"Colosseum Live" by COLOSSEUM - June 1971 UK 2LP Live Set of New Material on Bronze Records ICD 1 (November 1971 USA 2LP set on Warner Brothers 2XS 1942) featuring Jon Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Dave Greenslade, Mark Clarke and Chris Farlowe with Songs by Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Graham Bond, Dave Clempson, James Litherland and Chris Farlowe (29 July 2016 UK Esoteric Recordings 2CD 'Expanded Edition' with One Bonus Track on CD1 and Five on CD2 - Ben Wiseman Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

"...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…

"Southern Comfort" by THE CRUSADERS – Instrumental US Double-Album from October 1974 on Blue Thumb Records (April 1975 UK on ABC Records) featuring Wayne Henderson, Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Larry Carlton and Stix Hooper (July 2016 Japan-Only Universal/MCA Records SHM-CD Reissue in the 'Fusion Best 50 Collection' Series) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...When There's Love Around..."

The first version of this CD was released in Japan 18 January 2012 on Universal/MCA Records UCCY-9904 (Barcode 4988005694553) on a Standard CD. 

This new 6 July 2016 variant is a Reissue of that, only this time what's different is an SHM-CD has been included (Super High Materials is a superior format for better retrieval of info and is playable on all machines), a budget price as part of Universal Japan's Fusion Best 50 Collection Series and a new catalogue number/barcode.

It is NOT a Remaster and doesn't come in MINI LP repro artwork – just another jewel case with an Obi Strip wrapped round the outside. But no remaster credit or not (the 2012 variant didn't have one either) – someone has transferred this to the highest standard and along with its top quality original production values - it sounds just stunning. Let's get to the Jazz Funk...

Released 6 July 2016 in Japan-only - "Southern Comfort" by THE CRUSADERS on Universal/MCA Records UCCU-90185 (Barcode 4988031159583) is a SHM-CD Reissue in the Fusion Best 50 Collection Series and features the entire 1974 double-album mastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (63:59 minutes):

1. Stomp And Buck Dance [Side 1]

2. Greasy Spoon

3. Get On The Soul Ship (It's Sailing)

4. Super-Stuff

5. Double Bubble [Side 2]

6. The Well's Gone Dry

7. Southern Comfort

8. Time Bomb

9. When There's Love Around [Side 3]

10. Lilies Of The Nile

11. Whispering Pines [Side 4]

12. A Ballad For Joe (Louis)

Tracks 1 to 12 are the double-album "Southern Comfort" - released October 1974 in the USA on Blue Thumb Records BTSY-9002-2 and April 1975 in the UK on ABC Records ABCD 607. Produced by STEWART LEVINE - it peaked at No. 3 on the US R&B charts and No. 31 on the US Pop LP charts.

THE CRUSADERS were:

WAYNE HENDERSON - Trombone (wrote "Stomp And Buck Dance", "Super-Stuff", "Southern Comfort" and "Whispering Pines")

JOE SAMPLE - Keyboards (wrote "Get On The Soul Ship (It's Sailing)", "Double Bubble", "Time Bomb" and "A Ballad For Joe (Louis)")

WILTON FELDER - Tenor Saxophone (wrote "Lilies Of The Nile")

LARRY CARLTON - Guitars (wrote "The Well's Gone Dry")

NESBERT "STIX" HOOPER - Drums (wrote "Greasy Spoon" and "When There's Love Around")

The gatefold inlay has the track-credits on the left side and some Japanese writing on the right (zip in other words). In fact this 2016 reissue actually uses the inlay and rear sleeve insert from the January 2012 issue with the catalogue number UCCY-9904 on them. I suppose given that its a 'budget' reissue, it would have been a bit much to expect a new booklet. But the Audio is what matters to me and this sucker boogies.

This double scored big on the US R&B charts, rising to an impressive high of No. 3, no mean feat for an entire 2LP set made up of Jazz Funk instrumentals. But then when you buy the 2CD "Gold" anthology for The Crusaders, you will find I think as many as five tracks from "Southern Comfort" on it. And after hearing the fabulous jutting Funk of "Stomp And Buck Dance" - it's easy to hear why. This is a commercial Soulful Jazz given a funkified groove by a band of five musicians utterly in sync with each other and the sub-genre they were championing (they would eventually make a global breakthrough with Randy Crawford singing the title track on their "Street Life" album in 1979 on MCA Records).

