There’s a lot to be said about COLOSSEUM but what’s rarely mentioned is this ensemble’s intellectual foundation that, together with mind-boggling musicianship, was one of the reason they were able to improvise to an extent where none of the band’s concert sounded the same as the performances which preceded and followed it. That’s why, with a single live album releases during the collective’s original run of the late ’60s – early ’70s and a smattering of on-stage recordings added to the reissues such as "Valentyne Suite" – as well as the recent flurry of archival tapes made available on Repertoire – the demand for more documents from the past doesn’t seem to diminish. As an answer, the aforementioned German label will issue a 6CD box set at the end of October, titled “Transmissions: Live At The BBC” and comprising the group’s gigs for the Beeb.
