TEMPEST - Shapeshifter

Cover Musicians
Tempest - Shapeshifter

Lief Sorbye : lead vocals, acoustic and electric mandolins and octave mandolas, bodhran

Adolfo Lazo : drums, percussion

Ronan Carroll : electric and acoustic guitars, harmony vocals

Mark Skowronek : bass, harmony vocals

Sue Draheim : fiddle, viola, harmony vocals

 

Guest :

Robert Berry : keyboards

Release Label Cat. N° Playing Time Rating
2003 Magna Carta

MAX-9066-2

47:14 -
Website Contact Style

http://www.tempestmusic.com

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Review by
John 'Bobo' Bollenberg

Two years after the band’s “Balance” album, Tempest strikes back with another Robert Berry produced album. This time around only leader Lief Sorbye and drummer Adolfo Lazo remain turning this album more towards a ‘back to the roots’ approach. Not only does the album tend to deliver more acoustic elements due to the arrival of Sue Draheim on vocals and fiddle, some of the music even gets close to the likes of Steelye Span. So don’t expect too many electric guitar interventions as the main ingredients here are mandolin and fiddle. I’d say you don’t have to expect Jethro Tull kind of material but Red Jasper music instead. For sure the collaboration with Robert Berry will still spark some interesting time signatures such as during ‘Catalina island’ which also contains some great basswork but the emphasis will remain with authentic folk. When Lief and Sue’s vocals melt together you really can’t get any folkier than that. ‘Old man and the mill’ perfectly illustrates this story-telling instead of original singing but even the slide guitar can’t compensate for the mediocre nature of this song.

Maybe it’s the arrival of Sue Draheim which steered the band towards it’s pure folk roots again. Sue has played alongside John Renbourn, Richard Thompson and the Albion Band so she sure knows what folk is all about. Lief’s vocals during ‘Natural law’ contain that little bit of Ian Anderson. When violin and guitar play the scales together ‘Byker hill’ does contain a little bit of Kansas magic although when the violin gets a solitary spot it sounds more like Ponty than Robby Steinhardt ! A jig like ‘Coalminers’ which is made out of three traditional Irish ‘reels’, certainly will be a live favourite yet for me it doesn’t really work on this album. Sorry. I’d rather settle for the Norwegian sung ‘Fjellmannjenta’ which apparently is based on a mountain girl with a great appetite for dancing, skiing, food and drink. This song is followed by two instrumentals based on Norwegian traditional fiddle music : ‘Numedalshalling’ and ‘Kafjell’. This is more the kind of material I would associate with Tempest getting close to their previously released material. Maybe the closest to everything they’ve done so far has to be the closing song ‘The cruel brother’ which is a murder ballad as collected by the late professor Francis James Child. Again the actual traditional is followed by three different ‘reels’. To my ears this music also contains elements I find when I listen to a rather unknown band called Roses Amongst Thorns. However although towards the end of this album Tempest seems to get back to the way they sounded on “Balance”, I have to be honest and say that I’m not that impressed with this album. Maybe if they had given it the subtitle of ‘Tempest unplugged’ or something, then maybe I could have understood but as it stands now “Shapeshifter” is the kind of album which could have been delivered by The Albion Band or Steeleye Span for all I care. So the build up towards originality has vanished in one single blow. Back to the drawing board !

Discography Tracklist
1991 Bootleg (Heyday)
1992 Serrated edge (Beacon)
1993 Sunken treasures (Firebird)
1994 Surfing to Mecca (Firebird)
1996 Turn of the wheel (Magna Carta)
1997 The gravel walk (Magna Carta)
1998 The tenth anniversary compilation (Magna Carta)
1999 Live at the Philadelphia Folk Festival 1999 (only available through Tempest)
2001 Balance (Magna Carta)
2003 Shopshifter (Magna Carta)

the band also contribute to the tribute album “To cry you a song” (Magna Carta)

solo albums by singer Lief Sorbye :

1987 Springdans
1994 Across the borders

Caliban is an intimate setting between Lief Sorbye and Michael Mullen :

1998 Caliban (Magna Carta)
 
  1. Tamosher (3’36”)
  2. Catalina island (4’07”)
  3. Old man at the mill (3’39”)
  4. Natural law (3’56”)
  5. Byker hill (3’13”)
  6. Carnival (4’34”)
  7. Coalminers’ (5’01”)
  8. Winter night (4’15”)
  9. Fjellmannjenta (4’48”)
  10. Cruel brother (10’05”)

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Last updated: 23 februari 2004 .
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