Colosseum Live

Fabulous

Bought for a friend's birthday, he loved it!

An astonishing recording. I bought the original vinyl album on the Bronze label in the 1980's. It was one of those strange packages with the albums in clear plastic sleeves with a foam strip liner that did more damage to the vinyl than good. I played the first album and thought it was a great live recording with a good dynamic range. Unfortunately only disc one was in the sleeve and I took the album back to the shop which was a well known chain selling second hand and record company review albums. The replacement didn't sound the same and lacked the sound quality of the original and turned out to be a different pressing. I eventually replaced it in 2012 with a CD issue after selling my vinyl collection. The CD which was issued in 1992 was the same quality as the vinyl pressing. i.e. flat and undynamic. Possibly recorded direct from a vinyl album? Anyway, I bought the new re issue on the basis that it was a remastered edition and had an extra disc with unreleased tracks. From the moment I played the first track, Rope Ladder to the Moon, I realised this was something very special. The remastering has put all the original dynamics back into the recording. In other words, it is as good as that elusive first pressing. The first track was like a locomotive roaring around the room and demonstrates why Colosseum were such an amazing live act. I played the two CDs one after the other to make sure I was not imagining this and yes, the re issue is outstanding. The bonus tracks also show how the band was able to perform differently from gig to gig with an element of improvisation that kept their act fresh and exciting. Also worth saying that Colosseum are not the only act whose recordings have suffered this way, other artists such as David Bowie and Yes have had different mixes released in the past on vinyl resulting in poor sound quality. Seems a shame to have to buy an album twice to find this out!

I have this album on vinyl but wanted a copy on cd. It is up there with "Live Dates" ( Wishbone Ash) when it comes to live recordings; helped of course by first class musicians and compositions.

In olden vinyl days,packaged in a dodgy plastic cover,the best live double rock album.In cd days we got one bonus track on cd.Now we get a whole second disc!For anyone who as I do,love Colosseum this is a must

This is one of my favourite live albums. I had it on LP in the 70s and it's a treat to have a remastered and greatly expanded CD reissue. Jazzy blues rock is what they play, with some great musicians. They had one of the best drummers of all time, a guitarist who was up with Clapton in music paper polls after his work on this live album blew everyone away, a genius of a sax player who sometimes played two saxes at the same time, a very good keyboard player and bassist and the extraordinary Chris Farlowe on vocals. Some people complain about Farlowe, but I think his voice is an integral part of this music and it would lose a lot if he wasn't on it. There are a lot of long instrumental breaks, if you don't like his voice, anyway!

The music has really stood the test of time, as fresh and compelling as it was almost 50 years ago. What I like about the band is that they understood themselves a creative musicians, in it primarily to push the boundaries of their art (as opposed to commercial aspects). This re-issue CD not only has the original double album but also chucks in the Valentyne Suite album for free. Buy it now, buy it often!

Excellent live jazz/rock album with superb musicianship throughout. The original live album on disc one and now comes with another superb live album on disc two. Highly recommended!