colosseum

...released in '69 this is a great LP full of promise for a jazz/rock fusion that had neither the jazz or rock too far to either side, in other words its creating a new entity, though not third stream, thats another kettle of fish...the whole thing kicks off with a groove straight out of london clubland with some heavy R&B splat from a couple of years earlier but soon the whole shebang is saying this is urgent sounds for the coming decade with horns/keyboards/guitar all vying for the listeners attention and everything held down by jon hisemans drums pounding away...its all updated club noise helping to push the jazzy end of prog to the fore hoping to pick up an audience that was growing steadily who needed to hear 'with it' sounds but that were based in a solid grounding such as souljazz and R&B that had provided a root for most rock'n'roll up to that moment...all the tracks move along with solos popping up and grooving then effortlessly stepping aside for the next cat to riff...a good start to their journey into progland...
...morituri te salutant...