The driving force behind the Tea Party, Jeff Martin, may very well be the spiritual lovechild of classic rock icons Jim Morrison and Jimmy Page and as such your tolerance for the Tea Party is very likely dependent on how many times you can listen to Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" played consecutively before either selecting another track from Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" album or choosing to do anything at all else that may avail itself at the time.
The Tea Party, while being a certainly competant group of musicians, are hardly innovative or even remotely original on the music scene. They are clearly a band formed 10 years after their time, in that they would have been most at home going toe-to-toe with Whitesnake in the '80's as being the best Led Zeppelin tribute act ever to score a major recording contract.
Having said all that, it has to be said that these guys know how to market a video compilation DVD. This is an amazing collection of videos. There are multiple audio choices, ranging from the bare bones 2.0 stereo option to the 5.1 surround sound to the DTS 5.1 option to the relatively unheard-of "band commentary" track that allows for band insight for each video included in this collection.
Considering how many successful bands have made their careers via video since 1981 (Duran Duran, anyone?), it is unbelievable how few bands have decided to release compilation DVD's without commentary tracks. The "making of" featurette that is also included with this collection is also particularly insightful and entertaining, and the overall lasting impression I have of this band (whose 1997 album "Transmission" is one of my favorites of the entire decade) is that they obviously appreciate their fans and want to release the best possible package for their benefit.
The Tea Party make good videos and they obviously had a lot of input regarding the release of this DVD. I can't help but wish them the best of success, but this disc is best recommended for die-hard fans of the band; the lack of variety in the Tea Party's overall sound makes it difficult for me to recommend the DVD to anyone who isn't already a fan of the band. |
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