COLOSSEUM II

The opening track 'Put It This Way' is a fast paced killer track, and a great introduction to John Mole's great bass playing. This track has a fine blend of rock (pretty much from Gary Moore guitar) and jazz (from the rhythm section). 'Desperado' is to me one of the best track from Colosseum II. It has a strong jazz feel, and has a great improvisation sections by Gary Moore and Don Airey.

'Intergalactic Strut' has a strong composition with several mood changes. Alright, if the band is ever compared to Return to Forever, this track might be one of the references. Even Gary Moore guitar solo ? in a few bars ? reminds me to Al di Meola works, perhaps from the similarity in using phrygian scales. 'The Scorch' is anthemic track, with great symphonic prog typical keyboard work and nice influence of classical music style.

Those four tracks are to me the finest tracks in this album. The rest of the tracks are enjoyable, but less superior musically. 'All Skin And Bone' has a wonderful meticulous percussion work, but the song structure is not very strong. 'Rivers' is a light ballad track, with Gary Moore on vocal. Not much to highlight, the song mood is typical Gary Moore ballad that fans of 90's Gary Moore's albums would love. 'Lament' and 'Am I' are also softer instrumental track, and again are quite typical Gary Moore ballad track (even the later is written by Don Airey). As comparison, 'Down to You' cover in their previous album is far more superior and has stronger composition as a ballad track.

Overall, this is a great record of jazz rock music and has several best tracks of Colosseum II.

Excellent tasty prog-rock soloing on the first title track and certain Camel influence a la "Moondance" is hearable towards the end. If you want a pompeous jazz-rock or fusion, this is the track mainly due to masterful keyboards.

"Major keys" is a lighter funky fusion number, reminding me of some Czechoslovak Blue Effect/Collegium Musicum around that time but of course they hardly knew about each other at that time ;)

The third track is a typical fast-paced Colosseum II track with excellent rhythm section and soloing by keyboards and guitar - let's put it that way! ;) "Castles" is a romantic ballad and not suiting on the album but with a clever melody and acceptable vocal. For me, keyboard textures are also a highlight.

"Fighting talk" and "Inquisition" are return to the fusion frenzy, mainly because of the speed of the song, although solos remain more faithful to progressive rock. Worth mentioning is Moore's acoustic guitar.

The most complex composition is by far "Star Maiden / Mysterioso / Qua" with sections and very progressive middle section because of irregular beat ending up all instruments running in a straightfoward speed. "Last exit" features wild guitar soloing but the track never actually picks up and feels like it's meant to be the end. Worth listening to as there is enough to explore for a long time.

To my joy, playing is dynamic, intensive while remaining accessible. Compositions are solid, leaving place to keyboard and guitar soloing. Drumming is very evident in the mix and never static. Fill-ins are superb. Moore does not play a typical jazz guitar, it is rock shaped towards jazz. "Rivers" is a pretty good ballad even if cheesy and not fitting the rest of the album. Then come more intensive tracks with good variety in rhythms. Noteworthy are equlibristic "Desperado" reminiscent of Brand X and "Intergalactic Strut". Colosseum II fusion is closer to prog-rock than any other US fusion band, no wonder since the players weren't orthodox jazz players.

Excellent addition to any prog-rock/fusion collection unless you are a fusion snob and demand more jazz in the sound.

The album starts very strong with a 5-star "Dark side of the Moog", which is a magnificient celebration of progressive rock. A very memorable and majestic Moog "riffing", Hammond runs, propulsive drumming and fantastic aggressive guitar playing make it an irresistible composition - must heard for each prog-rock fan. Even the mellow section keeps high standard and then increasing speed to remind of Return to Forever. Notice no vocals here - the best track on the album and possibly by the band.

"Down to you" introduces the interesting and emotional vocal singing a soulful radio-friendly melody. Finally, in the middle of the section, we have a fusion influenced instrumental section led by Moog, later a rocking guitar.

"Gemini and Leo" has a groovy funky beat, finally the bass guitar also shines but all in all, it's quite and awkward composition with too affected vocal. "Secret places" has a great rock melody and vocals, they should have left this song without instrumental complexity, it's a good rock number.

You see another composition with over 7 minutes "On second thoughts" but then it starts quietly with a vocal and relaxed laid-back keyboards - not a good sign. The compensation comes much later with guitar and keyboard textures.

"Winds" starts with a drummer's busy solo and fluently evolving to a Canterbury-like drumming, tasty guitar licks. Despite vocal marring it, it's the rhythm section that wins here by a margin, fantastic drums and bass that change dynamically. Another moog solo after a long while.

All in all, I'm very content with keyboards on that album, I find drumming and guitar OK (Moore will improve his fusion playing on next albums). The singer is not bad but joined the wrong band for his vocal.

So take this album with caution, it's much less fusion that expected.

'Strange New Flesh' is the debut album of Colosseum II, formed by late Jon Hiseman (he was bandleader of the former Colosseum band) with Gary Moore among the line up. This album has tracks with strong composition and a showcase of the virtuosity of the band members. This band ? and in this album in particular - is kind of more rock oriented version (in a good sense in this case) of Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return to Forever. Jon Hiseman dexterity in drums is off course one of the highlight (check for example the last track 'Winds'). His duet with Neil Murray on rhythm section is really awesome, whether it is on jazzy, groovy or rock mood. Don Airey ? Gary Moore keyboard and guitar conversations give a lot of great moments.

