Live05 documents the band at its very best in wonderful European settings with enthusiastic audiences. Besides a stirring take of Jack Bruce's cinematic classic "Theme from an Imaginary Western," the two-disc set includes several of the songs from their seminal albums, including "Rope Ladder to the Moon," "Stormy Monday Blues," "Those Who Are About to Die," "Lost Angeles," and "The Valentyne Suite," which showcases Greenslade's amazing keyboard artistry. Together, the musicians in Colosseum create a powerful mix of rock, blues, and jazz-fusion that transcends all musical barriers.
A chance to sit back and enjoy the “reunion era” Colosseum live on stage at the 2003 Viersen Jazz Festival performing tracks from then-new album Tomorrow’s Blues. Recorded during founder member Dick Heckstall-Smith’s nal illness, world renowned saxophonist Barbara Thompson (Jubiaba, Paraphernalia) steps in. The result is a powerful performance from Barbara, Clem Clempson (guitar), Dave Greenslade (keyboards), Mark Clarke (bass), Chris Farlowe (vocals) and bandleader Jon Hiseman (drums). Alongside newer material including ‘I Could Tell You Tales’, the ensemble return to their Prog roots with a captivating rendition of ‘The Valentyne Suite’ and an epic ‘Lost Angeles’ (the latter rst released on their 1970 album The Grass Is Greener). ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ gives full rein to Farlowe’s mastery of the blues as Colosseum reinterpret Ray Charles’ original with some note-bending licks from Clem and Barbara’s sultry sax underpinning the closing number. Interspersed with interview footage with Jon Hiseman in which he explores the band’s musical complexity and continuing popularity in light of their decision to reform in 1994, this beautifully packaged CD/DVD presentation is a must for all Colosseum fans. As Hiseman explains: “You have to feed this creature. If you don’t feed it, it dies. Also, you can’t make it do, what it doesn’t want to do.”
Live albums are dangerous things. While the good ones capture the raw excitement of a show, all too often they expose a band's weaknesses, the ones that get covered in the studio – a singer who's not so good and instrumentalists who really can't cut it. But Colosseum, by the time they made their live album (the CD version comes with an extra track, "I Can't Live Without You," that wasn't on the original vinyl), were a seasoned outfit with some top-notch performers. In veteran Chris Farlowe they had a blues belter who could also turn his hand to jazz. Dave "Clem" Clempson was a rock guitarist first and foremost, but not limited to that, and bassist Mark Clarke was exactly the elastic foil drummer Jon Hiseman needed in the rhythm section.
The first studio album from the new Colosseum line-up featuring Chris Farlowe, Clem Clempson and Mark Clarke together with new members Kim Nishikawara (saxophone), Nick Steed (Keyboards) and Malcolm Mortimore (drums). Recorded in London and New York during 2021 and produced by Clem Clempson and Mark Clarke.
2009 four CD antology from the British Jazz/Prog/Art Rock band. Pieced together with the active assistance of band leader Jon Hiseman, Morituri Te Salutant features extended highlights from Colosseum's original albums as well as numerous previously-unissued studio and live outtakes, including BBC session material, the aborted late '60s single `Tell Me Now' and a host of alternative recordings from the tour that was immortalised on what many admirers believe to be the band's definitive work, Colosseum Live. Lavishly packaged with hitherto unpublished photos and a 10,000 word essay, Morituri Te Salutant is the final word on one of the most individual and iconoclastic British bands to emerge from the musical and cultural revolution of the '60s.