Recorded 1969 - 1971
CD 2015 Lumpy Gravy Records
+ 4 bonustracks

Sealed !


This is one of the pivotal progressive bands that emerged in the second part of the Sixties. Unfortunalety the progressive world was more impressed by The Nice and King Crimson, so Colosseum is a bit understimated progrock band.
What really crowns is its ~24 minute track, 'The Valentyne Suite'. Here we witness a flourish of keyboards courtesy of Greenslade and Jazz/Rock passages that make this song stand out as a piece deserving of its length. From the wonderful saxophone to the rising climax at the end, from the sudden shift of sound somewhere in the middle which caught me completely off guard to the reprising melody that just bursts with the right notes, this is a song just begging to be appreciated.


Tracklist:

1. Butty's Blues
2. The Machine Demands A Sacrifice
3. The Valentyne Suite (live)
3a. January's Search
3b. February's Valentyne
3c. Beware The Ides Of March

Bonustracks:
4. Debut (live)
5. The Kettle (BBC Session, 1969)
6. Take Me Back To Doomsday (BBC Session, 1971)
7. Tanglewood '63 (live in studio)

Tracks 1-3 recoreded live at the Boston Tea Party, Boston, MA on 13th August 1969.
Track 4 recoreded live at Staines, UK for 'Supershow' movie 26th March 1969.
Track 5 recoreded at BBC Studios, London on 19th May 1969.
Track 6 recoreded at BBC Studios, London on 20th January 1971.
Track 7 recorede in Bremen, Germany on 28th November 1970.


Line Up:

Dave Greenslade - Hammond organ, vibraphone, piano
Dick Heckstall-Smith - saxophones, flute
Jon Hiseman - drums
James Litherland - guitars and lead vocals on tracks 1-5
Tony Reeves - bass guitar on tracks 1-5

Chris Farlowe - lead vocals on track 6
Mark Clarke - bass, backing vocals on track 6, 7
Dave Clempson - guitar on tracks 6, 7