Verdict: Neo-prog given extra vitality by adding folk rock
More info: www.teafortwo.de
Tea For Two was founded in 1985 by Michael Scumpelt and Oliver Soerup as a blues-folk-jazz duo. Stephan Weber joined in 1987 by which time the band were a 5 piece. The band released an album called "Dream or Reality" in 1993 and a live album in 1996, but called it a day shortly afterwards. The three guys mentioned above got together again in 2001 to record "101". After that they played a few mainly acoustic gigs. Performing the acoustics gigs refined the discipline for stripping material down to it's essence and this was the groundwork for creating this new album.
Opening track, "Spanish Night", is a surprisingly lightweight, even poppy, track drawing on flamenco style guitar flourishes. "Soundscapes" is a neo-prog instrumental track. "Out In The Sun" and later tracks "Autumn" and the instrumental "Scar Folk" are folk-prog tracks that remind me of Jethro Tull.
There is plenty of variety on this album. "Last Drink" is a prime example. It is a late night jazzy piano track that reminds me of one of my favourite pieces of music - Pavane by Jon Lord off his Sarabande album. Like the Jon Lord track, this cool jazz sits pretty far removed from my normal listening genre, but I love it.
For those of you looking for more progressive elements there are tracks such as "Hold On", the Fish era Marillion style of "My Own Way" and the brief instrumental "Why?" leading into closing track "Come What May" which is 7 mins of neo-prog rock.
Neo-prog isn't a genre that I've invested too much time in. However, Tea For Two have added something extra to the genre by adding the folk rock elements creating an album that I enjoyed. Despite the variety on offer here the album gels together well and the band can be proud of their creation.
