Formed by Mark Clarke and Jon Hiseman after the demise of jazz-rockers Colosseum. Their original vocalist, Paul Williams, had previously played with Zoot Money, John Mayall and Juicy Lucy. This line-up recorded 'Jon Hiseman's Tempest' and toured mostly on the continent and opened for Rory Gallagher in the U.S. Williams left in June 1973 followed by Holdsworth a month later. Holdsworth went on to play for Soft Machine and was later part of Level 42. In the interim Ollie Halsall was brought in on guitar, and their first BBC live performance captured the change in line-up with Williams, Holdsworth and Halsall performing together. Halsall went on to play with John Otway.
Tempest at the Reading Festival in August 1973 and recorded 'Living In Fear' before splitting in mid-1974. A year later Hiseman formed Colosseum II. Earlier, Mark Clarke was briefly in Uriah Heep.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a newly remastered edition of the debut album by Tempest, the group formed in 1972 by Colosseum drummer Jon Hiseman. Upon the demise of Hiseman's previous group he formed the muscular outfit Tempest with Colosseum bassist Mark Clarke, guitarist Allan Holdsworth and vocalist and keyboard player Paul Williams. The band's debut album, originally released by Bronze Records in 1973, was a fine work and featured exemplary musicianship from the quartet. This Esoteric Recordings edition has been newly remastered and restores the albums original elaborate artwork.

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…

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!

Though short-lived, Tempest left an interesting legacy of blues-rock that was tinged with psychedelic influences and a bit of foreshadowing the emergence of glam in the U.K. This two-disc set takes the full recordings of Tempest's lone two releases and puts them on one disc. Hard-rocking as any of their peers, Tempest also brought a jazzier side to their sound, no doubt in part to Allan Holdsworth's involvement. The second disc contains two previously unreleased tunes and the much in-demand BBC sessions that have been traded with great frequency (and of much lower quality) by collectors…