Colosseum — Elegy- The Recordings 1968-1971( CD boxset)
Elegy- The Recordings 1968-1971 is a six-CD boxset bringing together four studio albums, and two live albums from English progressive rock band Colosseum. The band's sound initially leaned more towards the jazz & blues side of the genre- though as they went on they brought in more rock edges, be they prog, psych, or theatrical bound.
The boxset appears on Cherry Red’s prog rock-focused sub-label Esoteric Recordings. The set comes presented in a flip-side dark green laminated box- each of the discs coming in their own card slips. It comes presented with a thirty-six-page inlay- which takes in full album credits/ original liner notes, a seventeen-page write-up about the band, and plenty of band pics.
Colosseum was formed in the year 1968- with the initial lineup bringing together Jon Hiseman on drums, Dick Heckstall-Smith -on tenor sax, and Tony Reeves -on bass. In time the line-up was added to by Dave Greenslade -on keyboards, Clem Clempson on guitar, Chris Farlowe -on vocals, and Mark Clarke who replaced Reeves on Bass. The band initially ran between 1968 and 1971, though they have re-grouped a few times over the years since.
The first CD takes in the band's 1969 debut album Those Who Are About To Die We Salute You, and three bonus tracks. The eight-track album appeared on Fontana in UK and Dunhill in the US, and is seen as one the first/ pioneering Jazz Rock albums- though there is a fair bit of blues added into the mix too. It’s a studio recording, but as an album, it sounds very live/ pumped up, and that’s exactly what the then-five-piece wanted. We go from the blues rock guitar strut, sax honk trailed, smoking Hammond organ touched, and fiery soulful/ blues male of “Plenty Hard Luck”. Onto the galloping groove of the instrumental “Debut” with its shifting blend of gunning to shuffling percussion runs, horn wails ‘n’ sails, organ jiving, and guitar soar ‘n’ chug. We have jazz blues piano/ organ tones, tight tip-topping percussion, ramshackle backing vocals, and soulful lead vocals of “The Road She Walked”. With the album topped off with the decidedly pumped-up instrumental “Those About To Die” with a manic whack-a-whack groove, smoking organ runs, bounding to hissing percussion, and fired-up guitar leads. The jazz rock/ fusion genre would later on become a bit too precise/ showily/ polished- but here on this album- it’s revered up and more than rearing to go.
Moving onto disc number two in the set, and we have the band's second album Valentyne Suite, and one bonus track. The five-track album also came out in 1969, with the band signing to Vertigo. The sound on this album is slightly more rock-influenced be it psych or prog rock- though there is still a very jazzy & blue grooved-tinged feel to many of the tracks. The album opens with the bounding ‘n’ bashing heavy blues rock of “ The Kettle” which is a wonderful searing ‘n’ sailing start to proceedings. As we move on we have the steady bass, cymbal, and Hammond groove of “Butty’s Blues” with its sassy horn swoons & soulfully wailing vocals. The album plays out with three-part/nearly seventeen-minute title track- which grows from the galloping organ, tight percussion, and vibe edged. Onto bounding blues piano runs, spritely organ rises, jiving ‘n wailing rock-outs, horn vamping, and male/ female choir-like vocalising sections. As an album, Valentyne Suite is less wild & fired-up as the band's debut, but there is more here to appeal to the common garden prog/ psych fan.
Disc number three takes in 1970’s The Grass Is Greener- no bonus tracks on this one, just the original eight-track album. Seemingly this album initially only got a stateside release on Dunhill. For this album, the more prog-rock side of the band is brought out even more- though with still jazz-rock touches- and I can certainly hear connect sonically with early King Crimson on this one. We open cow bell striking, bounding guitar & bass prog rocking of “Jumping Up The Son”. Onto vibe darting, guitar strum, and sax wailing ‘n’ swooning of “Rope Ladder To The Moon”. Through to seven and a half minute title track- which drifts between pumping to swaying marches of horn-led jazz-rock, and guitar/organ-led moodiness. Again another very solid and creative album- that pushes the band's sound forward down some interesting paths.
Disc number four takes 1970’s Daughter Of Time- with the disc taking in the album's original eight tracks, and three bonuses. This was initially released on Vertigo in the UK, and Dunhill stateside. The sound here is a fairly even mix of prog & jazz-rock, though with often quite a theatrical edge to proceedings. We go from “Time Lament” which moves between hovering organ & wavering sax dramatics, onto more manic jazz-rock groove vamping that brought to mind Gentle Giant. Onto the guitar strum, bass plod, organ simmer & moody/ rising lead male vocals of “Theme From An Imaginary Western” which nicely builds & builds. Though to slowly slugging jazz rock touched blues of “Downhill And Shadows”. Daughter Of Time album shows the band firing on cylinders- going from the showy/dramatic to rocking, and blues-tinged. Such a pity the band called it a day with studio albums after this!.
Disc number four takes in 1971’s Colosseum Live- which brings together two live sets from that year and seventy-three minutes of music. The album features a few tracks from their back catalogue, but also some exclusive tracks too- it takes in just seven tracks, so as you can imagine some of these are fairly lengthy. We go from the nearing fourteen & half minutes of “Skelington” which is gunning 'n' bounding blues rock. To start with we find ragged & rising male lead vocals, and touches of rousing female backing vocals- before later shifting into a great jam out- which moves fiery and fairly abstract. There’s the shuffling to bounding jazz-rock groove of “Encore..Stormy Monday Blues” with harmonizing layers of male & female vocals added. I’m not normally the biggest fan of live records, but this is a pretty damn great one.
The final disc in the set is entitled Additional Live Recordings 1971. It features five tracks- taken from three UK shows from throughout 1971. And again we get some nice live versions of tracks, on the whole not as impactful/ enjoyable as the officially released live album- but it’s great to hear live versions of other album tracks.
If you have a liking for either late ’60s/ early 70’s jazz-rock or prog rock, then Elegy- The Recordings 1968-1971 really and truly is a no-brainer!. And it is most certainly great to have the band's back catalogue in one place, with some decent bonuses to boot!.