Highlights include piano-sexy sleaze of Stix Hooper's "Greasy Spoon", the mid-tempo Steely Dan slink of Joe Sample's "Get On The Soul Ship (It's Sailing)" and Wilton Felder's near ten minutes of "Lilies Of The Nile" where Carlton and Felder both get to be Soulful and stretch out. I'd admit that some of the tracks on Side 3 and 4 can overstay their welcome a tad, but mostly it's just class all the way, culminating in Joe Sample's lovely seven and half minutes of "A Ballad For Joe (Louis)" – sweet as.

I've adored The Crusaders and their equally cool solo efforts for over four decades now and "Southern Comfort" is one their touchstone gems. It can whisper in my pines any day of the week, and this gorgeous sounding SHM-CD reissue is the one to get...

"Marjory Razor Blade" by KEVIN COYNE – UK Double-Album from September 1973 on Virgin Records (Single-LP in the USA) featuring Gordon Smith (of Blue Horizon fame), Dave Clague (of Siren). Jean Roussel (of Hanson), Tony Cousins (future Mastering Engineer for Genesis and Metropolis Studios), Chili Charles and Guest Steve Verroca, Mel Collins and Tony Williams (January 2010 UK Virgin 2CD 'Expanded Edition' Reissue with 17 Bonus Tracks – Paschal Byrne and Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...House On The Hill..."

In truth, Derby's Kevin Coyne with his distinctive in-the-distance nasal-warble voice and disheveled Joe-Cocker-on-the-lash hair and his tramp/plumber way of dressing - was not for everyone.

In fact when Virgin Records released VD 2501 in September 1973, they tempted record buyers with a price-tag sticker of £2.73 for a 20-Track Double-Album and then backed that up with a full-page (day of release) trade advert pointing out that such a cheap price represented only a cost of eleven-pence per song. Not that it seemed anyone noticed.

But "Marjory Razor Blade" has always been a cult release, a sort of acquired taste. Musically this splurge of songs mixed his Slim Chance barrelhouse way of singing/recording with elements of Acoustic-Blues and Folk-Soul on top of hurting lyrics. He surrounded himself with fabulous musician back-up from people like Gordon Smith on Guitars (of Blue Horizon fame) and the Keyboardist Jean Roussel (of Hanson) with Tony Cousins on Bass (he of Metropolis Studios fame, later remastered the Genesis Gabriel years catalogue to spectacular effect in 2007) and Chili Charles on Drums. Dave Clague of Siren also plays guitar on some tracks. 

The US 11-Track album was a truncated single LP and as far as the artist and players were concerned, a butchered affair best not thought of. Like I say, "Marjory Razor Blade" is not a well-known release. I remember when I worked at Reckless Records in our crazy busy Soho shop – the UK stickered double would turn up only sporadically – and when it did, us of the older moody git persuasion would look at it with affection and even a wee bit of wonder.

Well, fast-forward to January 2010 and Virgin are at it again, festooning this 'Expanded Edition' 2CD Remastered set with a Bonus Cut on Disc 1 and a whopping 16 more on Disc 2. And the words 'forgotten gem' running alongside 'seriously great value for money' start to jump to mind. Let's get slashed...

UK released 11 January 2010 - "Marjory Razor Blade" by KEVIN COYNE on Virgin VDR 2501 (Barcode 5099950372126) is a 2CD 'Expanded Edition' Reissue with One Bonus Track on CD1 and a Further 16 Bonus Tracks on CD2 that plays out as follows:

CD1 "Marjory Razor Blade" The Original Album (79:04 minutes):

