GARFIELDS BIRTHDAY ~ TEA AND SYMPATHY

The alpha and omega from one of Britain's best-kept secrets, these releases demonstrate Britpop is not dead, just tanning on the Dorset beach. Tea and Sympathy combines their late 90s debut single and EP with previously unreleased home demos and studio recordings prior to co-founder James Laming's departure to form Mondo Jet Set. From the jangly, Byrdsy 'Thick Ear' to the XTC goes paisley pop of the Ambulance EP, this is killer acoustic Britpop. And the unreleased tracks are better than most of what did in fact hit the shelves! Elements of The Church ('Better Than Reality'), The House of Love ('Margaret and Stephanie'), Julian Cope during his more lucid moments, Teenage Fanclub and a touch of Billy Bragg ('Old England') combine to create an unbeatable introduction.

Fifteen years on, the band release their second full-lengther, and to quote The Ramones - "Second verse/same as the first"! Let Them Eat Cake was my favourite pop album of 2008, and More Sense Than Money is the perfect sequel, delivering the same gorgeous harmonies, catchy as flypaper melodies, melancholic navel-gazers ('Cambridge'), hummable choruses, and jingly-jangly head nodders ('The Garden Wall') as before. An amazingly warm and fuzzy achievement all around, lads. Encore!

Reviewed in Shindig! by Jeff Penczak, UK

Staying in the West Country (Weymouth in Dorset to be precise) Tea and Sympathy is an overview of early recordings by Garfields Birthday. Featuring mainly songs written by founding members Simon Felton and James Larning (who is no longer in the fold), the album showcases the band’s 90s UK guitar-band influences (Teenage Fanclub for example) as well as traces of a Byrds-like sound and a clear indebtedness to the '59th Street Bridge Song'. The material works best here when it rocks a wee bit and the tracks are given a bit of air, hence the gutsy 'Eye to Eye' is particularly noteworthy as in fact is the rest of what was originally released as the Ambulance EP. The middle part of this compilation and particularly the more acoustic stuff is not quite so impressive (a bit lightweight in parts if I’m honest) yet still proves that the band has a fine ear for melody and is more than capable of crafting a decent song. In all, this is a very pleasing introduction to the accessible and tuneful music of Garfields Birthday. I hope they stick around.

Reviewed in Terrascope by Ian Fraser, UK

British pop group Garfields Birthday have been operating under the radar for well over a decade, leaving barely a ripple in the pool of indie pop. That’s not only a shame, but, on the evidence of Tea and Sympathy, baffling. A collection of remastered early tracks, Tea and Sympathy displays a band with a strong grasp on creamy melody and bittersweet romance, taking gentle guitar pop and giving it a more substantial weight than its soft, breezy veneer would at first lead one to believe. Strong, smart tracks like 'Better Than Reality', 'Sympathy No. 4' and 'Just An Old Flame' stand up nicely to any other British twee pop classics you’d care to name.

'The Filthy Underground' paints its melody with a psychedelic coat for a distinctive highlight; 'The Norm' breaks tradition with fuzz on its guitars and a wry satirical message in its lyrics. 'Old England' takes a melancholy look at home accompanied by an absolutely gorgeous melody. In addition to its individual pleasures, the disk also allows us a glimpse at the band’s progress; assuming that the tracks are presented in chronological order, the group’s strongest work appears at the end. Though not truly indicative of what the band would later become – in large part due to the departure of guitarist / songwriter James Laming after these sessions – Tea and Sympathy is nonetheless a corker of a primer for the work of one of the U.K.’s most underrated pop treasures.

Reviewed at The Big Takeover by Michael Toland, USA