The first time I saw them I had to be dragged there kicking and screaming by a young lass who insisted that I was about get a major paradigm shift in what I listened too. Boy was she right! I was utterly mesmerized for the entire show! It was impossible to pick out which of the three was the most talented of the three. Normally, if the drummer ain't Neil Pert, he gets lost in the shuffle for me but THAT DRUMMER!!! OMG he was a powerhouse who utterly demolished that set and was just as fantastic with a pair of bongos!
Around the mid 90s there was a movie about Jim Morrison, how The Tea Party's singer got missed for that gig is an utter crime in my book.
Splendor Solis is in my collection, I hadn't listened to it in awhile until two days ago when my brother requested that I bring him some music to test out his new speakers. I chose three obscure things I knew he had never heard of: Andreas Vollunweider's 'Down To The Moon', Triumvirat's 'Spartacus' and The Tea Party's 'Splendor Solis'.
My brothers system includes some old SpeakerLab K-Horns and he has enough amperage to break windows with those things. Trust me when I say that the neighbors weren't happy but I was in hog heaven...especially when we played The Tea Party's 'Save Me'. (Sorry for the rant I can get overly passionate for music and talented musicians. You would be hard pressed to find three more talented musicians than the three in The Tea Party).