Colosseum Live CD - Import

This live album by the progressive rock outfit Colosseum was originally released in 1971.

The 2003 reissue has remastered sound and comes with one previously unissued bonus track.

Recorded in March 1971, Live wasn't just a souvenir with live versions of favorites, although studio versions of half of the songs ("Walking in the Park," "Rope Ladder to the Moon," and "Lost Angeles") had appeared on prior albums. There were also three previously unrecorded items, those being the bluesy 15-minute Clem Clemson-Jon Hiseman original "Skellington," "Tanglewood '63" (in which Dick Heckstall-Smith's jazz sax came to the forefront), and the ten-minute charge through the standard "Stormy Monday Blues." Even on some of the songs that had been previously issued on studio releases, there's the difference of hearing Chris Farlowe (who didn't join until mid-1970) on lead vocals -- a blessing or a curse, depending on your taste for his piledriving approach. Credit should be given to Colosseum for giving the album a markedly different approach than their studio outings, and it does demonstrate their prowess as a muscular live outfit with a taste for blending progressive rock, jazz, and blues. But like many a live effort it does tend toward too-long arrangements, none of the songs clocking in under the seven-minute barrier. ~ Richie Unterberger

Live albums are dangerous things. While the good ones capture the raw excitement of a show, all too often they expose a band's weaknesses, the ones that get covered in the studio -- a singer who's not so good and instrumentalists who really can't cut it. But Colosseum, by the time they made their live album (the CD version comes with an extra track, "I Can't Live Without You," that wasn't on the original vinyl), were a seasoned outfit with some top-notch performers. In veteran Chris Farlowe they had a blues belter who could also turn his hand to jazz. Dave "Clem" Clempson was a rock guitarist first and foremost, but not limited to that, and bassist Mark Clarke was exactly the elastic foil drummer Jon Hiseman needed in the rhythm section. And they make the most of their abilities here, giving everything extended workouts, from Jack Bruce's "Rope Ladder to the Moon" to a seemingly off-the-cuff (though probably carefully rehearsed) "Stormy Monday Blues." Of course, like any faithful live album, it has its flat moments, notably the guitar and vocal solos in "Skelington," which were probably fun to the live audience, but seem interminable and unnecessary on record. Apart from that, this is an album with plenty of delights -- the way the band arranges songs, with interesting duets in the fills, and the way the solos flow from one instrument to another -- with Dick Heckstall-Smith's harmonizing saxes on "Tanglewood '63" being the biggest standout. But Clempson shows incredible chops throughout, upfront in his spotlight exposures without being over the top (usually). With good material, some towering performances, and a powerful atmosphere, this is everything you could hope for from a live album. It makes you wish you could be there, while offering the next best thing -- not a bad deal, all in all. ~ Chris Nickson

2004 remastered reissue of the progressive rock act's classic live album, originally issued in 1971, includes one previously unreleased bonus track 'I Can't Live Without You'. Sanctuary Midline.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Includes liner notes by Jon Hiseman.

Colosseum: Jon Hiseman (drums); Dave Greenslade, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Clem Clemson.

Q (6/92, p.112) - 3 Stars - Good - "..a wild union of styles...COLOSSEUM LIVE had soul, passion and a place in any early '70s head's heart.."