| Tea Break Over–Back on Your 'Eads! | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | If |
| Cover: | If_Tea_Break_Over.jpeg |
| 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 |
| Prev Title: | Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces |
| Prev Year: | 1974 |
| Next Year: | 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.
(LP version[1] - the CD re-release varies the order slightly)
Guest: