Tempest - 15th Anniversary Collection (2004)

LIMITED EDITION CD BOX SET A chronicle of rare & unreleased studio, radio & live recordings. Almost four hours of music. Includes booklet with color photos, track history and more!

~ Amazon

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"

Before getting to the music, some comments on the packaging/artwork. The 3 CDs and booklet are housed in a cardboard box. The box has a beautiful carving on the cover, very classy and subtle. There is a small booklet included with some nice photos of various incarnations of the band. There's also an excellent essay on the band by Anil Prasad which includes some good quotes from Lief Sorbye and Michael Mullen. Each of the discs is housed in it's own jewel case with complete details of the disc's contents in the appropriate CD booklet. Extremely nice effect on each of the 3 CDs booklets, where they are individually color coded, and have the cover photo in a single color and done almost as a faded photo (I can't explain this very well, but it's very cool).

Overall the sound is amazing, given so many different sources, locations, time periods, and bands, it sounds very consistent. An excellent job of mastering and mixing. Of the 47 tracks, 7 are from the "Celltic Rock" cassette, 3 are from the "Bootleg" CD, and 2 are from the "Sunken Treasures" CD. The other 35 tracks are unreleased alternate takes, radio and live recordings.

The first disc "STUDIO"

This disc opens with the brand new recording of "Masters Of War". The band sounds great, good arrangement, well performed, with an excellent "feel". You get the feeling that the band really is behind the meaning of the song and put forth their best on the recording. The next few tracks "Dance Of the Third Leg", "One Last Cold Kiss", "The Creel", "Same Side Of The Fence" show the early versions of the band to good effect. The next track "Toss The Feathers" introduces the fiddle into the band, very cool previously unreleased track. Early sign of how the band would develop.

The next two tracks, "Queen Of Argyll" and "Milligan's Fancy" are early versions of songs that would develop over the years, but what's amazing is how good these versions from 1989 are. The next track, "Handsome Molly", is a song I'm not particularly fond of, and this version which borders on country & western leaves me cold. I'm sure others will find it a highlight.

The set now jumps forward to more recent alternate takes: 2000's "Between Us", and 2003's "Coalminers'". "Between Us" is a beautiful acoustic duet of Lief and Todd Evans. I think this version is even better than the heavily over dubbed version on "Balance". "Coalminers'" gets the addition of Rob Berry's (producer) drum program. It's an interesting experiment, but doesn't beat the version on "Shapeshifter".

The rest of the disc is more rarities from "Celtic Rock" ("Cat In The Corner", "The Barrow Man", Black Jack Davy", and "Winding Road') and "Sunken Treasures" ("Jenny Nettles") plus the previously unreleased Christmas tune; "Three Ships". It's a one off performance and it appears to be played a bit hesitantly, but certainly a rarity worth having.

Overall this disc is not a great overview of the band (it wasn't designed to be), but does show the how good the early versions of the band were., and how powerful the current band is.

The second disc "RADIO"

I love this disc, there's not a bad version on here, the only flaw I can find is the guitar solo in "Heather On The Moor" is rather pedestrian (compared to Ronan's current playing), not bad, just a bit dull in comparison to everything else. I won't go over track by track, but here's some highlights.

There's a couple of tracks here, "For Three Of Us" and "John Barleycorn" which are really the three man version of the Caliban band (Lief Sorbye, Michael Mullen, and Jay Nania). These are excellent tracks and I'm glad Lief put these on, they really show a nice musical interplay between the musicians. The tracks "Baladi" and "Reels On Fire" are just exquisite fun. You can almost hear the band smiling. "As I Roved Out" is another outstanding track which highlights Sue Draheim's fiddle and harmony vocal.

The third disc "STAGE"

Tempest live, exactly the way this band was meant to be heard. I expected this disc to end with the 15th Anniversary Concert tracks, but instead it opens with those tracks. Foolish me, I thought that was as good as it could get.

The disc opens with "Raggle Taggle Gypsy", "The Ballydesmond Set", and "Captain Morgan" by various members of the early line ups. With little rehearsal, these tracks are great, very few mistakes, and extremely dynamic and enthusiastic playing. Next is the new line up from the same show with "The Cruel Brother". This is Ariane Cap's first show, and she performs like she's always been there, a good feel for the material, but enough individuality, to make her presence known. Also of note is the exceptional fiddle work of Michael Mullen. The is only his second performance since rejoining the band, and he is able to play Sue's parts flawlessly. The last track from this show is "STONEHENGE". Nothing more needs to be said, except what a great job by Ronan Carroll (aka Nigel Tufnel).

The next 2 tracks, "Bonden Og Krеka", "The House Carpenter", come from a show in April 1999. Great performances by the band. Although I don't like Tempest's arrangement of "The House Carpenter", Todd Evans does a powerful version. The next track, "On The Road" serves (in my opinion) as some relief between "The House carpenter" and the following track "The Soul Cages". "On The Road" reminds me of the old tune, "London River". Not a bad track, but also not a strong track.

"The Soul cages" is even stronger than on "Turn Of The Wheel", it also benefits from the stripped down nature of this acoustic live versus studio version. The next track is also an acoustic track from the Freight and Salvage show, "A Kiss In The Morning Early". Great guitar part by Dave Parnall.

The last 4 tracks, "Tamosher", "Green Grow The Rashes", "Top Of The Hill", "The Karfluki Set", are from the 2003 Philadelphia Folk Festival. The energy has been building throughout this disc, these 4 tracks are really killer tracks. The backbone of the band, Adolfo Lazo, drives these tunes like a man possessed. He and Mark Skowronek play as if they are one person, the rhythm section is that tight. Ronan Carroll and Sue Draheim are brilliant, their playing is dynamic and flawless. Both have that knack of not over playing. Sue's fiddle has a wonderful tone.

Lief Sorbye has managed to surround himself with great musicians who can enable his vision while still retaining their individuality. That is an amazing feat. It is clear from listening to this box set that the band has progressed in many ways. The musical prowess, the maturity of playing has been there since the early days, and only gotten better. Lief's contributions as singer and musician give the band focus. As a singer, he has that rare quality that gets you to believe what he is singing (even though he may be doing the song for the 1,000th time). That's a very rare skill, too many performs let you feel that they are going through the motions, Lief never lets you feel that way. Lief's playing (particularly the double neck mandolin) give the band a unique sound. He has managed to surround himself with great musicians who bring out the best in his playing also.

Any Tempest fan should be required to get this box set, it is a great tribute to Lief and the band.

By R. Wieser, Amazon Customer Review

Tempest:

Tempest has a band name that might suggest a group of sneering, leather-wearing, head-banging metal heads, but the group's music is less threatening and more expansive than its name suggests. Tempest plays traditional Celtic music with a rock & roll intensity that's accented by a wide range of influences from the blues to American country music, Cajun 2-steps, and Arabic music, with some old-time San Francisco psychedelic flair. It's a mix bandleader Lief Sorbye calls "Celtodelic". The band's music, live and on record, aims for a blend that's half-traditional and half-contemporary. Sorbye is an amateur folklorist with a wide knowledge of Irish, Norwegian, and other Celtic and related traditions. He knows that if nobody sings the old songs, they'll die, but if a band only plays the old songs, the music gets stale, so Tempest hews close to the honored ethos of folkies everywhere by playing the old tunes in new ways, using traditional melodies for the basis of new songs and composing songs so steeped in older forms that they sound traditional.

Sorbye was born in Oslo, Norway, and started teaching himself guitar when he was seven. He played in rock cover bands in high school and continued to be a rocker until his early twenties, when a friend played him an Incredible String Band album. That vision of folksy psychedelia captivated him. He researched traditional Irish music and played jigs, reels, and ballads, fascinated by the truth and beauty of the old songs. When he couldn't convince his bandmates to "go acoustic," he spent years singing for his supper on the streets of Europe and America before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area.

In Oakland he met Paul Espinoza and Margie Butler, who were also big Incredible String Band fans. The trio started performing as Golden Bough and became a major attraction at folk festivals all over American and Europe, with Sorbye's prowess on guitar, mandolin, and other stringed instruments being one of the bands major draws. After eight years and six albums, Sorbye left Golden Bough and created Tempest, intending to merge the power of Celtic traditions with the drive of folk-rock. The band took its name from an old Irish dance tune "The Tempest Reel." Tempest played their first gig in 1988 and after a few personnel shifts settled down with Sorbye on lead vocals, bouzouki, and electric mandolin, Cuban-born drummer Adolfo Lazo on drums, Rob Wullenjohn on guitar, and Ian Butler on bass. The band's first three self-released albums – Bootleg (1991), Serrated Edge (1992), and Surfing to Mecca (1994) included compositions by Sorbye, Butler, and Wullenjohn, in addition to traditional Irish tunes. On Surfing to Mecca, Lazo began adding Arab and other world music rhythms to his percussive attack. Sorbye also invented a double-necked electric mandolin/mandola to give his solos more range and power.

