Colosseum
Time on Our Side

THE REVIEW

This is currently the third-to-last album by Colosseum, a rock project tinged with jazz and blues that’s proving extremely tamugno (from the Latin tam magno), since they’re still making music even though, unfortunately, they seem to lose a “piece”—a musician—every time around. This time, in 2014, the saxophonist passed away: a truly talented player, actually my favorite tenor and soprano player, by virtue of his melodic creativity, flexible sound, rhythmic taste and accentuation... everything.

Dick Heckstall Smith is truly irreplaceable on winds, but here Barbara Thompson steps in—who happens to be the wife of drummer and bandleader Jon Hiseman, and, many years before, the young blonde dressed in white on the cover of “Valentyne Suite,” their most famous album from more than half a century ago. She’s not in great health either, suffering from Parkinson’s, which persistently stayed with her until her passing in 2022. Yet Mrs. Hiseman still has breath and technique to spare, though her style sounds... mainstream; especially, she tends to blow out too many notes into that mouthpiece, and too quickly. Thus the saxophone support on this album is professional, even virtuosic, but inevitably cannot be compared to the brushstrokes, the flashes of genius from Barbara’s illustrious predecessor.

Starting from this point, but not only for this, the album is good and worthy, though inferior to the previous ones. Aside from the no-longer-amazing sax breaks, the overall inspiration drops a bit, and those magical moments, so generously present on “Bread & Circuses” (1997) and especially “Tomorrow’s Blues” (2003)—the fantastic comeback albums at the turn of the century—are now less frequent.

I definitely have to mention “The Way You Waved Goodbye” with a beautiful rock blues solo by guitarist Clem Clempson, and the heartfelt “Dick’s Licks” where the band pays tribute to their late great colleague with a melody in Jack Bruce style. The singer and the new saxophonist do their utmost to play in the style of those who are no longer there: Chris Farlowe for Jack, mimicking his typical vocal emphasis, and Thompson for Heckstall Smith, chasing after his inimitable economy and unpredictability of phrasing.

Cheers to the women in this Colosseum release: in addition to his wife, bandleader Hiseman also brings in their daughter Ana Gracey for backing vocals and some solo parts. Additionally, bassist Mark Clarke—an excellent musician himself—gives strong vocal support, even more than usual. His partner Clempson stands out again on the laid-back “You Just Don’t Get It,” boasting—for him—an unusual fusion style.

The album ends with a live gem: a cover of a masterpiece by the same Jack Bruce evoked earlier. It’s called “Morning Glory,” and the original appears on “Harmony Row,” the greatest solo record by the much-missed Cream bassist and singer, who was also Jon Hiseman’s bandmate in the mid-sixties.

The immense class of this sextet spans ALL of their eleven works, not just the first three or four youthful albums that remain the best known. Albums like this may be past their prime, ok, but they are truly packed with good music, taste, chemistry, passion, and skill. Colosseum is a musical reality that, if you’re interested, is worth owning and enjoying in its entirety—especially if you know them well for their early feats but lost track of them later on.

This isn’t one of their very best albums, for sure, but we could use more like it.