1. Marjory Razor Blade [Side 1]

2. Marlene

3. Talking To No One

4. Eastbourne Ladies

5. Old Soldier

6. I Want My Crown [Side 2]

7. Nasty

8. Lonesome Valley

9. House On The Hill

10. Cheat Me

11. Jackie And Edna [Side 3]

12. Everybody Says

13. Mummy

14. Heaven In My View

15. Karate King

16. Dog Latin [Side 4]

17. This Is Spain

18. Chairman's Ball

19. Good Boy

20. Chicken Wing

BONUS TRACK

21. Eastbourne Ladies (US 7" Single Edit)

CD2 Bonus Tracks (69:28 minutes):

1. Lovesick Fool

2. Sea Of Love

Tracks 1 and 2 are the A&B-sides of a November 1973 UK 7" single on Virgin VS 104

3. Breathe In Deep

4. Jackie And Edna (Take One)

5. Pretty Park

Tracks 3 to 5 recorded at Manor Studios in July 1973, outtakes, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

6. I Want My Crown

Track 6 recorded for BBC TV's "The Old Grey Whistle Test" transmitted 30 October 1973, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

7. Eastbourne Ladies

8. House On The Hill

9. Chicken Wing

Tracks 7 to 9 recorded for Bob Harris' BBC Radio 1 Show, recorded 24 Oct 1973, transmitted 12 Nov 1973

Produced by JEFF GRIFFIN - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

10. Poor Swine

11. Need Somebody

12. Araby

13. Do Not Shout At Me Father

Tracks 10 to 13 recorded for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 Show

Recorded 24 January 1974, Transmitted 31 January 1974

14. Marjory Razorblade Suite

Originally released on the Virgin Records 2LP Label Sampler "V" in July 1975 on VD 2502

PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE on CD

15. House On The Hill

16. Boogie Chillun [John Lee Hooker cover]

Tracks 15 and 16 live at The 100 Club in London, 1974 - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Although its only an 8-page booklet, with interviews culled from Bassist and Mastering Engineer Tony Cousins, Blues Guitarist Gordon Smith and Coyne’s own recollections - the liner notes are an informative affair. But it’s the PASHAL BYRNE and BEN WISEMAN Remasters that are thrilling. I remember the original vinyl was good but never quite great. Well here it feels released – the band’s Americana Acoustic Blues alchemy making it feel we all missed a trick when it comes to this double. A properly great job done.

After an Acapella bitter diatribe about "Marjory Razor Blade", other Side 1 winners includes the poppy "Marlene", the sad beauty of "Old Soldier" and the done-the-best-I-can acoustic-Bluesy "I Want My Crown". The song that was chosen for a US 45 was "Eastbourne Ladies" (Virgin 13-106) – reduced from its LP timings of 5:57 minutes to 4:35 minutes – is featured here as the Bonus Track tail-ending CD1. Never thought it was good choice, surely the more Blues-Boogie feel to "I Want My Crown" that opens Side 2 would have worked better – a sound that was sort of akin to Bryn Haworth and the Slide Guitar stuff he did on his fab 1974 LP "Let The Days Go By" on Island Records. 

Gordon Smith plays lovely slide acoustic on the acidic "Nasty" while Coyne gets almost childishly scathing as he sings. "Lonesome Valley" is a Carter Family cover and comes on like a Countrified Slim Chance washboard and kazoo folk boogie session - all rattling guitar strings and doubled vocals - fantastic stuff where the whole band make a fab ruckus. That's followed by one of the album's loveliest songs "House On The Hill" and again Gordon Smith's electric slide alongside Roussel on piano both add hugely, Cone even sounding a little like early David Gray. Side 2 ends on a slide-guitar boogie romp called "Cheat Me" where Gordon Smith and band really get to stretch out as they give it a bit of The Allman Brothers.

Side 3 opens with the 'why can't we go on like we did before' song "Jackie And Edna" - a lonely acoustic tune with his voice and lyrics almost too much on the open sleeve for comfort. Gorgeous flicking harmonics guitar work on "Everybody Says" - a song that feels like Roy Harper at his curmudgeonly best. Both "Mummy" and the dancing "Heaven In My View" gives us more rambunctious Slim Chance doing Americana, huge Kettle Drums keeping a beat as Acoustic and Mandolin guitars slip and slide across the speakers – Coyne’s vocals echoed like a circus tent compare while Mama plays the upright Joanna. Chopping kids down like trees, going chop-chop, down in the gymnasium – Coyne sings with his lone acoustic guitar on "Karate Kid" – snarling out the lyrics like he’s angling for a barroom brawl with an egotist in his sights.

