Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 14:57:31 -0600 From: "Andrew J. Rozsa" <>
Subject: Re: Colosseum (UK) - Review
A friend from Hungary sent me the avi of a live concert from Cologne in 1994.
Never heard of the group before: UK's Colosseum. I was totally bowled over.
This was musicianship at its best, regardless of genre or era. I bought
several of their albums, including a double-album CD issued in 1990 "Those
Who Are About to Die - Valentyne Suite." The originals were issued in 1969.
They are all available at the German, UK, or American amazon.com.
Some of you purists are going to think, probably, "them boys are playing
blues/jazz, not progressive rock." For the sake of the pleasure of listening
to good music let's let the argument go. Indeed, this is blues, jazz, fusion,
progressive; whatever one may obsess to call it, it's still SUPERB music from
any angle: composition, execution, cohesiveness of play, tunemanship. Very
briefly, these guys popped up in 1968, toured non-stop for about 3 years,
made 5 albums between 1969 and 1971, and then disappeared. Like in, gone!
Then, 23 years later, they got together again, playing as if they never were
separated (and I mean TIGHTLY, reading each other's minds). Went on an
extensive European tour, issued an album and a live video and knocked their
old fans on their keesters, plus created many thousands of new blues prog
fusion addicts. "Tomorrow's Blues" came out in Oct. of 2003, but I have not
heard it yet, so I can't make any comments about it. Pictures from the making
of "TB" are here:
http://www.temple-music.com/public_html/images/colosseum
You can get the new album from the amazon.de at: http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000CE9X6/028-6661006-6718124 There is also a Jon Hiseman side-project, Colosseum II, but I have not had
a chance to listen to any of their stuff. I would expect nothing but delight,
though. Maybe one of you knows about their albums and won't mind telling us
about them. All in all, this is powerfully good music, created and executed by some of
the most wonderful musicians I have ever heard. Styles are original; tunes
are melodic with just a tinge of prog edge. I have heard each of the 3 albums
I own several times and never get tired of them. I wish they were out on
DVD-A, so I could blast my ears through the new ELS system in the TL. I dare anyone of you to listen to a full album and say that this is not
some of the best music of any kind they have ever heard! Totally relevant to
this group, Dave Greenslade's keyboards (and vibes) are brilliant.
Info and pix from the 1994 reunion can be found at: http://www.rockpalastarchiv.de/concert/colo.html Further sites: http://personal.inet.fi/private/tapani.taka/colosseum.htm
http://personal.inet.fi/private/tapani.taka/heckstal.htm Vitaly Menshikov ("Progressor") has a nice and extensive review of Colosseum
II's "Wardance" (1978) at: http://www.progressor.net/review/colosseum_1978.html Even if blues/jazz/prog fussion is not your cup of tea. Do yourself a favor
and watch Dick Heckstall-Smith stick a bunch of brass in his mouth (often
simultaneously) and make some joyful sounds. Also, hear/watch Jon Hiseman do
probably one of the GREATEST drum solo's ever in history of rock, I kid you not.
On the DVD the solo is between 1:12:50 and 1:24:36 (yup, 12 minutes!). The solo
is also Track 8 on the Colosseum Live(s)! Reunion Concert 1994 audio album.
Superb bass solo on Track 3 ("Mandarin" of the 1991 "Those Who Are About to Die
- Valentyne Suite."
Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 16:29:13 -0500 From: David Eric Shur <>
Subject: Colosseum (UK) - Review
> 1994. Never heard of the group before: UK's Colosseum. I was totally bowled
over. > > There is also a Jon Hiseman side-project, Colosseum II, but I have not
> had a chance to listen to any of their stuff. > AndrewR
Colosseum II was an entirely different band. Jon Hiseman enlisted guitarist
Gary Moore (Ireland's Skid Row, Thin Lizzy) and keyboardist Don Airey (Black
Sabbath, and others). The result was a strange but compelling combination of
rock, blues, and fusion. Their first album was called Strange New Flesh. Worth
listening to. It was like the original Colosseum was thrown 100 years into the
future. Even the cover brought that idea across- instead of human playing their
instruements, you had live instruments playing themselves. The whole concept
really worked well. Glad to see Andrew bring up this great group. -David Eric
Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 18:54:49 -0500 From: "Craig Shipley" <>
Subject: RE: Colosseum (UK) - Review
I have the 2-LP?s on CD rew is talking about (just
get it!), plus the three Colosseum II CD?s; ?Strange New Flesh?, ?War Games?
and ?Electric Savage?. The first is the best (IMHO) even though the others
are all instrumental. The albums? closers, ?On Second Thoughts/Winds? is a
kick-ass, take no prisoners, tour-de-force of the band, especially ?Winds? (I
consider ?Winds? as an essential ?70?s prog-rock tune). Two of the tracks
don?t do much for me (?Gemini & Leo? and ?Secret Places? ) but the bookends
of the album more than make up for them. The other two are more fusion and
just don?t have the spark that ?SNF? has, even though the only difference is
that Mike Starr (vox) is MIA (IIRC, guess I need to drag them out again for a
listen?)
I don?t know what the current availability of these CD are: I?ve had all
of them for over ten years and the second and third were Japanese imports. If
you have the choice between the three, go for ?SNF? first.