Dirty Linen May 2008

Lief Sorbye Birthday Bash [Magna Carta MA-9093-2 (2007)] 
On March 23, 2007, Celtic rock warrior Lief Sorbye celebrated his 50th birthday at Berkeley's Ashkenaz. 
It was an evening of music with past and present members of his current bands, Tempest and Caliban, and 
his previous associates from Golden Bough in front of an enthusiastic and seemingly well-lubricated 
audience. The evening moves predictably from relatively polite acoustic pieces like "For Three of Us" 
and the unaccompanied vocal harmonies of "Country Life" to tuneful folk-rock tunes like "Handsome Molly" 
and ultimately to my-amp-goes-to-11 workouts like "Slippery Slide" and "Cat in the Corner." The last 
several tunes of the show feature the dueling axes of past and present Tempest lead guitarists Ronan Carroll 
and James Crocker. The end of the disc also features four acoustic tracks from a KPFA radio broadcast 
featuring Sorbye and Caliban/Tempest fiddler Michael Mullen.	(MP)