With a challenging tour schedule, Tempest quickly progressed from a well-known California folk-rock act to an international draw on the folk festival circuit. The band usually logs more than 200 gigs a year at clubs, colleges, and folk festivals. In 1996, fiddler Michael Mullen joined up and the band signed with Magna Carta, a logo distributed by WEA International. The deal helped Tempest raise their international profile. Turn of the Wheel (1996) showed the band adding a metallic attack to their sound, but they returned to a more traditional folk-rock sound on 1997's The Gravel Walk. Throughout its history, the band has experienced many personnel shifts, with Sorbye, Lazo, and Mullen being the most consistent players. Still, their albums and live gigs retain a high level of musicianship marked by the group's inventive arrangements. Balance (2001) added a bit of prog rock to the mix, Shapeshifter (2003) saw them playing some traditional American music alongside their blend of Celtic and Norwegian folk-rock for the first time, and The Double Cross (2006) found tunes from Finland and Scotland on the menu. On 2010's Another Dawn, the band made a crossover move with a cover of the Grass Roots hit "Let's Live for Today" while staying true to their traditional roots with "Jomfru," one of oldest songs in the Norwegian vocal tradition.

Sorbye still plays occasional reunion dates with Golden Bough and also appears with various fiddlers as Caliban, a duo that explores the acoustic side of traditional Celtic and Norwegian music. Since 2006, the band has also been hosting their own Celtic music and arts jamboree, the Karfluki Fest. The 2010 event was put on hold however, due to the American economic downturn of 2009.

~ j. poet, Rovi

Tracklist CD1 - Studio:

1. Masters Of War (2004)
2. Dance Of The Third Leg (1991)
3. One Last Cold Kiss (1989)
4. The Creel (1990)
5. Same Side Of The Fence (1991)
6. Toss The Feathers (1994)
7. Queen Of Argyll (1989)
8. Milligan's Fancy (1989)
9. Handsome Molly (1991)
10. Between Us (2001)
11. Coalminers' (2003)
12. Cat In The Corner (1989)
13. The Barrow Man (1989)
14. Jenny Nettles (1989)
15. Three Ships (1994)
16. Black Jack Davy (1989)
17. Winding Road (1989)










Tracklist CD2 - Radio:

1. Dunmore Lassies (WCBE 1999)
2. One For The Fiddler (WCBE 1999)
3. You Jacobites By Name (WCBE 1999)
4. For Three Of Us (KUOP 1997)
5. John Barleycorn (KUOP 1997)
6. Baladi (WBAI 1992)
7. Whiskey In The Jar (KLCC 1995)
8. Reels On Fire (WCBE 1995)
9. Heather On The Moor (Danish Radio 1999)
10. Buffalo Jump (Danish Radio 1999)
11. Two Sisters (WYSO 2001)
12. Old Man Flint (WCBE 2002)
13. Dancing Girl (WCBE 2002)
14. As I Roved Out (WCBE 2002)
15. Byker Hill (KLCC 2002)
16. Catalina Island (KLCC 2002)










Tracklist CD3 - Stage:

1. Raggle Taggle Gypsy (Davis, CA 2004)
2. The Ballydesmond Set (Davis, CA 2004)
3. Captain Morgan (Davis, CA 2004)
4. Cruel Brother (Davis, CA 2004)
5. Stonehenge (Davis, CA 2004)
6. Bonden Og Kråka (Forth Washington, PA 1999)
7. The House Carpenter (Fort Washington, PA 1999)
8. On The Road (Columbus, OH 1993)
9. The Soul Cages (Berkeley, CA 1999)
10. A Kiss In The Morning Early (Berkeley, CA 1999)
11. Tamosher (Philadelphia Folk Festival 2003)
12. Green Grow The Rashes (Philadelphia Folk Festival 2003)
13. Top Of The Hill (Philadelphia Folk Festival 2003)
14. The Karfluki Set (Philadelphia Folk Festival 2003)






Personnel:

- Lief Sorbye / lead vocals, electric mandolin
- Adolfo Lazo / drums
- Ronan Carroll / guitar
- Ariane Cap / bass
- Michael Mullen / fiddle

With past members:

- Jon Berger / fiddle
- Ian Butler / bass, keyboards
- Danny Carnahan / fiddle
- Sue Draheim / fiddle
- Todd Evans / guitar
- Jim Hurley / fiddle
- John Land / bass
- Joel Mahan / guitar
- William Maxwell / bass
- Jay Narnia / 12 string bass
- Dave Parnall / guitar
- Mark Showalter / bass
- Mark Skowronek / bass
- Rob Wullenjohn / guitar


All thanks go to Uncle Remus