Tea and Symphony were a British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

musical group of the late 1960s and early 1970s, whose style may be described as "

progressive folk Progressive folk was originally a type of American folk music that pursued a progressive political agenda. More recently, the term has also been applied to a style of contemporary folk that draws from post-Bob Dylan folk music and adds new lay ...

". From Birmingham, England, they recorded two albums for

Harvest Records Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969. History Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...

, had one track, "Maybe My Mind (With Egg)", included on the Harvest sampler ''

Picnic - A Breath of Fresh Air A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

'', toured Britain with

Bakerloo (Blues Line) Bakerloo (previously The Bakerloo Blues Line) was an English heavy blues-rock trio, established by Staffordshire guitarist David "Clem" Clempson, Terry Poole and others in the late 1960s, at the high point of the influence of The Jimi Hendri ...

and were guests on

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

's BBC radio programme. The group were generally a trio, though sometimes supplemented by extra musicians. Members included Jeff Daw (lead guitar, backing vocals, flute), James Langston (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Nigel Phillips (drums, backing vocals, keyboards, recorder, left 1969), Jonathan Benyon (mime, joined 1968 left 1969), Dave Carroll (guitar, backing vocals, bass, violin, joined 1970, left 1971), Bob Wilson (guitar, keyboards, joined 1969, left 1971), Peter 'Chatters' Chatfield (drums, joined 1970, left 1972), Tom Bennison (bass, French horn, joined & left 1970), Mick Barker (drums, joined 1971), and Stewart Johnson (guitars, vocal, joined 1971). Steve Eaves is another former alumnus. Tea and Symphony were one of the earliest bands to have their own dedicated light show, one of which was Ephemera Lights (Steve Hayes). They broke up in mid-1972, a few months after Wilson, Carroll and later addition drummer, Bob Lamb, had all left in February 1972 to join

The Idle Race ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, which within weeks evolved into The Steve Gibbons Band.

Albums

''An Asylum for the Musically Insane''

LP Harvest SHVL 761 (1969) # "Armchair Theatre" - 3:54 # "Feel How So Cool The Wind" - 3:19 # "Sometime" - 4:14 # "Maybe My Mind (With Egg)" (Jeff Daw) - 3:42 # "The Come On" - 4:30 # "Terror In My Soul" (Jeff Daw, Nigel Phillips) - 6:06 # "Travelling Shoes" (Fred Neil) - 4:25 # "Winter" (James Langston) - 3:19 # "Nothing Will Come To Nothing" (Nigel Phillips) - 6:12 (All tracks written by Jeff Daw except where noted.) Personnel: * Jeff Daw - lead guitar, flute, triangle, vocals * James Langston - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, kazoo, bells, cymbal * Nigel Phillips - drums, recorder, mandolin, organ, piano, vocals with: * Mick Hincks - bass (05) * Bob Lamb - drums (05) *

Clem Clempson David "Clem" Clempson (born 5 September 1949) is an English rock guitarist who has played as a member in a number of bands including Colosseum and Humble Pie. Career Clempson began his career in the late 1960s with the power trio, Bakerloo (o ...

- lead guitar (05) * Ron Chesterman - bass (07) *

Gus Dudgeon Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon (30 September 1942 – 21 July 2002) was an English record producer, who oversaw many of Elton John's most acclaimed recordings, including his commercial breakthrough, "Your Song". Their collaboration led to seven US No ...

- percussion, producer

''Jo Sago''

LP Harvest SHVL 785 (1970) *1) ''Jo Sago - A Play On Music'' (Jeff Daw) including: *a. "Miniature" - 2:01 *b. "Nyada" - 4:06 *c. "Journey" - 1:19 *d. "Brother" - 3:51 *e. "Africa Paprika" - 3:29 *f. "Fairground Suite" - 2:25 *g. "Desperate Oil" - 5:53 *h. "Umbilical Bill" - 0:51 *i. "Goodnight" - 3:33 *2) "Try Your Luck" (Nigel Phillips) - 3:18 *3) "Yourself" (James Langston) - 3:28 *4) "Green Fingered" - Redhanded (Jeff Daw) - 0:54 *5) "Seasons Turn To One" (Jeff Daw) - 3:04 *6) "View To The Sky" (James Langston) - 2:41 *7) "The Nortihorticulturalist" (Nigel Phillips) - 3:26 *8) "Dangling" (Bob Wilson) - 0:59 Personnel: * James Langston - lead vocals, acoustic & 12-string guitars, percussion (died 2021) * Jef Daw - acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, bass guitar, percussion, flute, backing vocals * Bob Wilson - piano, organ, harpsichord, acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, bass guitar, percussion, backing vocals * Nigel Phillips - drums * Mick Hincks - guitar Produced by Tony Cox

References

{{Authority control English progressive rock groups Psychedelic folk groups Harvest Records artists Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands