THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY COMPILATION

Mandolas and violins are generously used with interesting percussion rythms and, while the cd sounds, listener can be transported to an old Western "saloon" or to a mountaineers party (do you remember "The Beverly Hillbillies" music?) or, suddenly, melodies can be pure Celtic folk or more progressive a la KANSAS.

The album includes some instrumental funny pieces ("Top of the Hill", "Jenny Nettles" and "The Sleeping Highlander") and a couple of ballads that remember the Cat Stevens style (specially "A Kiss in the Morning Early"), but the highlight is the absolutely progressive gem "The House Carpenter".

"The 10th Anniversary Compilation" is a very nice prog folk album. Recommended.

The somewhat misleadingly titled The 10th Anniversary Compilation is not strictly speaking a compilation. Rather than compiling recordings from various sources, the contents here are re-recorded versions of songs that originally appeared elsewhere, including on the band's three first albums. As these early albums are seemingly impossible to find, The 10th Anniversary Compilation is probably the best substitute on the market. I located it on Spotify.

As I haven't heard the original Tempest versions of these songs, I cannot compare with these re-recorded versions. But I can say that The 10th Anniversary Compilation is up to par with some of this great band's regular studio albums. It is far from being their best and certainly not among their more progressive material, but it is a good album. Prog (Folk) fans will need to start with the brilliant Turn Of The Wheel and a couple of other excellent albums, but the present disc is a worthy addition to any Tempest collection. Had this been listed as a studio album, I would probably have investigated it much earlier than I did.