Live

Artist: Colosseum
Label: Castle - Old Numbers
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 602923663029
EAN: 0602923663029
ASIN: B00004W591

Release Date: 2002-06-11

Live

Related Categories:

Britain

Blues Rock

| Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Live Albums | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

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Pop Rock

| Live Albums | Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Rope Ladder To The Moon
Walking In The Park
Skelington
I Can't Live Without You
Tanglewood 63
Encore...Stormy Monday Blues
Lost Angeles

Customer Reviews:

quite wonderful playing & execrable caterwauling.......2005-06-18

The caption above pretty much sums it up. Colosseum were/are a group of wonderful musicians with (probably mainly thanks to Jon Hiseman) a take no prisoners approach to playing the hell out of the music. Occasional over the topness, but easily forgiven because of their enthusiasm and sincerity and the heights they often reach. Mainly excellent original compositions, some intelligently chosen covers. Uno problemo, however. The singer, Chris Farlowe, is just so barely listenably histrionic, over compensating for lack of soulfulness by sounding like a cattle-prodded Pavarotti on meth imitating Al Jolson. ("MaaahaaammEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. . . how III LOOOOOOVVVE YAAA!!!") The newer Colosseum disc seems to show Mr. Farlowe somewhat more restrained and controlled, but this CD is a true mixed bag. If you've the capability to edit out the vox track, buy this. Otherwise, in hoc signo vinces (or is it in vino veritas?). Cheers.

Roaring and Growling and The Crowd Goes Wild!!!.......2005-03-01

This was recorded towards the end of Colosseum I's existence, and according to drummer Jon Hiseman, almost NEVER got released (something about planning to erase the original master tape in a fit of perfectionisitic pique). But fate intervened and thankfully, this ferocious classic performance of the mighty Colosseum was preserved intact.

Under Jon Hiseman's leadership, Colosseum created a heady and ferocious brew of progressive rock blues and jazz like nothing else. Capped off with Chris Farlowe's dramatic (sometimes overly so) blues drenched vocals, the band would leave one breathless on a good night.

1. Rope Ladder to the Moon - An ingenious cover of a Jack Bruce song that's actually BETTER than the original! Starting of with arpeggiated guitar and vibes, Chris Farlowe then roars in and takes it to the moon, the intensity builds with a great mid-sction where Dave Greenslade makes his Hammond organ snarl and growl like a hungry lion as Hiseeman eggs him on, the full band comes back in for a fiery conclusion, great way to start off!

2. Walking in the Park - A cranked up blues that dates back to The Graham Bond Organization (of which Dick Heckstall-Smith was a member), taken at such an unsafe tempo it nearly threatens to blow apart but our heroes keep it together and land on their feet.

3. Skellington - Continuing in a bluesy mode but at a slower (relatively speaking)tempo, however, it goes a bit off course betweena pointlessly long psychedelic guitar noise freakout and Chris Farlowe's vocal histrionics. Not a bad song but it could've done without all the excess.

4. Tanglewood. - A serious tour de force! Take one Michael Gibbs composition, rearrange it for these feisty Brits and stand back! What results is a dense, complex yet oddly memorable instrumental with the band combining its vocal resources powerfully (wordless singing no less!), and the late saxophonist Dick Heckstall Smith getting the spotlight with his double-sax solo (a'la Roland Kirk), he was simply amazing, no gimmicks, no devices (they didn't have digital harmonizers back then) just pure musicianship. One of the major highlights of this set!

5. Encore...Stormy Monday Blues - The old T-Bone Walker song given the Colosseum treatment, this was their fun tune and you can hear it clearly!

6. Lost Angeles - The other major reason to own this disc. This epic piece starts with Dave Greenslade showing his Hammond organ artistry leading the band into a dense fiery epic of life in the Smog Belt. Tight ensemble passages intertwine with heartfelt and concise soloing as Chris Farlowe spins the tale of woe. The band winds down and Dave Greenslade switches to vibes, as guitarist Dave Clemson builds a plaintive and heart-wrenching bluesy solo. The momentum builds and builds, almost to the point of blowing the song to pieces but just as you think that is inevitable, the band pulls off a rousing conclusion and leaves the crowd amazed!

