Free MP3′s of The Armada’s World Music Festival set
The Armada - Live at Womadelaide, 2010
The title pretty much says it all. Womadelaide, a music festival is a hybrid of World Music and Adelaide. This year’s line-up included former Tea Party frontman Jeff Martin with his new band, The Armada. Which, notably, also includes percussionist Wayne P. Sheehy and guitarist Jay Cortez.
The set is currently available for free – in 224 Kbps MP3 format – via the band’s official website (tracks can be downloaded individually, so if there’s any you’d rather skip, you can do so).
Full tracklisting and running time:
- Morocco (6:32)
- The Bazaar (5:10)
- The Rosary / Winter Solstice (10:00)
- Shadows on the Mountainside (7:07)
- Sister Awake (14:24)
- Inanna (3:01)
- Save Me (6:34)
- Black Snake Blues (7:56)
That’s a full hour over 8 individual tracks. I’ve taken a listen to it in its entirety twice so far, and I have to say I’m partial to the included Tea Party classics (of which there are 5 – more if you count the medleys). I wasn’t the biggest fan of Jeff’s solo work, other than the live albums which were exceptional – and the best from that effort, Black Snake Blues, closes the set perfectly. The Armada is a marked improvement, but the first album still hasn’t fully engaged me.
That being said, this set is most definitely worth the download for fans of either or both. For whatever reason, The Armada really hit live and it shows even in these recorded tracks. There’s a few occasions where songs meander and indulge a little bit longer than necessary, which would have been great live but don’t fully translate to the home listening experience. For free, however, that’s an ingracious complaint. Plus, I never get tired of listening to old Tea Party favourites, or – indeed – new interpretations of them. (Listen out for Massive Attack‘s Inertia Creeps on Sister Awake – Jeff’s incantation of that, twice no less, rather resembles a certain famous scene from When Harry Met Sally. Or maybe it’s just me. o.O)
I’m quite sure I’ve mentioned – or at least alluded to – my Tea Party fandom previously. From the first time I heard Drawing Down the Moon and throughout the 90′s, they were much treasured as well as the cause of many a happy memory (on that note, should the boy with the wild curly hair who said “Oh my God! The Tea Party is my favourite band, too!” be reading this, I still want you to teach me to play the piano…) No matter if listening to the old albums, or new versions like this, the songs are timeless – could be why we all, Jeff included, keep going back to them.
S4E
