COLOSSEUM – Daughter Of Time

Third article in a series of five.

With their previous album a resounding success (artistically certainly and commercially also), but touring constantly, the line-up change seeing the two guitars of the group disappearing, being replaced by a more fitting (not necessarily more virtuoso) duo, there was no clear cut singer. Dave Greenslade then remembered his old Thunderbird days, where he was backing one of the best and strongest soul voices (along with Traffic’s Stevie Winwood) Chris Farlowe, and in a surprising and daring move offered him the job. An incredibly bold choice as Farlowe’s impressive stature (the man is tall but also had survived a polio attack, but deforming his body) was not really an obvious frontman candidate. Farlowe’s soulful voice was not that evident either to fit the group, but again the magic that had operated for the first line-up worked but at a cost: the songwriting. Bringing such a forceful singer as Farlowe in but to use him as little as there were vocals in the first two albums was of course impossible. So the main difference between this album and the previous two, is that there is a lot more singing. And as incredible as Farlowe’s voice is, it is not to everyone’s taste either, but no-one can claim that there are not some incredibly spine-tingling moments on this album and that they are mostly due to his voice. So now, Colosseum is a sextet!!

Right from the opening track, you can feel that the exuberance of the first two albums will be much absent, but not the solemnity. Greenslade’s organ is mixed much lower than previously, but still well present and countering Farlowe’s incredible vocal soaring leaps. The following Time Lament has a difficult start, but once it gets settled, Farlowe’s howling, answered by DH-S’s sax lines (he was almost absent in the opener) are pushing the track into an impressive progression (but it does need repetitive listenings to fully dig it). Doomsday is a much less impressive piano-led track, even if the lyrics should please the more Tolkien-esque appetites, and a rare flute (Barbara Thompson who gets in many sax parts also and future Mrs Hiseman) appears. Clearly Clempson (the singer on this track) is not at ease with lead singing, though. The rather short title track is slow in starting and takes it time before Farlowe pulls in another one of his tricks, but again his voice sort of dominates the rest of the players. Assuredly the mixing and engineering of the album could’ve been bettered at the time, and the remastering job has not brought the expected results (at least for this writer).

The opening salvo of side B is a Jack Bruce (Cream but also an ex-RnB colleague) and Pete Brown (the leading UK Beat poet that had links with everyone from jazz to rock) track. If Farlowe really understands what Bruce was singing and duplicates quite well, this is not one of the stronger Brown lyrics (the man had gotten us used to She Was Like A Bearded Rainbow lines ;-), but overall a cool cover of that classic track. The instrumental Bring Out Your Dead is clearly a return to old Colosseum track (Ides Of March-type) and unfortunately shows us that the integration of such a powerful voice is not an easy task: the obvious and glaring proof is here. One can recognize Louis Cennamo (Renaissance, Illusion and Steamhammer) bass lines in the track – as official bassist mark Clarke only plays on three tracks, probably due to his late arrival in the group. Downhill And Shadows is a mix and messed-up blend of again slow-starting blues with all the usual heroics from Clempson and Farlowe and the typical Clarke on bass. The last track, the cynically-titled Time Machine is not only a filler but also a throw-away drum solo (remember that the drummer is the boss in this group) recorded live, and even if the guy is clearly an ace at his instrument (the man is impressive in concert), this kind of exercise is really not my cup of tea, a fortiori even more when lasting over 8 minutes. I suspect that this is exactly the type of tracks that terminated the partnership between Vertigo and the group.

Constant touring, a shifting line-up, the lack of time to write songs (maybe even a few too ideas also), a new balance to find between the six members and maybe a lesser production, all these factors might make this album is clearly a bit of a let-down, but ultimately with repeated listenings it slowly unveils its merits.

Of what I know, there are no real complete studio albums of the GBO, even if there are live albums and compilations. John McLaughlin also went through that formation. Severely depressed, Gaham Bond will commit suicide by throwing himself under a subway in 74, although there are rumours he was pushed.

