Based in Newcastle but hailing from across the UK, the Tea Pad Orchestra have released four albums of Western swing, country blues and ragtime before this latest offering.
They add some calypso or boogaloo to the mix here but for the most part they carry on resolutely with their tried and tested formula. Despite the title, the party's not over just yet
The band’s music is pure escapism. The sound is so firmly embedded in old timey American styles that it exists more to celebrate a sense of nostalgia for a world of technicolor Westerns from the fifties than to acknowledge anything remotely contemporary.
The Cajun inspired Snip Shap Shout and Twang-driven Dilly Dally Sally are prime examples of the jump-jiving party mood.
|
The light-hearted tone means that any trouble or strife is the backdrop for humorous quips rather than any profound insights. A damning diagnosis in The Doctor Told Me ,which features the House Of The Black Gardenia brass section, merely convinces the patient to drink himself to an early grave.
This is not an album to recommended for health tips but is ideal listening for those who believe that the 21st Century can go hang.
Tea Pad Orchestra’s website
|