Side 4 kicks in with "Dog Latin" and the muscle-bound storybook that is "This Is Spain" back in a time when a holiday in the sun must have felt like handling the crown jewels. We then go slightly Mungo Jerry with the mandolin poppy "Chairman’s Ball" – get your ticket and go. Far better is the drumming-it-into-their-dim-minds "Good Boy" where Coyne sounds like an Establishment teacher rapping his student on the knuckles with ‘well done’ and ‘good boy’ repeats as he strums down aggressive. We boogie with the band for the final splash – how do you do that thing – bought a "Chicken Wing".

CD2 opens with the rare stand-alone single of "Lovesick Fool" on Virgin VS 104 (from November 1973) which was paired on the flipside with a cover of "Sea Of Love"- the 1959 Vocal Group smoocher made famous by Phil Phillips and The Twilights on Mercury Records. Many will recall the song from the sideways Led Zeppelin project that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant put together as The Honeydrippers in 1984. Both tracks are winners and genuine bonuses – in fact you can’t help think that Coyne doing an entire album of R&B and Vocal Group tunes would have been something extraordinary.

Other goodies are the two and half minutes of the previously unreleased "Breathe In Deep" where some conversation in the studio about Dr. Who and The Daleks precedes another washboard sliding acoustic ditty. Same goes for "Pretty Park" – probably dropped from the final double because it sounded too much like other Americana-ish tracks on the album (but what a thrill to hear both of these quality outtakes all these years later). The Old Grey Whistle Test recordings are in fantastic shape - "I Want My Crown" amped up with a Tabla rhythm section. Keyboards slink in for "House On The Hill" where the band sounds like a languid Pink Floyd circa 1971 with a strangulated vocalist at the microphone. More washboard stomping with "Poor Swine" – a genuinely cool find - and eight-minutes of the "Marjory Razorblade Suite" recorded live at Hyde Park in June 1974 and only available on the Virgin "V" double-album sampler - is the kind of tune I'd forgotten about for over three decades. It all comes to an end with six minutes of John Lee Hooker and his classic "Boogie Chillun" done live at the 100 Club with Gordon Smith on Guitar, Rick Dodd on Saxophone, Terry Slade on Bass and Tony Williams on Drums – great audio too as the band builds the stomp and Coyne gives the crowd some 'Derby City' name-checking Rock and Roll.

The double-album is something of a lost classic and the plethora of Bonus Tracks is not just worth owning – but makes the whole shebang feel like a dip-in and discover treasure trove all the way from start to finish.

The sort of British-Washboard-Acoustic-Blues-Americana that is "Marjory Razor Blade" is a footnote in Rock's history now and I suspect despite glowing reviews - it won't be for everyone either. But for me - this fantastic 2CD Remaster has turned it into a Bobby Dazzler. And the brilliant underdog Kevin Coyne (Derby's finest) and his complementing musical buddies deserved no less…

"The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" by GENESIS – Double-Album from November 1974 on Charisma Records (UK) and Atco Records (USA) – featuring Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins with Guest Brian Eno (November 2014 Japan-Only 2 x SHM-CD Reissue with HR Cutting and Mini LP Repro Artwork 'Standard Edition' – Using The 2007 Remaster by Tony Cousins) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...It's Only Knock And Knowall, But I Like It!"

I've told this story a few times. I was in a Dublin bar with a mate of mine in the early Eighties and we were getting legless. For some reason lost to time, alien abduction and cosmic wormhole reasoning - we decided to start singing "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" and about an hour later and a few bevvies in - we'd done all four sides including the two instrumentals! And like some spoilt celebrity salaciously stroking his Sage Oracle Coffee making machine in my landing strip of a kitchen (who's Daddy's favourite eh) - I'm so proud of that! 

