Search - Colosseum II :: Electric Savage

The Test of Time Does It Tame the Savage? I Think Not

07/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the history of heavy sounding or hard-rock guitar there are few that can match the fire, passion and feeling of Gary Moore. And his peers know this well enough. After all, who did Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker choose to take the Eric Clapton spot when they decided to re-form a power-trio a few years ago calling it BBM in the process? But even BBM didn't quite cut it for me. They tried to be too slick, too commercial, too formulaic. The problem with listening to Gary Moore (which BBM should've corrected but didn't) is that he's quite often featured in songs without the requisite musicianship & bands without the proper chemistry to do his amazing guitar playing justice. Well, as hardcore music fans who seek out obscure & underappreciated recordings have known for years, Moore's 3 mid-'70s fusion/prog-rock oriented records with Jon Hiseman's Colosseum II feature the pinnacle of his playing within a context sophisticated enough to synergize into legend, a small legend talked about only by the few initiated but a legend nonetheless. For me it all started when I played a fusion-fanatic friend in high-school Moore's incredible solo on his remake of "Shapes of Things" on one of his old '80s heavy-metal solo albums. Listening, a grin surfaced slowly on his face & he informed me that yes, that solo was good, but if I wanted hear real musicianship around it rather than silly heavy-metal kid-stuff, to go find & buy all 3 Colosseum II albums. I did & 20 years later I still listen to these albums! The main reason is that this is fusion leaning very heavily on the rock-side, not too far from the mid'70s Jeff Beck stuff, & played with a lot of soul. The soul that often gets lost in fusion of a highly technical nature (as for example in some of Al Di Meola's electric recordings)is definitely not in short supply here. Aside from Moore, Jon Hiseman's the main reason for this, the driving force, the engine, as his amazing, ferociously showy but always fully controlled post-Cobham-White drumming sets-up the parameters within which Don Airy, Moore & John Mole, the bass player, operate par excellence. If you've ever liked the drumming style of guys like Neal Peart, Carl Palmer or Lenny White, then Hiseman's style will also floor you. From the scorching opener "Put It This Way," to the loud, bass-percussion driven ambience of the super-cool laid-back atmospheric groove in "All Skin & Bone" to the heart-felt ballad "Rivers" (the only song with vocals or lyrics, admittedly sung a bit weakly by Gary Moore, who was never a great singer, but the quality of the tune more than makes up for it), to the majestic wired sky-ripping firestorms of "Scorch," "Desperado" & "Intergalactic Strut" to the beautiful slow. loud pure-rock melodic grooves of "Lament," & "I AM," "Electric Savage" is one of those '70s fusion beasts that cannot be denied by reason of pure force, you know, just how amazingly cool it sounds blasted up to maximum volume. If you like virtuoso ROCK with fusion chops & I stress the word ROCK in the fusion equation, then this one is a sure bet to please"

Jazz-rock supergroup work out (and keep it cool)

Mons | Norrpan | 04/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With the benefit of hindsight it is easy to dismiss Gary Moore as a purveyor of supercharged bendy guitar histrionics, albeit on the blues scale. There's more to Belfast-born wizzard than that, however, as can be heard on this top-flight 1970's jazz rock album by Colloseum II, where Gary Moore foregoes the blues and ventures into jazzier pastures with equal assurance and feist. But Colloseum II is a team effort rather than a vehicle for rock stars' sideline indulgences. And Gary Moore isn't even the star of this line-up. That position is held by Jon Hiseman - the drummers' drummer and founding member. But fans of 70s rock might be intrigued to hear the Don Airey (Rainbow, etc.) supplies keyboards - with many of those wispy string synthpads - while Bass duties are handled with reassuring dexterity by John Mole (who, the sleeve takes pains to inform us, plays the Fender Jazz bass and no other, thank you very much). The musical pedigree of this group is reflected in some of the collaborations - John Mole,for example, played on Julian Lloyd Weber's South Bank Show theme tune.

The album is a glistening slab of prime 70s jazz-rock, that frazzles with energy but manages to be cool at the same time. This is a mostly instrumental album, but what vocals there are - namely on the ballad Am I - are supplied by Gary Moore with good results.

Stand-out tracks include the opening groove, Put it This Way, with the band laying down the law like a like a kind of jazz-rock declaration of intent. Jon Hiseman's crisp drumming comes to the fore in Intergalactic Strut, while All Skin and Bones has a kicking afro flavoured highly danceable beat (shades of Santana here). The overall feel is smooth - this is a good late night record - and there's a kind of laid-back jazzy feel. By no means groundbreaking in the way that say, Herbie Hancock, was, but if a tight jazz rock combo (with the accent on rock)firing on all six sounds interesting (let's avoid that aweful word, fusion) then Electric Savage is highly recommended. And if you like jazz-rock supergroups, you might want to check out Brand X's back catalogue with Phil Collins making significant contributions. But that's another story.



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