2 December : Daughter Of Time

Daughter of Time was Colosseum’s third album. I’m going with the Wikipedia release date of December 1970, though Melody Maker ran a feature on the band and an album review on November 14th.

I’ve mentioned previously that one of the things I’ve come to appreciate about this project is encountering records that sound unique and distinctive on first listen; the sense that you are hearing something new and creative in the context of its time.

This is one of those albums.

It wears its influences on its sleeve, but transcends them. Although you will read elsewhere about blends of jazz and rhythm’n’blues and the dreaded ‘progressive’, one of the things that struck me first about this was an inherent theatricality. It’s a concept album and has the feel, sometimes, of a cast recording of a rock opera. That feeling is amplified by the vocal performance of noted Nazi memorabilia collector and trader Chris Farlowe on vocals, who brings a Wagnerian vibe to his impassioned vocals. Farlowe had answered an ad for a vocalist in July 1970.

If that sounds like I’m trying to put you off, I’m not. This is a fine album, featuring stellar playing from, notably, Jon Hiseman on drums (track eight is one of those rare beasts, a live drum solo that impresses rather than bores) and Dave Greenslade on keyboards, though the whole band can play anything and play it well. My preference is for the instrumental performances. Clem Clempson’s guitar on Downhill and Shadows is probably the best white-boy blues workout I’ve heard all year (don’t @ me with your Jimmy Page or Alvin Lee, I’m not interested); only Miller Anderson of the Keef Hartley Band caught my ear the same way.

It does sound a bit of its time in places, but I don’t really care. A fine album that I listened to on Spotify. There’s also a YouTube playlist: