Search - Colosseum II :: War Dance

Heavy British jazz rock

Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 05/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 1977 album of proggy jazz rock is a bit unusual in that War Dance incorporates elements of hard rock. In large part, the searing leads on the electric guitar courtesy of Gary Moore are primarily responsible for the hard rock aspects. Although other jazz rock guitarists had a heavy sound (John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola), Gary really seemed to be in tune with hard rock; come to think of it, Gary did enjoy a brief stint with Thin Lizzy in the early 1970s.



The lineup on War Dance, which was the last album by Colosseum II, includes bandleader and virtuoso Jon Hiseman (drums and percussion), Gary Moore (electric and acoustic guitars, vocal), Don Airey (Fender Rhodes, acoustic piano, ARP Odyssey, ARP Solina string synthesizer, mini-moog, Hammond organ, clavinet and percussion) and John Mole (bass guitar). These guys are simply fantastic players although I really need to single Jon Hiseman out - his drumming is mindblowing. I also like Gary's playing and his lightning fast scalar runs on the electric are really exciting (he favors a distorted tone, although he uses a clean tone too). Gary also wrote a good deal of the music on the album, although my favorite tracks were written by Don. Speaking of which, Don adds a lot to the music and his use of banks of synthesizers lends the music a fairly prog-rock feel.



Musically, this album is closer to the prog rock end of the spectrum although this album neatly fits under the jazz rock umbrella. War Dance is largely instrumental and boasts virtuoso soloing over an ostinato (usually played on the bass or doubled with another instrument), intricate ensemble work, odd time signatures (for example, there is a nice passage in 5/4 on the title track written by Don Airey) and breakneck tempos. Although maybe a little too much emphasis is placed on rapid-fire riffs, they manage to break things up with decent use of dynamic contrasts and loads of nice synthesizer tone colors. The most rocking tune on the album is Gary's Fighting Talk, which is a rowdy piece played in standard time (4/4). There is even a tiny smidge of Brand X-like funkiness in there too. Melodies are also used to a degree that was unusual for jazz rock bands and they work well. Although I generally enjoyed the album, the only weak track for me was the vocal track Castles, which is a bit dated sounding. In contrast with the positively blazing instrumental tracks, this (essentially) R&B-ish track did not fit in very well.



This reissue by One Way records is pretty skimpy and seems to be commanding very high prices. Fortunately, I was able to find a copy on this website for under five dollars. The sound quality is good and the liner notes list musicians only.



All in all, I found War Dance to be more or less comparable to other Colosseum II records I have heard and consider it a worthwhile addition to the progressive rock/jazz rock collection. Before I forget, most folks seem to like the debut (Strange New Flesh, 1976) which has a lot more in the way of vocal tracks."