7. I Can't Live Without You [*] A bonus track, but qite frankly I'm a bit puzzled by its inclusion as it just isn't very memorable or essential.

But the bonus track thing aside, This is a very exhilirating set by a band that really relied on its raw talent and musicianship and played from its heart, no gimmicks, no fakery, no overdubs.

If only more people took that to heart.

Jazz Rock Masterpiece.......2003-12-09

I'll have to admit the reason I bought this album was because it was a double and was cheaper than the other double albums at the time. Wow, what a surprise! I'd never heard of this band before and just took a chance that paid off. This album rocks! I've never been a big fan of jazz-rock but this one really hit it off for me. The musicianship combined with Chris Farlowe's voice makes for an exciting combination that this band never duplicated. Because of this album, I bought an earlier release by them and could hardly listen to it. This album displays some great musicianship and I liked the keyboards, the guitar playing, and especially Dick Heckstall-Smith's double sax playing. Since the demise of Collosseum, I tried to keep track of everyone and was only able to keep up with Greenslade, especially after seeing them play in Madrid, Spain twice. I heard Collosseum got back together again recently and I would love to see that show. I have looked for this locally on CD but all they have is a compilation of their older and newer stuff and if I were to fork out a few bucks for their music, this live album would be my one and only choice. A great album!

mottosseum.......2001-07-27

A band born out of the British Blues era, who then got into the Jazz Fusion scene with a vengence. Definetly trendsetting in their style of composition, inspiring a whole generation of bands to follow with different degrees of success in their footsteps. The band was Jon Hisemans vehicle for his freedom of musical expression, after both himself and the superb Sax player Dick Heckstall-Smith had been firstly in the Graham Bond Organization, (where Hiseman had replaced the Cream bound Ginger Baker) and John Mayall Bluesbreakers (which is a bit missleading as at the time were themselves dabbling in Jazz Rock). They decided to launch their wings with their own band impressively titled Colosseum in 1969 with the very young David Greenslade on keyboards, Tony Reeves on bass & James Litherland on guitar & vocals, the long & uncertain yellow brick road to stardom was undertaken, after two comparatively successful albums, Tony Reeves & James Litherland left to discover their own particular Nirvana, & were replaced by the much traveled Mark Clarke on bass, the much more rock orientated Clem Clempson on guitar & the unlikely choice of Chris Farlowe on vocals. These shifts is line up were obviously very disturbing to the musical content, so much talent in one band can actually be a handicap, and expectations of their loyal fans for the band to retread past glories, written when half the band had not even heard of Colosseum also never made for easy inter band relations.

So after one more album they fragmented into many different parts, Jon Hiseman to form Colosseum II with Gary Moore, Dick Heckstall- Smith to sessions, Dave Greenslade to lead the British progressive rock movement with his own double keyboard band Greenslade, Mark Clarke to Rainbow & Uriah Heep, Chris Farlowe to Atomic Rooster & Clem Clempson to live his Rock `n' Roll dreams in Humble Pie. This live album was released post-humously and although not perhaps having the brilliance of the first two albums still shows 6 top class musicians in their prime and the band certainly give us some fine moments, particularly in "Walking In The Park" & first encore "Stormy Monday", where the forget their differences & just have a good old blow, unfortunately Chris Farlowe's buffoonery in mid song (breaking into Sunny boy, and the band pain fully not following him) leaves you in no doubt that here is one round peg trying to fit into a square hole. Perhaps not a fitting climax to a great band, but I shall leave you with the great drummers reason for unleashing this on the public. "From the Inside Colosseum can be a pretty exhilerating experience and one which I have always wanted to share. Close your eyes turn it down to deafening and these tracks will put you in the driver's seat. Mott the Dog.

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