Colosseum

The first two albums from one of the most innovative and influential outfits that the British Jazz and Blues scenes ever had.

John Hiseman & Dick Heckstall-Smith had a long history through the Graham Bond Organization, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and many sessions and together with organist Dave Greenslade they formed the original core. Heckstall-Smith was from a Blues background and Hiseman had strong Jazz and rock roots. Add James Litherland on vocals and guitar – found through an advert in Melody Maker – and Tony Reeves on bass and the band was there.

One might expect the first album to be a bit of a mess considering the band had only been together a few months when it was recorded and the direction – a new form of progressive fusion – was completely new but none of it. It sounds confident and powerful, meaningful and has a delicious looseness that suggests musicians really enjoying each other’s playing.

‘Those Who …’ opens with Graham Bond’s ‘Walking In The Park’ and it swings with a great heart. Driven by Hiseman’s drumming and horns courtesy of Heckstall-Smith and Henry Lowther, Greenslade’s Hammond really rips it up and Litherland’s guitar solo suggests a far more experienced player than he was at the time. The whole album goes from one direction to another whether it is the solid Blues of ‘Plenty Hard Luck’ or ‘Beware The Ides Of March’ which keys itself around the same Bach chord sequence as Procul Harum’s ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ and then develops into a duel between keyboards and guitar all orcvhestrated by Hiseman’s light-touch cymbal work and some positively awesome sax from Heckstall-Smith. The rip-roaring jazz of ‘Those About To Die’ which closes the original album leaves the listener exhausted. As a debut album it is remarkably good.

‘Valentyne Suite’ was the follow up album, released in the same year as the debut but definitely showing changes in the band’s sound. Opener ‘The Kettle’ is a blistering guitar-fest, written by Heckstall-Smith and Hiseman but with nary a horn to be heard. If memory serves, it was a live staple for years. ‘Elegy’ has a great sense of funk about it and ‘Butty’s Blues’, featuring some great keys from Dave Greenslade, is something that grew from live performances – Heckstall-Smith said that “(it) never stops, we had to fade it out” and the number has that feel of something drawing everything from every member of the band. ‘The Machine Demands A Sacrifice’ has some sterling flute from Heckstall-Smith and lyrics written by the great Pete Brown (Cream, Piblokto etc). The key to the whole album though is the mammoth ‘Valentynes Suite’ itself, taking up all of the second half of the original vinyl and written as three ‘themes’ – one of the first rock albums to feature a concept piece in this form and it took an immediate, and very positive, reaction from the band’s audience.

As usual with Esoteric, there are copious bonus tracks, superb documentation and a very high quality remaster.
The importance of these two albums can’t be ignored. They didn’t change the course of music but they were massively influential on many of the progressive bands that followed and musically they really do stand the test of time well.