"...Ides Of March..."
On holiday with his wife in
Italy, Jon Hiseman was clearly impressed by some building in Rome that's
apparently been there a while. Having studied Roman History in school as an
A-level, our Drummer even got to stick (if you'll forgive the pun) the
Gladiatorial chant "Morituri Te Salutant" on the mural photo adorning
his band's debut LP. Colosseum stuck as a band name for sure, but the English
language translation of his fave Latin phrase to one's emperor was deemed more
commercial - so Colosseum's debut LP became the very AC/DC-sounding "Those
Who Are About To Die Salute You". Bring your daughter to the Jazz-Rock
slaughter. Beware the girl-guides of March etc.
Recorded in the winter of
1968, the five-piece Fusion outfit had shed guitarist Jim Roche by the time the
album hit Blighty shops in March 1969 - adorned, as it was by that eye-catching
Fontana Records laminated cover. Roche plays only on the Leadbelly cover
"Backwater Blues" - for all other tracks he was replaced with
Vocalist and Guitarist James Litherland. Colosseum's rip-roaring debut has had
a bit of a strangulated history on digital, but as ever, Cherry Red's Esoteric
Recordings has done the business it and in fact by all five of their originals
albums up to the seminal "Colosseum Live" in June 1971 and beyond
into the band's late Seventies incarnation Colosseum II. But now back to the
beginning; time to explore the road she walked on before...
UK released 28 July 2017 -
"Those Who Are About To Die Salute You" by COLOSSEUM on Esoteric
Recordings ECLEC 2598 (Barcode 5013929469846) is an Expanded Edition CD
Reissue and Remaster with Three Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (53:16
minutes):
1. Walking In The Park [Side
1]
2. Plenty Hard Luck
3. Mandarin
4. Debut
5. Beware The Ides Of March
[Side 2]
6. The Road She Walked Before
7. Backwater Blues
8. Those About To Die
Tracks 1 to 8 are their debut
album "Those Who Are About To Die Salute You" - released March 1969
in the UK on Fontana STL 5501 and July 1969 in the USA on ABC/Dunhill Records
DS-50062 with Six Tracks, a different running order (see notes below) and
slightly altered artwork. Original copies of the British LP credit the album
title on the label simply as "Colosseum" - while US originals insert
the correct coma in the title "Those Who Are About To Die, Salute
You".
BONUS TRACKS (recorded in
London, November 1968 at Pye Studios):
9. I Can't Live Without You
10. In The Heat Of The Night
11. Those About To Die (Demo)
NOTES (US Variant of the LP):
The US LP of "Those Who
Are About To Die Salute You" featured re-recorded tracks from their second
British LP "Valentyne Suite" and was sequenced as follows with only
six cuts instead of eight:
Side 1:
1. The Kettle
2. Plenty Hard Luck
3. Debut
4. Those About To Die
Side 2:
1. Valentyne Suite
(i) Theme One - January’s
Search
(ii) Theme Two - February’s
Search
(iii) Theme Three – Beware
The Ides Of March
2. Walking In The Park
You might wonder why neither
The Kettle or Valentyne Suite are on this CD, that’s because they are dealt
with on the 2CD reissue of "Valentyne Suite" as those songs were
appropriate to that second UK album and not this American debut (see separate
review).
The 16-page booklet starts
out with Jon Hiseman's original 1969 LP liner notes - quickly followed by
several pages of a MALCOLM DOME history of the band's genesis as far back as
the early 60ts. There are photos of Jon Hiseman (Drummer), Dave Greenslade
(Keyboards), Tony Reeves (Bass), James Litherland (Guitar) and Dick
Heckstall-Smith on the Horns. There are a few other memorabilia bits like Tony
Barrow's called card from Fontana and the usual reissue credits.
But the big news is a new
Remaster by Audio Engineer BEN WISEMAN. Produced by Tony Reeves and Gerry Bron,
you wouldn't call the original LP an audiophile experience by any means - but
take the Dave Greenslade solo that suddenly explodes into the speakers on
"Plenty Hard Luck" and Hiseman's manic whacking of the kit in the
background - it's way better than any transfer I've heard before.
They open proceedings with a
Graham Bond cover version, "Walking In The Park" - firmly
establishing the Jazz-Rock credentials with Henry Lowther guesting on Trumpet.
Although the vocal leaves a tad to be desired in terms of range and impact,
"Plenty Hard Luck" is impressive. "Mandarin" is based on
some Japanese Jazz scales and gives Heckstall-Smith centre stage at first only
to be followed by a Chris Squire-like Bass solo from Tony Reeves - no doubt
dreaming of gigs with Peter Gabriel in the 80s and 90s. The six-minutes of
"Debut" amps up the horns and drums and apparently is what it claims
to be on the tin, the first piece the band played together. Litherland gets to
give it some marching guitar licks alongside Hiseman's shuffling beat -
Heckstall Smith soloing over the top - building and building on the speed.
Side 2 opens with
"Beware The Ides Of March" - an impressive Jazz-Rock smooch that
feels like it's a 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' cover version in the opening minute.
Soon it settles as Heckstall-Smith allows Dave Greenslade take over soloing on
Organ. The short doubled Vocal/Sax of "The Road She Walked Before" is
cute - written by Dick Heckstall-Smith although it predominantly features Dave
Greenslade on straight-up piano threatening to go into a New Orleans jellyroll
at any moment. We then go to a cool Blues-Rock-Jazz moment (seven and half
minutes of them) when England's Colosseum tackle Huddie Leadbelly's
"Backwater Blues" - Jim Roche shining on that lean and mean Fender
Strat like a young Robert Cray (love that Bass Guitar and Saxophone solo moment
- the transfer so damn good). It ends on five-minutes of frantic organ like
Georgie Fame gone 'really' Jazz - and again Hiseman's drums up there all the
time as Litherland gets to let rip on the Guitar.
The three extras are amazing
finds. The first of the three "I Can't Live Without You" is a James
Litherland song - a guitar-funky sort of Deep Purple "Hush" moment
that clearly didn't fit in with the overall Jazz-Rock musical theme of the
album. But it's a winner - the kind of Rock-Dance funky little brute that's
bound to turn on a 3CD RPM box set soon as 'one we missed'. Studio cut number
two "In The Heat Of The Night" is a cover of the Qunicy Jones theme
song to the 1967 race-relations movie with Sydney Poitier and Rod Steiger (both
eating up the screen in Oscar performances). Colosseum give it a slow drawl
across the shuffling hi-hats - sweetly complimentary Sax soloing upholding a
great Vocal (a fantastic find). Last is a Demo of "Those About To
Rock" which at 4-minutes is still pretty faithful to the manic racehorse
pace of the finished LP version.
I don't quite subscribe to
Dome's assertion that Colosseum's debut is a masterpiece, but it sure as Hell
made its mark. And that is hammered home on this exemplary CD transfer. Top job
done (again)...
