Tea Break Over–Back on Your 'Eads!

Tea Break Over–Back on Your 'Eads!
Studio album by If
Released	1975
Recorded	July & August 1974 at Pyramid Sounds. Mixed at The Hit Factory.
Genre	Jazz rock Progressive rock
Length	38:58
Label	Capitol Records (US) Gull (UK) Brain (Germany)
Producer	Jon Child, Cliff Davies, Lew Futterman
If chronology
Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces (1974)Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces1974 Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads (1975) Forgotten Roads: The Best of If (1995)Forgotten Roads: The Best of If1995

Tea Break Over–Back on Your 'Eads!, released in 1975, was the eighth and final studio album by British jazz-rock band If. It was followed by compilation CDs covering tracks from the first four LPs featuring the band's previous line-up.

The album reflects the band's more rock-influenced style, perfectly balanced with Dick Morrissey's harsher hard bop/bebop sax playing. The title track "Tea Break", referring to the hardships of being "on the road", is the punch line to an old musicians' joke and contains a tribute to Charlie Parker in the lyrics ("The Bird was the man to be heard" and "The music was the word") as well as in a swirling bebop tenor solo. The "Ballad of the Yessirom Kid", a tribute by the band to Dick Morrissey, finishes with a roaring bebop tenor solo. "Song for Alison" features the flute more than holding its own with a rock accompaniment. The song "Don Quixote" opens with an extensive acoustic Spanish guitar solo by Whitehorn.

Track listing

(LP version^[1] - the CD re-release varies the order slightly)

Side one

1. "Merlin the Magic Man" (Davies) – 5:05
2. "I Had a Friend" (Davies) – 4:30
3. "Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads" (Whitehorn, Davies, Monaghan) – 6:05

Side two

1. "Ballad of the Yessirrom Kid" (Davies) – 5:20
2. "Raw Sewage" (Davies) – 6:13
3. "Song for Alison" (Morrissey) – 3:55
4. "Don Quixote's Masquerade" (Davies) – 7:50

Line-up

• Dick Morrissey - saxophones, flute
• Geoff Whitehorn - electrics and acoustic guitars, vocals
• Gabriel Magno – organ, piano
• Walt Monaghan – bass, vocals
• Cliff Davies – drums, vocals, synthesiser
• Carlos Martinez – percussion

References