Transmission (The Tea Party album)

Last updated
Transmission
Transmissionalbum.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 19, 1997 (1997-08-19)
StudioAlkemical Studios (Montreal), NRG Studios (Los Angeles), Le Studio (Morin Heights)
Genre Industrial rock, hard rock
Length49:34
Label
Producer Jeff Martin
The Tea Party chronology
Alhambra
(1996)
Transmission
(1997)
Triptych
(1999)
Singles from Transmission
  1. "Temptation"
    Released: July 1997
  2. "Babylon"
    Released: September 1997
  3. "Release"
    Released: April 1998
  4. "Psychopomp"
    Released: 1998
  5. "Gyroscope"
    Released: 1998
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg link

Transmission is the fourth album recorded by the Canadian band the Tea Party, released in 1997. AllMusic described the album as "Sounding a lot like a Nine Inch Nails of the north... Full of hard rock thrust with industrial edge". [1]

Contents

While still using several exotic instruments and maintaining the "eastern" influence in the recording, many songs also include samples, sequencers and loops alongside the traditional acoustic instruments. The album makes lyrical references to the afterlife ("Psychopomp"), the dystopian works of Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Yevgeny Zamyatin ("Army Ants") and Giovanni Piranesi's 'Imaginary Prisons' ("Alarum").

Transmission continued to build on the momentum generated by The Edges of Twilight , reaching number 3 on the Canadian album chart, double platinum status in Canada and receiving a 1998 Juno nomination for "Blockbuster Rock Album of the Year". An edited version of the song "Temptation", as well as an instrumental version of "Babylon", can be found on the PlayStation game Road Rash 3D , from the same year.

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Temptation"3:25
2."Army Ants"3:33
3."Psychopomp"5:17
4."Gyroscope"2:56
5."Alarum"4:58
6."Release"4:05
7."Transmission"5:17
8."Babylon"2:50
9."Pulse"4:09
10."Emerald"4:51
11."Aftermath"5:43

Hidden tracks

Transmission contains two hidden pieces of music, both hidden in the pregap:

Personnel

Production

Design

Charts and sales

Chart performance for Transmission
Chart (1997)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [2] 5

Sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada200,000 [3]
United States32,000 [3]

20th anniversary tour

Tx 20
The Tea Party - Tx 20.jpg
EP by
ReleasedOctober 19, 2017
Length17:44
Label Eternal Discs
The Tea Party chronology
The Ocean at the End
(2014)
Tx 20
(2017)
Black River EP
(2019)

In 2017 The Tea Party celebrated the 20th anniversary of Transmission with a world tour and release of a remix EP. The 20 Years of Transmission Tour was promoted on social media through hashtag #tx20. From February 2017 to April 2017 the band played 33 shows across Canada, Buffalo, NY and along the US west coast. [4] Six additional concerts were played in Australia October 27 through November 10, 2017. The Tea Party played Transmission in full, including songs never before played live, [5] then after a break they performed a second set of the band's hit songs." [6] Fans purchasing a concert VIP package could also receive a special limited edition Transmission coffee table book [7] containing a photo essay compiled by band member Stuart Chatwood that covered the album's release period. [5]

Tx 20

Tx 20 is a studio EP by The Tea Party containing four reworked modern versions of songs from Transmission. Preceding the Australian leg of the 20th anniversary world tour, the digital-only release first appeared on Spotify in the Australia region on October 19, 2017. [8] October 27 it was made available worldwide on streaming music services as well as lossless audio and MP3 digital downloads from the band's web site. [9]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Temptation" (Tx 20 Remix)3:29
2."Psychopomp" (Tx 20 Remix)4:57
3."Release" (Tx 20 Remix)4:00
4."Transmission" (Tx 20 Remix)5:18

Related Research Articles

The Tea Party is a Canadian rock band. Active throughout the 1990s and up until 2005, the band re-formed in 2011. The Tea Party released eight albums on EMI Music Canada, selling over three million records worldwide, including four double-platinum awards, one platinum and four gold albums in Canada. Between 1996 and 2016, The Tea Party was the 35th best-selling Canadian artist in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Martin (Canadian musician)</span> Canadian musician (born 1969)

