An Asylum For The Musically Insane

Looking back on the frenetic gearshifts and changing pace within the British underground music scene of the late '60s, some records transcend time and place while others become preserved in amber, emblematic of the age in which they first appeared. With its joyous, hedonistic overtones and kaleidoscopic sound, Tea & Symphony's 1969 debut album, originally issued on the fledgling Harvest label, falls proudly into that latter category. With no two tracks quite the same, "An Asylum For The Musically Insane" and its cornucopia of styles and moods, couldn't really hail from any other decade. And though other releases from the same period would ultimately command a greater amount of posterity's attention, Tea & Symphony's first album nevertheless presents a refreshingly different perspective on what was undoubtedly one of the most adventurous and momentous periods in music. Poor sales in 1969 rendered the album as one of the most collectable of Harvest's releases in the 21st Century, with vinyl aficionados prepared to pay hundreds of pounds for the pleasure. Of course the real item of value here is the music rather than the original medium on which it appeared, no matter what price it may command. As Mark Williams noted on his vrowded reviews page in the October's International Times, «possibly the nicest Harvest album to date. A record which maintains a consistent originality throughout its multi-plexity of instrumentations, tempos and musical 'styles'... To pick out specific numbers would be pointless, as they each have so many different facets that eventually the album becomes one huge trip. Very lovely». Lovely indeed. (Sid Smith, March 2015)