When frontmen part ways with the bands that made them famous, they inevitably follow one of two paths.

Some just draft a bunch of young hired guns and pick up right where they left off (David Lee Roth, come on down!). Others trade in their leather pants and snakeskin boots for jeans and sandals, decamp to a cottage in a foreign country, pick up their acoustic guitar and go all intimate and troubadourish (we're looking at you, Chris Robinson).

One glance at the title of Jeff Martin's Exile and the Kingdom will tell you which option The Tea Party's singer-guitarist chose for his solo debut. If it doesn't, song titles like Where Do We Go From Here and lyrics like, "That crazy life was too much, I felt a bit out of touch" oughta clear up any lingering confusion.

And what goes with all those lines about standing alone and riding the winds of change? You guessed it: Moody folk and blues numbers laced with finger-picked acoustics, gently plucked mandolins, jangly 12-strings, quietly weeping electric guitars and wobbly tabla drums. Yes, Martin still sounds like Jim Morrison jamming with Jimmy Page -- only now they're on a back porch somewhere between Delhi and the Delta (although in actual fact, it was recorded in, yes, the Irish countryside). Only the opening track (and first single) The World is Calling truly harkens back to the grandiose rock of his former band -- and it seems to exist mainly to placate old fans and ease them into the rest of this moody affair.

Whether they're willing to join Martin in the kingdom of his self-imposed exile has yet to be seen.


Either way, though, there's no denying that when you boil it down, this album is only slightly less predictable than another upcoming move in nearly every former frontman's career path: The inevitable cash-in reunion tour.
Sun Rating: 3 out of 5