Jeffrey Scott Martin is a Canadian guitarist and singer, best known for fronting the rock band The Tea Party. He began his career as a solo artist in 2005, when The Tea Party went on hiatus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Chatwood</span> Canadian musician

Stuart Chatwood, is a Canadian musician, best known as the bass guitar and keyboard player for the rock band The Tea Party. The Tea Party are known for fusing together musical styles of both the Eastern and Western worlds, in what they call "Moroccan roll". In 2001, Chatwood won a Juno Award for the best artwork for a Tea Party album. Stuart Chatwood is also a composer of video game soundtracks. He composed music that has appeared on the soundtracks for eight Prince of Persia games developed by Ubisoft Montreal: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003), Warrior Within (2004), The Two Thrones (2005), Battles of Prince of Persia (2005), Revelations (2005), Rival Swords (2007), Prince of Persia (2008), and The Fallen King (2008). The series has been very successful, selling in excess of ten million copies worldwide. He also composed the soundtrack for Darkest Dungeon (2016) and its sequel Darkest Dungeon II.

<i>The Edges of Twilight</i> 1995 studio album by The Tea Party

The Edges of Twilight is the third album by Canadian rock band The Tea Party, released in 1995. The album features many instruments from around the world, giving various songs a strong world music flavour in addition to the rock/blues influences evident in the band's earlier releases. Jeff Burrows explained that "basically we wanted to expand upon the initial idea that we tried on Splendor Solis, which was trying to incorporate different styles of world music into our music. So with this album we became more familiar with many more instruments. In our minds we were trying to do for a rock album what Peter Gabriel does to pop by infusing various cultures, percussion and exotic sounds into it."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Burrows</span> Drummer and percussionist

Jeffrey John Burrows is the drummer and percussionist for Canadian rock band Crash Karma, and The Tea Party.

<i>Splendor Solis</i> (album) 1993 studio album by The Tea Party

Splendor Solis is the second album by Canadian rock band The Tea Party, released in 1993 as their first major label release on EMI Music Canada. The album sold very well in Canada, reaching #20 on the Canadian album chart and achieving platinum status in 1994 and earning a Juno nomination for Best Hard Rock Album. The band was also nominated for Best New Group.

<i>Triptych</i> (The Tea Party album) 1999 studio album by The Tea Party

Triptych is The Tea Party's fifth album, released in 1999. It has the trio blending the major influences found on their previous albums: the earthy rock of Splendor Solis, the world music inspired arrangements of The Edges of Twilight, and the industrial edge of Transmission.

<i>The Interzone Mantras</i> 2001 studio album by The Tea Party

The Interzone Mantras is the sixth album by Canadian rock group The Tea Party, released in 2001. Named after William S. Burroughs' book of short stories Interzone and the band's interest in eastern mysticism and esoteric philosophies, the songwriting on The Interzone Mantras builds on the subtle electronica and ballads of Triptych, whilst returning to the familiar territory of their earlier albums with 1970s rock and world music influences. Jeff Martin explained that the album was a return to basics:

"The last two records, Transmission and Triptych, were very much creations of the studio - meticulously built. With this record we felt that we wanted to put a spark of passion underneath our asses.


"So many people have told us that we're this great live rock band, and I just wanted to see if, as producer, I could capture that on this record. I put us in a rehearsal space, the three of us, faced each other with just guitar, bass and drums - no toys - and, you know, 'let's Rock!'" The new approach fired the band up to such an extent that the album was recorded in just twenty days - "unheard of" for The Tea Party, Martin says.

Martin has special praise for drummer Jeff Burrows, who he proudly proclaims to be "THE best rock drummer going", and who did every drum track in one take.

<i>Seven Circles</i> 2004 studio album by The Tea Party

Seven Circles is the seventh studio album by Canadian band The Tea Party, released in 2004. It was the band's last album prior to their split in 2005. The album continues the style of the band's two previous offerings by combining world music influences with rock instrumentation and electronic studio techniques. The album is also one of the band's most positive sounding records, forsaking the dystopian imagery and moody lyrics of past albums, and including several ballads that border on love-song territory. This change in focus has led to both praise and criticism from fans.

