There are one or two tunes that feature Allan playing violin which are very proggish. I've got to listen to that again.

Dick, I found the Ollie Hassell Tempest to be superior to the Holdsworth era. The songs seem more timeless. Allan said the Tempest recording was his attempt to be the new "Cream." ha ha Allan's got a rich sense of humor.

[q]There are one or two tunes that feature Allan playing violin which are very proggish. I've got to listen to that again.[/q]

Upon Tomorrow is the best of those, I think...

danbo wrote: There are one or two tunes that feature Allan playing violin which are very proggish. I've got to listen to that again. Dick, I found the Ollie Hassell Tempest to be superior to the Holdsworth era. The songs seem more timeless. Allan said the Tempest recording was his attempt to be the new "Cream." ha ha Allan's got a rich sense of humor.

Somebody gave me a burn of the boot, Tempest: Radio One In Concert* with both Holdworth and Hassell in the line-up. This is ideal with the  two in action together, to make comparisons. People have accused Hassell of being an idiot savage, and sited this radio recording as an example.  Hassell apparently was not the best of "conversationalists" but could  pick up an instrument and learn to play it remarkably quickly. On this recording there is another of his talents displayed: apparently he walked in uninvited, listened to the band rehearsing for an hour and then played with them, sounding a note perfect copy of Holdsworth. Hiseman asked him to join the band within 2 hours of meeting Hassell (LOL: I supposed as jazz rock Wishbone Ash with the two lead guitars) and they did the BBC show 36 hours later: by then Hassell was sounding better than Holdsworth. Holdsworth left very soon afterwards.

BTW, try to find a CD compilation of the British pop/rock band Timebox issued by Deram - the band folded only to become Patto. In Timebox Hassell mostly played the vibraphone - I once saw Timebox in action; live they were considerably more into jazzrock/progressive music than their recordings now suggest - Hassell at the end of the gig did a Kieth Moon with the vibes!!!! BTW Hassell can also be heard supplying some of the guitarwork on the soundtrack of "The Rutles" DVD - John Halsey, who did the Ringo part in the movie was also in Timebox and Patto.

*We live in hope that the BBC will get round to releasing this recording - there have been rumours. Equally many of us would dearly like to see Bruford's "Rock Goes To College" issued at least on CD, if not DVD (there are boots of both formats floating about). There is a precedent: the BBC 4 Digital TV Channel replayed the Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters "Rock Goes To College" recording last Autumn.

I got hold of the 2cd Tempest 'Under The Blossom' yesterday, and it's a great set, but I must say I prefer the first album overall- Paul Williams is a much more powerful vocalist than Mark Clarke.

The second disc though, is arguably better than both albums, featuring these aforementioned BBC sessions. I think Ollie Halsall appears to be the better guitarist at this time- I recognise his awesome style from the 'Patto' album. I actually think Patto should definitely be on this site- under jazz rock maybe? The sleevenotes of the first album points out they are a jazz rock group I think.

However, there was something that intrigued me about the track 'Upon Tomorrow' on the first Tempest album. I'd actually heard this song played by Colosseum on a (I think) Beat Club session on the Colosseum DVD 'Colosseum Lives' on Angel Air. The song is credited to Hiseman/ Clempson, leading me to wonder whether a fourth Colosseum studio album was ever considered, as there were other leftovers like 'Jumping Off The Sun' from the same era.