STRANGE NEW FLESH

Well, of course it was not equal to the best works by a small bunch of very interesting fusion bands in the seventies (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever or- once again the immortal Weather Report, for instance, just to mention a few ones), but this "Strange new..." is quite worth checking out nowadays!

First of all the style regarding the electric guitar often inspired some important guitarists, such as J. Beck for example; but also the melodic lines were quite important for a few British hard rock bands in the vein of Rainbow and R. Blackmore in general, talking about their vocalism.

Even though the present album was not defined at all, as it was a kind of "hybrid work", being a little bit distant from their jazz rock work entitled "War Dance"; and after all the "progressive blues" within the small jewel by Colosseum I ("Valentine suite") couldn't be emulated by Colosseum II. Nevertheless this debut new line up, including Jon Hiseman, Gary Moore and Don Airey was able to give the British Hard Rock a major importance or, if you prefer, a kind of improvement (an attempt, I mean...cause the album was not always inspiring) and that's enough to evaluate their effort as an interesting number to be remembered!

I don't think of their predominant blues/hard rock influences, sometimes resembling the common places of the seventies, but above all of their intelligent use concerning the Solina string synth and the solos at the acoustic piano as well, a sort of gift to Tony Banks, connected to a few classical textures, sometimes replaced by distorted tones, which became a "trademark" by Gary Moore, along with a certain emotional feeling in the vocal parts.

Make your own choice, as usual!