COLOSSEUM/COLOSSEUM II — The Grass Is Greener (review)

COLOSSEUM/COLOSSEUM II — The Grass Is Greener album cover Album · 1970 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Miler72
There are so many occasions when the British and US releases differ, sometimes drastically, Colosseum is a perfect example. The debuts released in the UK and US are not the some. The Fontana version of Those Who Are About to Die Salute You is the original album, the US version of ABC/Dunhill replaced some of the songs with material from their forthcoming Valentyne Suite (not released in the States, at least not in that form or title). The Grass is Greener is what the American public got instead of Valentyne Suite. By this time, the group featured new guitarist Dave "Clem" Clempson who later replaced Peter Frampton in Humble Pie. So what you get is brand new studio cuts, reworking of Valentyne Suite material with the new guitarist (and vocalist), and one cut from Valentyne Suite left along, complete with previous guitarist and vocalist James Litherland. "Jumping off the Sun" is a fantastic piece, and it was too band the British never got to hear this studio version. "Lost Angeles" features lyrics that were no doubt about Los Angeles, calling it a shanty town, even for the millionaires. "Elegy" is exactly the same as on Valentyne Suite, but the other Valentyne Suite songs had vocals replaced by Clem, and sometimes rerecorded. The trippy outro of "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice" has been totally removed. Then material exclusive (in the studio, that is) to this album includes also a cover of Jack Bruce's "Rope Ladder to the Moon" and "Bolero". The former features probably the only time a Mellotron was featured on a Colosseum album, and probably the inspiration for Dave Greenslade to use a Mellotron much more in the future, particularly his next band, Greenslade. To me, you really need both Valentyne Suite and this one to get everything from this period in the band's career. Their best material can be found on both.
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