Spencer Davis Group: Always wondered why this group was called upon the guitarist and not the real star of the group Stevie Winwood (with his brother Muff on bass). Winwood will of course form Traffic, and between two line-up of this excellent group will also play on Ginger Baker’s Airforce and in Blind Faith. Also played in the SDG, drummer York and Eddie Hardin (which left to form their duo Hardin and York) and future Elton John’s band Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson.

Manfred Mann: this is one consistent R’nB hit maker of the mid and late 60’s, this group saw going by Jack Bruce, Tom McGuiness, and of course Mike Hugg and Manfred Mann. The last two will then form the Chapter Three and then the Earth Band (both in our Prog Archives)

John Mayall And the Bluesbreakers: not a R’nB band, but a seminal blues formation and another super important band in which so many future rock great went through at one point or another. The list of players is simply too long to list them all but Fleetwood Mac, Cream and Colosseum could almost be considered as offshoots had their members not actually left Mayall’s group. For the progheads, Jack Bruce, Ainsley Dunbar (latter with Zappa and early Journey), Keef Hartley (and his future group), Henry Lowther, Dick Heckstall-Smith, John Hiseman, Tony Reeves (all three of those became part of Colosseum), Johnny Almond, John Mark (the last two will form a very interesting duo Mark-Almond), Colin Allen (Stone The Crow). The Bluesbreakers evolved from a straight Blues group into a fairly progressive and psychedelic group at time. Bare Wires, Blues From Laurel Canyon and A Hard Road  and a few more are recommended to the prospective progheads.

The Yardbirds: having been had three of the most famous guitarist in their rank, Clapton, Beck and Page, this sometimes groundbreaking group (mostly under the period of Jeff Beck) released a few albums, but by choosing the right compilation, one can have a dynamite progressive psychedelic rock record. But their real claim to fame for progheads is that Relf, Mc Carty and Samwell-Smith went on to form Renaissance and later on Illusion.

Chris Farlowe And The Thunderbirds: from this outfit came Albert Lee, Carl Palmer, Dave Greenslade, Tony Reeves and of course Chris Farlowe. The last three will evolve in Colosseum. Farlowe had one of the best soul voices of the UK along with Stevie Winwood. After Colosseum, Farlowe will also give Atomic Rooster two great albums.

The Zombies: A perennial rival to Manfred Mann, this R’nB group made tons of  singles, before disbanding just before a stunning psychedelic masterpiece Odessey And Oracle was released (posthumously). The most famous progressive member is Rod Argent (future Argent), but Colin Blunstone also remained a household name (not for progheads, though).

Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band: another outfit to have seen a few future prog musicians in its fold: Colin Allen (Stone the Crow), Andy Summers (Soft Machine and New Animals), Paul William (future Juicy Lucy and Tempest, another Hiseman group), Johnny Almond (of Mark-Almond). In 67, the group evolved into the psychedelic Dantalion’s Chariot with a wild stage presence and good light show (for early 67). Although they never recorded and album per se, there is a compilation album of their works.

The Animals: Although not having real prog links, this unit was responsible to bring back the Rock into pop music and had some delightful hits such as House Of The Rising Sun and It’s My Life. A slightly later version of the group did an amazing and groundbreaking single Inside Looking Out.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s, another later version of this group was a seminal psychedelic group with certain prog tendencies under the name Eric Burden and The Animals (which to be fair was based in the US) for which played such musicians as Andy Summers (ex-Soft Machine and future the Police), Zoot Money, Henry McCullough (future Wings) and John Weider (future Family). Their four albums are full of great Psychedelia never far from prog. Especially recommended is Winds Of Change and The Twain Shall Meet.
Eric Burdon will later form a group with War (almost progressive funk) and the first two albums with him singing are recommended as well as are the next three after he left.

Other R’nB formations/groups of those years include Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames and Dave Clark Five, both of whom held no musician that would evolve in later prog bands, so they are of a lesser interest to us.