The first two tracks are for me the best part in the album. 'Dark Side of the Moog' (perhaps a wordplay tribute to Pink Floyd?) is a fast paced instrumental composition with awesome smashing keyboard and guitar intro (the keyboard is the main instrument as the title suggest). The rhythm section is also very nice, with several time signatures and mood changes. 'Down to You' is an adaptation from Joni Mitchell song that is wonderfully re-arranged in jazz rock style. Gary Moore's guitar work is so soulful (those who love his bluesy ballad works like 'Still Got The Blues' should love this track too), particularly the intro and acoustic guitar in the middle of the song. Mike Starrs voice is nicely fitted to the song.

Other tracks are also all great. 'Gemini and Leo' and 'Secret Places' are groovy tracks with fast pace rhythm section, and great bassline and drum fills. 'On Second Thoughts' is a slow track, with nice solo guitar intro and interlude. 'Winds' is the longest track (10:23). Gary Moore use extensively wah effect in his solo. Jon Hiseman machine-gun-like drumming is awesome.

In short, this is an excellent jazz-rock album, with many progressive elements in each tracks. Each track effectively explores the great musicianship of the band members without being lost in too long improvisation.

Frequently compared to Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra, their music has a bit more gutsiness and progressive flavor than either of those two great (GREAT) bands. Band leader Jon Hiseman is an incredible drummer in an original style, and Gary Moore shreds on this like few other guitarists of the era could. Don Airey plays some great and varied keys. The production on this re-master is flawless. A few songs into this cd and I was thinking to myself "Where the heck has this fantastic music been all my life?!" It just felt so right to me. It felt like home. I was in love...

Look, you have to hear this stuff to believe it. I can't explain it to you in print. And you get 13 (!) previously unreleased tracks, including the complete BBC In Concert session from 1976. This is primo stuff. One of the most highly-rated albums in my collection. Highly recommended to progressive rock/jazz fusion fans. ESSENTIAL. Essential.

This was a true supergroup not only on paper, as the music on this debut is really stunning, emotional, virtuosic and intricate in all its aspects.It surely kind of reminds of GREENSLADE at moments with all these influences coming from Jazz, Classical, Blues and Pop Music, but Colloseum II had definitely a more jazzy flavor as a whole plus Airey's keyboard work heavily relies on synthesizers (although some fantastic performances on clavinet and organ are still in the menu) and a revamped version of Colloseum was definitely a succesful description.The result was a captivating, jazzy Progressive Rock, starting from the flawless interplays of ''Dark side of the Moog'' and never cooling off until the very end with Moore offering his technical guitar playing next to the consistent rhythm section and Airey delivering series of monumental keyboard pyrotechnics.The album consists of four long tracks and two shorter pieces, the later being a mix of a more vocal-driven Rock with progressive flourishes in the keyboard parts.The longer ones though are absolutely fascinating Prog Fusion with solid soling, succesful breaks, numerous tempo changes and a touch of accesibility in the vocal moments.Strong jazzy vibes, bluesy guitar moves and dominant symphonic keyboards combine in an awesome way to offer marvelous, solid Progressive Rock with the foot constantly on the gas pedal.

Be informed that lots of reissues do exist with plenty of material coming from unreleased demos and sessions of the band.This is definitely a winner, an impressive combination of diverse influences, connected and executed in a professional way.Highly recommended to all lovers of adventuruous music.

Overall this is an excellent album and its a shame they didn't stay together much longer except to help a certain Andrew Lloyd Webber for his prog adventure (check it out!).

I recently acquired the 2 disc remaster which includes two different line ups. The first line up for the original album included a specialist vocalist Mike Starrs and bassist Neil Murray as well as keys man Don Airey. The vocalist may have been another concession to the record company to try and make the music accessible to the wider audience.The title track is by far the best track on the album and probably my favourite Colosseum II track. Talk about hitting the ground running. Jazz rock doesn't get any matter After that the playing is still of a very high standard but with vocals. And there lies the problem for me. I simply don' t like the vocals at all. Nothing wrong technically but I just find them irritating a bit overly done and in the way. Who is this Mike Starrs anyway? I would give the album 2 stars.

The Colosseum II I know and love is represented on disc two which is all demos and early versions of new material. Vocal duties when required are done by Moore. There is also a change in bass player. Now this is significant because if they had kept Neil Murray, then along with Hiseman, Moore and Airey CII would have been a bona fide 'supergroup' to match any of the great seventies line ups. Murray's replacement is John Mole who turned out to be a very good player but nevertheless you do think , who??! As for the music the working versions of Intergalactic Strut and The Scorch are not a patch on the final versions that appeared on Electric Savage. Its interesting though to hear Gary Moore singing a lot more on the other tracks that are represented on the bonus disc but still it doesn't add to to a whole hill of beans. They recorded the next album Electric Savage straight off the back of touring to retain the energy , something lacking on the demos.

Overall this is one for the fans with much better to come.