ELECTRIC SAVAGE

I have mixed feelings when it comes to the three Colosseum II albums. While all three of them have great moments, none of them are consistently great. There are some moments on all of them that make your jaw drop, but there are also many moments when you just feel that it is more of the same. Or to put it differently, most individual tracks are very good when judged on their own merits, but a whole album full of them becomes rather tedious. Every time I play these albums I am always quite impressed when the first couple of tracks are playing and say to myself "why have I underestimated these albums before", but after a couple of more tracks I change my mind towards them being rather bland.

The first album, Strange New Flesh was more varied with several vocal numbers so that deserves more credit on that account. But deciding between Electric Savage and War Dance is impossible for me, they are both very similar and none of them stand above the other. If you like one of them you will like the other. The only conclusion to draw is that it will be two stars for the both of them. Maybe if they had put the very best material from these two albums on one album, they could have made a very good one? After all they were both made the same year. I'm not sure, but as they stand they don't quite reach up to the three star rating.

But don't let my low rating deter you from getting this if you like high quality typical Jazz-Rock with amazing musicianship. These albums are not bad at all, just unoriginal and somewhat bland, albeit with some great passages.

I realize how utterly unoriginal it is to post basically the same review for two different albums, but I really feel that this is just what these albums deserve given that they are so similar in style.

I can recommend these albums only if Jazz-Rock/Fusion is your favourite genre and/or you are a dedicated follower of Hiseman, Moore and/or Airey. Personally I think that these musicians are great, but they have made far better music elsewhere.