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To order Steep, send $10.00 (check or money order / postage paid) to:

Top Pop Records
P.O. Box 19272
New Orleans, LA  70179-0272

 

Music Downloads:

Excerpts from Steep by the Tea Sea:

The General Arrives at Just Before Dawn

Ive Been Kissing All the Wrong People










 Punk-pop band Totally Cold performed in New Orleans nightclubs during the summer and fall of 1979.  The band members were guitarists Kevin Radecker and Bert Smith, bassist Rick Connick and drummer Ron Blanchard.  When the band split up in late 1979, Kevin and Bert recruited Vance DeGeneres, Chris Luckette and Barbara Menendez and formed the Cold.  (See Cold 101).   

In 2001 the original Totally Cold members wrote and recorded (as the Tea Sea) a CD of new material.  [Totally Cold = The T.C. = The Tea Sea]

Here are some reviews of Steep by The Tea Sea:

"Steep is steeped in the sort of vintage-sounding guitar pop that draws heavily on Kevin Radecker and Bert Smith's primary influences from the 1960's and 1970's, with a wisp of new wave residue.  The two trade lead vocals on a program of 14 originals and a cover of George Harrison's 'Don't Bother Me'.  Throughout, guitars chime and dissolve into fuzz-tones, harmonies shimmer brightly and songs scoot by in a brisk three minutes or less."

Keith Spera
New Orleans Times-Picayune
July 2001

"Like Drums and Wires-era XTC, The Tea Sea's pop is full of jaunty rhythms and clever wordplay.   "The General Arrives at Just Before Dawn", "Combination" and the odd, surfish "House of Windsor" are particularly strong."

Alex Rawls
Offbeat Magazine
September 2001

"Low key pop from ingratiating New Orleans quartet.  This CD shows some subtle Anglophile leanings, as sources like the Beatles, Squeeze and other Brits surface.  Inventive arrangements and basic melodies that are given little twists make this a hidden gem.  Facets of the gem include the early 60's Merseybeat of 'When Ends Meet', the LMNOP-ish 'Margaret, I Found You All Alone In Your Room', Bert Smith's quietly uneasy vocals on the Zombies-meet-Squeeze 'Zeroes and Exes' and Radecker's composition 'I've Been Kissing All the Wrong People', which is just a classic pop ditty -- the Bacharach horns are a great touch.  This is post-modern pub-pop and a great find."

Mike Bennett
Fufkin.com
April 2002