Tea & Symphony

Originating from Birmingham, England, the exploratory group belonged to the local Big Bear management roster. James Langston on vocals and guitar, Jeff Daw on guitar, and Nigel Phillips handling drums plus ‘exotic’ instruments formed the initial core, though additional players from the same agency—specifically Bob Lamb and Mick Hincks of Locomotive—regularly expanded the lineup. Their first release, An Asylum For The Musically Insane, offered an alluring yet self-indulgent set whose era-specific eccentricity gave way to the more conventional approach of the successor album Jo Sago. By that point guitarists Bob Wilson and Dave Carroll had entered the ever-shifting roster, yet the band dissolved in 1971 once Wilson, Carroll, and drummer Bob Lamb all moved to the Idle Race. Those three musicians stayed together after the group later adopted the name Steve Gibbons Band.