"...Ladder To The Moon..."
Colosseum’s fifth
album – a live double issued in Blighty in June 1971 with mostly new material
(as far as UK fans were concerned) - has had a poor history on both VINYL and
CD. But thankfully this superb 2016
twofer reissue from Esoteric Recordings of the UK finally sorts those anomalies
out. And in style...
But some history
first – formed in 1968 as a vehicle for Jazz Rock, Fusion and Prog – drummer
John Hiseman and Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith recruited keyboardist Dave
Greenslade and Bassist Tony Reeves (both of whom would be the future Warner
Brothers Prog band Greenslade in 1973) along with guitarist James Litherland.
They promptly popped out two giant slices of Prog Rock with their debut
"Those Who Are About To Die Salute You" in March 1969 on Fontana and
then the much-loved "Valentyne Suite" in November 1969 on the new
home to all things weird and hairy – Vertigo Records – the famous label's first
long-player release.
When James
Litherland left, Dave 'Clem' Clempson of Bakerloo (one album on Harvest Records
from 1969) was drafted in to replace him on guitar and some new songs along
with re-recordings of "Valentyne Suite" material took place. This
alternative or rejiggered "Valentyne Suite" material was issued March
1970 in the USA-only as the album "The Grass Is Greener" on
ABC/Dunhill Records DS 50079 and in slightly altered artwork. It contained
three new songs unknown to UK fans - "Jumping Off The Sun" by Dave
Tomlin and Mike Taylor, the Dave Greenslade, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Chris Farlowe
composition "Lost Angeles" and a cover version of a Jack Bruce (of
Cream) and Pete Brown (of Battered Ornaments) song called "Rope Ladder To
The Moon".
The last two are mentioned because they turned up on
"Colosseum Live" and of course were new to fans in England who bought
that specially priced double album (the first release on Bronze Records in the
UK). Colosseum then unleashed their third studio album (fourth overall) in
December 1970 - "Daughter Of Time" – another Jazz Rock, Prog Rock beast
on Vertigo Records. While they made no real inroads in the USA – the three
British LPs had charted and done well – No. 15, No. 15 and No. 23 respectively.
Which brings us to their famous and perhaps most popular moment -
"Colosseum Live" – and its awful audio history…
Culled together
from British gigs in March 1971 and UK released in June 1971 on Bronze Records
(November 1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers) - the live double famously came
in a gatefold sleeve with clear red plastics attached to the inside to hold
both LPs, had mostly all new material and an enticing price tag of £2.75 for a
double-album (who among us remember those stickers – the one on Purple's
"Made In Japan" had the same effect, "Bumpers" on Island
etc). Unfortunately these plastics had a foam strip on each lip that was
supposed to clean the record as you dragged it out – an 'AV/Pak' as I recall
they called it on the inner gatefold. But it never worked; in fact the bare
record without a polylined inner-sleeve was of course open to the elements and
got wrecked very quickly. Worse, some LPs reacted to the plastic and had
unmovable gunk deposited on the playing surface you couldn't wash off (Fat
Mattress had that on their first Polydor album). It was a disastrous invention
and probably wrecked more LPs than it cleaned - hence "Colosseum
Live" ended up in more secondhand record bins faster than almost any other
LP despite its very healthy No. 17 peak on the UK LP charts.
In 1992 the UK
Sequel CD Remaster unleashed the Previously Unreleased "I Can't Live
Without You" which is featured here as one of the Bonus Cuts (Track 4 on
CD1 with a different version over on CD2). Simon Heyworth did a remaster in
1999 for Castle Communications, but this July 2016 2CD expansion trumps them
all. Returning to the real tapes and featuring a BEN WISEMAN 24-Bit Digital
Remaster that restores the oomph it has always needed – ECLEC 22545 also
features crowd-pleasing bonus material like the "Valentyne Suite"
live set from March 1971 with the classic line-up. So at last, to the 2016
details…
UK released 29
July 2016 - "Colosseum Live" by COLOSSEUM on Esoteric Recordings
ECLEC 22545 (Barcode 5013929464544) is a 2CD Remastered 'Expanded Edition' with
One Bonus Track on CD1 and Five on CD2. It plays out as follows:
CD1 - 74:41
minutes:
1. Rope Ladder To
The Moon [Side 1]
2. Walking In The
Park
3. Skellington
[Side 2]
4. I Can't Live
Without You [Bonus Track, see Note below]
5. Tanglewood '63
[Side 3]
6. Encore…Stormy
Monday Blues
7. Lost Angeles
[Side 4]
NOTE: The
original double-album as sequenced is Tracks 1 to 3 and 5 to 7 "Colosseum
Live" – released June 1971 in the UK on Bronze Records ICD 1 and November
1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers 2XS 1942. Produced by JON HISEMAN and
COLOSSEUM – it peaked at No. 17 on the UK LP charts and No. 192 in the USA.
