Tea Break Over–Back on Your 'Eads!

Tea Break Over–Back on Your 'Eads!
Studio album by If
Released	7 March 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) Tea Break Over–Back on Your 'Eads! (1975) Forgotten Roads: The Best of If (1995)

Tea Break Over–Back on Your 'Eads! is the eighth studio album by British jazz-rock band If. Released on 7 March 1975, it was their final studio album for over 40 years, until the release of If 5 in 2016 following their reunion. Tea Break Over was followed in 1995 by a compilation CD covering tracks from the first three 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 - 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

Personnel

• Geoff Whitehorn - electric and acoustic guitars, lead vocals
• Dick Morrissey - electric & acoustic tenor, alto & soprano saxes; flute
• Gabriel Magno – keyboards, organ, piano, synthesiser
• Walt Monaghan – bass, backing vocals
• Cliff Davies – drums, vibraphone, backing vocals

Guest:

• Carlos Martinez – percussion