is not their best record by a mile, if you're new to Tea Party then I wouldn't start with this album or make too many judgements about the band based on this record. Some of their tunes have definite Led Zep references & there's also a direct connection to Jimmy Page (besides touring with Roy Harper) - they met & toured with Page/Plant around the time of Transmission & Jeff Martin reportedly recorded a bunch of tracks with Page.

Best release for me so far this year (by quite a bit) is the new Flower Kings' By Royal Decree, great record! Other notables:

D'Virgilio, Morse & Jennings/Troika
Fish/The Last Straw
Forenzics/Shades And Echoes
Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side/Miles From Nowhere
Kraemer/All The Way
Magnum/The Monster Roars
The Neptune Power Federation/Le Demon De L'amour
Simon Phillips/Protocol V
Steve Vai/Inviolate
Vast Conduit/Always Be There
Big Big Train/Welcome To The Planet

A few I'm a bit less high on (but still digesting):

Urge Overkill/Oui
Spoon/Lucifer On The Sofa
Micki Free/Turquoise Blue
Joan Osborne/Radio Waves
Guided By Voices/Crystal Nuns Cathedral
Eric Gales Band/Crown

Looks like 2022 will be a good year for new music...