An emotional musical tale that has lasted twenty years

Music has played an important part in my life for many years, much of which is reflected in this blog, because it has the power to do things with memory that not much else can.

Correspondences by The Tea Party is a case in point.

Back in 1993 when The Tea Party's second album (that's twenty years ago!) Splendor Solis came out I was buying all my vinyl from the imaginatively named The Record Shop in Fife Road, as did everybody else. I can remember clearly going in to the shop and hearing something playing that I really liked, asking the long-haired man behind the counter who it was and being told that it was The Tea Party and they were a mix of The Doors and Led Zeppelin. I bought the album and agreed with his description.

And two years later I bought their next album, the edge of twilight. The cover says it all really, you do not need to hear the album to know what it sounds like.

For some weeks the anthem Correspondences fuelled my daily dashes down to Winchester where I was working at the time. The lyrics chimed with my circumstances and the music was very powerful. I sang along very loudly and felt much better for doing so.

Then other music came along and, apart from the occasional flash-back, that was it. Until tonight.

One of the bands playing at the Grey Horse Open Mic Night did a song that reminded of the Tea Party and thanks to the technologies in my pocket, iPhone with iTunes, I was able to download Correspondences immediately. Being a cheapskate I paid 79p for a live version from 2012 rather than 99p for the original. The live version is also a little longer at 8:19 minutes.

I've played it three times so far this evening.