So as I was prepping for this review in my 62-year-old dotage, I tried it again and with a hearty pat on my greying but still suspiciously intact hairline, I remembered about half of the lyrics without having to refer to the repro'd lyric inserts provided in this gorgeous Japanese reissue. That's how it is when you truly love an album. I would imagine it's the same for Soul Boys when it comes to Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" or once rowdy young men when it comes to The Pistols and "Never Mind The Bollocks..." In fact, we need only see the artwork of our fave-rave and a quickening of the pulse occurs, rushing blood in the trouser area makes a valiant effort and a wee tear of nostalgic joy appears in our cataract-addled eyeballs. Could have been the Guinness mind...

I love double-albums and after the creative highs of 1972's "Foxtrot" and 1973's even better "Selling England By The Pound" - the Peter Gabriel led period of Genesis finished on a total humdinger - a 1974 2LP groovy Hipgnosis artwork splurge that had many fans reaching for such highbrow phrases as 'the last great concept album' or 'bugger my NYC Apple Pies but that's brill boys'. But what issue of this Progtastic Lilywhite Lilith double-dip do you buy?

After years of false digital starts, the fantastic Tony Cousins Remasters that first appeared in the 2007 Box Set 1970-1974 were issued as stand-alone SACDs in 2008 and then standard 2CD sets in 2009. That 2009 variant on Barcode 5099926570228 is widely available to this day for about a tenner or maybe a tad more. But such is my love for this extraordinary double, I want the best - and choosing between the Platinum SHM-CD from 2014 (over £50 on some sites) or this standard edition for about £25 which is still on catalogue in 2020 - I've settled on this. And I love everything about it. But to the Colony of Slippermen first...

Released 26 November 2014 in Japan-Only - "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" by GENESIS on Universal/Virgin UICY-76719/20 (Barcode 4988005858214) is a 2-Disc SHM-CD Format Reissue of the 1974 Charisma Records Double-Album in Mini LP Repro Artwork with a Gatefold Card Sleeve, Inner Sleeves, Foldout Booklet, Obi Strip and an Outer Plastic Protective. This 2014 Reissue uses the 2007 Remaster but also features HR CUTTING for the SHM-CD discs to get optimum sound retrieval. It plays out as follows...

CD1 (45:36 minutes):

1. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway [Side 1]

2. Fly On The Windshield

3. Broadway Melody Of 1974

4. Cuckoo Cocoon

5. In The Cage

6. The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging

7. Back In N.Y.C. [Side 2] 

8. Hairless Heart

9. Counting Out Time

10. The Carpet Crawlers

11. The Chamber of 32 Doors

CD2 (48:49 minutes):

1. Lilywhite Lilith [Side 3]

2. The Waiting Room

3. Anyway

4. Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist

5. The Lamia

6. Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats 

7. The Colony Of Slippermen [Side 4]

(a) The Arrival (b) A Visit To The Doktor (c) Raven

8. Ravine

9. The Light Lies Down On Broadway

10. Riding The Scree

11. It

Released November 1974 in the UK on Charisma CGS 101 and November 1974 in the USA on Atco SD 2-401. Produced by Genesis and John Burns – it peaked at No. 10 in the UK and No. 41 in the USA.

The packaging is beautiful on these Japanese reissues, the fold out booklet with its Japanese and English lyrics. You get the story of Rael - a spunky Puerto Rican kid living in New York - runs the gamut of weird and wonderful experiences, a lot of which feels like drugged-out trips into colonies of Slippermen and dark drafty Chambers with 32 Doors and water-rafting on the scree to some ‘it’ ending. And that Hipgnosis artwork was mesmerizing too with Rael jumping through glass and bodies with snakes draped over them and Gabriel’s "…Keep your fingers out of my eye…" story on the inside and the sheer volume of lyrics on the two inner sleeves (only "The Waiting Room" and "Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats" are instrumentals). It was a lot to digest at the time and still is - and there were many who weren’t too convinced. But time has shown this staggering artistic outpouring as a properly brilliant thing. I never saw the legendary tours with those boil-in-a-bag outfits but I’ve seen the photos and read the Phil Collins recollections of masterful slide shows which featuring the whole double whether the crowd wanted it or not. Hardly surprising that PG was gone by 1975 - solo stardom beckoning in 1977 with "Solsbury Hill" (again on Charisma Records).