<i>The Tea Party</i> (album) 1991 studio album by The Tea Party

The Tea Party (1991) is the first album by the Canadian rock group The Tea Party. It was originally recorded as a demo which the band submitted to several record companies. However, the trio was not signed to any recording contract and decided to release the album independently. The album production is relatively lo-fi and the band re-recorded several of the songs for their major label follow-up Splendor Solis. Only 3,500 copies of the album were made, some of which were cassettes, making the recording collectible to fans. On December 10, 2021, a deluxe remastered edition of the album was released.

<i>Alhambra</i> (EP) 1996 EP by The Tea Party

Alhambra (1996) is an EP by The Tea Party and was used as a bridge between The Edges of Twilight and Transmission albums. It includes four intricately re-worked acoustic songs from The Edges of Twilight and two others; the first a song entitled "Time" with Roy Harper on vocals, the second a remix of "Sister Awake" by Rhys Fulber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fire in the Head</span> 1995 single by The Tea Party

"Fire in the Head" is a song by Canadian rock band The Tea Party. It was released as a single in Australia and a promotional single in Canada, the UK and the USA. The music video, directed by Dean Karr, was shot in Los Angeles while the band were recording The Edges of Twilight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The River (The Tea Party song)</span> 1993 single by The Tea Party

"The River" is a song by Canadian rock band The Tea Party. It was released as a single in Australia and the UK, where it reached #79 in the UK Singles Chart, #99 in Australia, and was a promotional single in Canada and the USA. The music video was shot in Toronto, directed by Floria Sigismondi and features a cameo by Roy Harper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save Me (The Tea Party song)</span> 1993 single by The Tea Party

"Save Me" is a song by Canadian rock band The Tea Party. It was released as a promotional single in Canada. The music video was shot in Toronto, directed by Floria Sigismondi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babylon (The Tea Party song)</span> 1997 single by The Tea Party

"Babylon" is a song by Canadian rock band The Tea Party. It was released as a promotional single in Canada. The music video was shot in Toronto and was unique at the time for being one continuous shot with a single camera.

<i>Live at the Enmore Theatre</i> 1999 live album by The Tea Party

Live at the Enmore Theatre (1999) is a live EP by The Tea Party and is the band's first live release. The EP was released through Australian radio station Triple J in a limited quantity of 100. Recorded live at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney on 7 October 1999, during the band's tour for Triptych, the EP features performances of songs from the album. A string quintet performs with the band on "The Messenger".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyroscope (song)</span> 1998 single by The Tea Party

"Gyroscope" is a song by Canadian rock band The Tea Party. It was released as a promotional single in Australia, Canada and the USA. It received airplay on Australian radio station Triple J.

<i>Live from Australia</i> (The Tea Party album) 2012 live album by The Tea Party

Live From Australia: The Reformation Tour 2012 (2012) is a live album by The Tea Party recorded during the Australian leg of the band's reunion tour. The album was funded and initially released September 15, 2012 through the website PledgeMusic. The album was commercially released November 23, 2012 in Australia and November 27, 2012 in the rest of the world.

<i>The Ocean at the End</i> 2014 studio album by The Tea Party

The Ocean at the End is the eighth studio album by Canadian rock band The Tea Party, released in Canada and Australia on September 8, 2014. It was their first album after the band reunited in 2011. The album comes ten years after their previous album, Seven Circles (2004). It reached number 17 on the Canadian Albums Chart, and entered the ARIA Albums Chart at number 18.

<i>Blood Moon Rising</i> 2021 studio album by The Tea Party

Blood Moon Rising is Canadian Rock band The Tea Party's ninth studio album.

References

  1. Chrispell, James. "Transmission – The Tea Party". AllMusic . Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. "Australiancharts.com – The Tea Party – Transmission". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  3. 1 2 LeBlanc, Larry (August 7, 1999). "Canadian Acts Struggle For U.S. Release". Billboard. p. 54. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  4. "The Tea Party - Tour - previous events" . Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  5. 1 2 Dave Giffiths (October 16, 2017). "The Tea Party In "Transmission" Through Jeff Martin". Heavy Mag. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  6. "The Tea Party 20 Years Into Transmission - Stuart Chatwood interview". girlatarockshow. November 2, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  7. "Stuart Chatwood on Twitter". Twitter. January 3, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  8. "Stuart Chatwood on Twitter". Twitter. October 19, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  9. "The Tea Party on Twitter". Twitter. October 27, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2020.