Midnight on the Reservoir - Tea Leaf Green
John Patrick Gatta
2001-12-19
self-released
Sometimes cover art is thrown together as a means of finishing up the
packaging. Other times it perfectly represents what's going on over the
timespan of a particular disc. For Tea Leaf Green's "Midnight on the
Reservoir" there's a half-man/half-amphibious figure smoking from a long
wooden pipe. It has that "Alice in Wonderland" dreamscape to it, while it also
brings to mind the dangerously potent herb in "Cheech and Chong's Nice
Dreams".
Inside, there's an ink drawing of a man passed out on moonshine as well as
an artistic impression of the quartet as four heads inhabiting one body as
several arms play several instruments.
So, how appropriate is all this? Listening to "Midnight on the Reservoir,"
I'd say the window dressing gives a fairly accurate impression of what to
expect. Still, there is more to TLG than THC-ready groove music that
interweaves keyboards, bass, guitar and drums in a seamless fashion. Oh yeah.
There are the occasional vocals, but the main line in Sex in the 70's ("Mama
tell me about the sex you had in the 70's") just seems better left not to
think about for its disturbing nature. Then again, as evidenced by other
tracks, words to TLG vocalist Trevor Garrod are like stream-of-consciousness
graffiti sprayed upon the wall of sound the band creates.
Actually, what bothers me more about "Sex in the 70's" is how its final
minutes contain the same subtle building progression found in an anonymous Phish tune.
My point is the method still sounds good but TLG displays enough
personality to do without it.
At the midway point, TLG turns over a new leaf (sorry for that) and
presents a few vocal-based numbers. I Believe and Papa's in the Bedroom
are the strongest of the lot not only for their laid-back fluid grooves and
pop craftsmanship but the words contain more of a sense of humanity than the
off-kilter turns of phrase or syllabic jumbles that appear elsewhere. The
immediate switch from instrumental heavy tracks to vocal ones is a bit
unsettling, but I imagine that at this early stage of the band's recording
career, the members' are eager to show off that they've got.
Sleepwalker finishes the album with a sonic representation of the
sleeping character on the cd booklet. It's a nice fade out from the
instrumental explorations and straightforward numbers that proceeded it.
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