The Tony Cousins audio is fantastic and again that noticeable oomph given by the better-format disc. When Gabriel sings "Early morning Manhattan..." as the opening title track kicks in, the punch is palpable. But like most longtime fans, I went straight for deep album tracks like "Anyway" (beautiful piano playing from Banks), those shimmering Hackett guitars 'wrapped up in some powdered wool' in "Cuckoo Cocoon", crucial dilation of the pupils in the witty sexual awakening song "Counting Out Time" and the track that was always hard to hear on the original LP - the almost imperceptible "Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats" – now a gorgeous instrumental. I remember Hackett's wife did beautiful 'Wind And Wuthering' type paintings depicting those tracks in a book that came out in the 80s (can’t remember its name). Everywhere you turn, the audio thrills. That wonderful chorus with the harmonizing vocals in "Lilywhite Lilith", the wind synths and acoustic guitars actually depicting in sound a "Ravine" and of course that final run of three "Riding The Screen" (stunning Banks synth solo) segueing into the strangely peaceful acoustics of "In The Rapids" and that synth burst with Collins giving it some superb drumming on "It" with the "...it's only knock and knowall, but I like it..." lyrics.

Niggles - It's known that the 'Evil Jam' version of "The Waiting Room" on the B-side of the April 1975 British 7" single for "The Carpet Crawlers" (Charisma CB 251) is a different mix to the LP cut and I suppose could have been included here on Disc 2 as a Bonus Track - but it's hardly a huge loss. What you do get is fabulous just as it is (Audio and Presentation).

Prog Rock used to be such a maligned genre, but as the years have gone by and with so much blandness masquerading as music coming off the airwaves - new listeners are discovering what we loved first time around – its complexity and inventiveness and wild out there nature – and damn it – on occasion – its tearful beauty.

"...We hold together and shoot the rapids fast…" - Peter Gabriel sang all those decades ago as the band made a successful dash for the finish on Side Four. 

Well, if you want to get down to this 1974 Broadway fantasy, then this gorgeous 2014 Japanese SHM-CD2 reissue is the 2020 Times Square audio buddy you need…

"Hooker N' Heat" by CANNED HEAT and JOHN LEE HOOKER – Double-Album from January 1971 (USA) and March 1971 (UK) on Liberty Records (19 July 2017 JAPAN Universal/Liberty Records SHM-CD x 2 Reissue In Gatefold Hard-Card Mini LP Repro Artwork with a Booklet And Obi Strip and One Bonus Track – part of their 'Deluxe Double Series' - Akihito Watanbe Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Boogie Chillen No. 2..."

In March 2020 - "Hooker 'N Heat" is an obscurity you rarely see on either vinyl or CD. Yet for such a long distant memory (50 years in 2021), it's had its fair share of reissues.

England's See For Miles got to the digital first in 1989 followed quickly by an EMI/Liberty 2CD Remaster in 1991 widely issued in the UK and USA. Then Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab give it the ultimate audiophile accolade in 1996 by putting the Boogie Chillen double on one of their pricey and limited 'Ultradisc II' Gold 2CD sets (a fiercely expensive item these days).

Following that a company in France called Magic Records had it remastered by Beat Goes On's resident audio engineer Andrew Thompson in July 2002. That 19-track issue was more than interesting to fans as it contained a song mentioned by Hook in the studio dialogue to the band at the beginning of "Send Me Your Pillow" called "It's All Right" – a tune he was to record the following night but frustratingly never showed on the released double. Magic Records included both "It's All Right" and the US 7" single edit of "Whiskey And Wimmen" (2:25 minutes as opposed to the LP cut of 4:33 minutes) as Bonus Tracks on Disc 2.

And while BGO issued the Andrew Thompson high-definition 24-bit remastered double as a 2CD set in 2005, it was the bare 17-Track 2LP set only. This new July 2017 Japanese double SHM-CD reissue in gorgeous Mini LP Artwork includes the "It's All Right" outtake as a single song bonus - even if the packaging is a tad vague about it to English-language eyes. And to top its cool looks and grinding boogie bonus track, this new version does have something else worth raving about - truly fabulous and clean audio - care of a new Remaster by Universal’s Akihito Watanbe from original tapes done in Japan. Let's get to the boogie - children...