Track 4 "I Can't Live Without You" first appeared as a Bonus Track on
1992 UK Sequel single CD Remaster and has been included here for completion.
CD2 - 73:56
minutes:
BONUS TRACKS –
ALL LIVE
1. Rope Ladder To
The Moon
2. Skellington
Tracks 1 and 2
recorded live at The Big Apple in Brighton in 1971
3. I Can't Live
With You / Time Machine / The Machine Demands A Sacrifice
Track 3 recorded
live at Manchester University, March 1971
4. Stormy Monday
Blues
Track 4 recorded
live in Bristol, 1971
5. The Valentyne
Suite
(i) January's
Search
(ii) Theme Two –
February's Valentyne
(iii) Theme Three
– The Grass Is Greener
Track 5 recorded
live at Manchester University, March 1971
The booklet of
16-pages features new thoroughly engaging liner notes from MALCOM DOME with
contributions from Hiseman - details about 1971 and the album's legacy closing
in on 50 years in 2021. There are colour photos of the classic six-piece
line-up in live rapture, both CDs are picture discs featuring the famous
artwork and there are the usual reissue credits and that impressive new audio.
As the Greenslade
vibes, Farlowe gruff vocals and Clempson grungy guitar kick in for the opening
of the nine and half minutes of "Rope Ladder To The Moon" - you know
you're in the presence of a different beast. Everything feels up in your face -
Heckstall-Smith soloing away with that double-horn trick. Then we get Dave
Greenslade simply Rick Wakeman brilliant - his live keyboard sound feeling like
a 'Made In Japan' solo - fantastic. By the time Clempson tears into that
opening guitar piece for the cover of Graham Bond's "Walking In The
Park" - his affects pedals distorting away - the band lays down a Blues
meets Jazz Rock combo that is thrilling - Farlowe clearly raring to go.
Spelt with one
'l' on the original double - the fifteen minutes of "Skellington"
stretches each player out in a wild ensemble-playing piece - their harmony
vocals impressive too (that Clempson guitar sound and solo is so cool - great
audio as well). It feels odd to hear the 7:53 minutes of the bonus track - I
Can't Live Without You – placed where it is. It’s a damn good addition – studio
chatter at the beginning – and a messing around with another guy vocal from
Farlowe. But maybe it should have been placed at the end of CD1 as I recall the
original Sequel CD did.
The cover of the
Michael Gibbs song "Tanglewood '63" that opens Side 3 is probably the
most Jazz-Rock the album gets - the crowd clapping along as the boys engage in
some Yes-like ba-ba vocals. T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday Blues"
gets a seven and half minute Bluesy workout where the band are clearly winging
it - even managing at times to sound like Humble Pie with Marriott on vocals -
digging down deep and enjoying it. At 15:49 minutes, "Lost Angeles"
took up the whole of Side 4 and brings proceedings to a storming finish
-Greenslade at first whipping the audience in a clapping frenzy with a keyboard
groove that feels like The Nice about to embark on some British Rock 'n' Roll
and be damned. Farlowe then comes roaring in followed by Dave Greenslade
letting rip and the Prog Rock meets Blues and Jazz sound of Colosseum still
feels fresh and uniquely their-own after all these years.
At 21:20 minutes
– the three-parts of "The Valentyne Suite" recorded live by this
line-up is probably going to have real fans a wee bit in need of a lie down.
For some it is Prog Rock excessive dated if I'm honest, but the band is
cooking, the audio remarkably clear and the playing by the double Daves of
Greenslade and Clempson alongside that rhythm section is just a blast. And
there's more on CD2 where that came from.
Esoteric
Recordings have built up a rep in the reissue industry – get it right and do it
right. Is it any wonder artists like this trust them with their precious back
catalogue…