Released19 July 2017 in Japan-Only - "Hooker N' Heat” by CANNED HEAT and JOHN LEE HOOKER on Universal/Liberty Records UICY-78388-9 (Barcode 4988031229569) is a 2-Disc Set Reissue of the 1971 Double-Album on the SHM-CD Format In Gatefold Hard-Card Mini LP Repro Artwork with Booklet, Obi Strip and One Outtake from the Sessions as a Bonus Track. It plays out as follows:

CD1 (41:06 minutes):

1. Messin With The Hook [Side 1]

2. The Feelin' Is Gone

3. Send Me Your Pillow

4. Sittin' Here Thinkin'

5. Meet Me In The Bottom

6. Alimonia Blues [Side 2]

7. Drifter

8. You Talk Too Much

9. Burning Hell

10. Bottle Up And Go

CD2 (50:58 minutes):

1. The World Today [Side 3]

2. I Got My Eyes On You

3. Whiskey And Wimmen

4. Just You And Me

5. Let's Make It [Side 4]

6. Peavine

7. Boogie Chillen No. 2

The double-album "Hooker N' Heat" was released January 1971 in the USA on Liberty Records LST-35002 and March 1971 in the UK on Liberty Records LSP 103/4.

BONUS TRACK

8. It's All Right - Previously Unreleased Session Outtake first issued on CD in July 2002 by Magic Records (Barcode 3700139302323) 

The hard-card gatefold sleeve is an exact repro of the American original double-album, the fold-out white inlay has the lyrics in English and Japanese and it comes with an Obi strip and SHM-CD stickered outer plastic protective. The Remastering Engineer for Universal Japan is AKIHITO WATANBE and the 2017 Audio is gorgeous - so damn impressive as the band lay into the five minute boogie that is "Peavine" and the eleven and half minutes of "Boogie Chillen No. 2" - an updating of his Forties and Fifties chugging classic (Wilson keeping up on the heavy-heavy Harmonica).

Produced by SKIP TAYLOR and BOB HITE Jr. with all tunes by JLH - the double was split into two phases – the first LP with just him and his electric guitar plugged in and turned up loud while the band only briefly joins him on some songs on Side 2. I mention this because if you're expected rocket-fuelled Rock-Blues, then taper those expectations. LP1 is very sparse but eerily effective as he taps his foot and flicks those Hooker licks – the second LP featuring the band lifts up proceedings a little more - especially with Al Wilson blowing some fantastic Paul Butterfield-type Harmonica. And what blows you away too is the new audio here that has made the echoed vibe all the more intense and powerful. 

Surely one of the great lost 45s of the Seventies is the double's only outing - an edit of "Whiskey And Wimmen" issued Stateside in April 1971 on United Artists 50779 with the equally fab "Let's Make It" on the flipside (no British equivalent but there are other territories like France and Australia). The LP cut for "Whiskey And Wimmen" is 4:33 minutes while the single edited it down to a spoken title intro of nine seconds and the song at 2:25 minutes. "Let's Make It" saw its album version of 4:05 minutes only shortened a little to 3:50 minutes. Damn shame its not on here too, but the Magic Records double-disc that does have the A-side is deleted and therefore hiking it with a huge price tag.

The Hook plays fantastic guitar on "Boogie Chillen No. 2" as he shouts "I Feel Good!" enjoying the band cooking up a bass and drums driving chug. He mixes and matches lyrics from so many Blues references into "It's All Right" – a genuinely superb addition. You can so hear the band just digging being in the same room as the great Blues legend. Cool and then some...

I got my copy on a well-known auction site for under £20 though I've seen this Japanese beauty go for about £25 or a little above that. "I heard that whistle blow...comin' down the railroad track...hey hey..."

Let that child boogie-woogie, mama used to say - you gotta let it out! Well he did in the company of admirers and cohorts and weren’t we the better for it. Go Johnny Go...