Band:	Starz
Album:	Coliseum Rock
Style:	Hard rock
Release date:	1978
A review by:	omne metallum

01. So Young, So Bad
02. Take Me
03. No Regrets
04. My Sweet Child
05. Don't Stop Now
06. Outfit
07. Last Night I Wrote A Letter
08. Coliseum Rock
09. It's A Riot
10. Where Will It End

Omne, I hear you ask, why did Harold Godwinson cede the higher ground when it was clearly to his advantage?

Well, let me start by saying that Starz were a band that had all the qualities to be superstars; they had the songs, the connections and the talent to make hitting the big time seem a formality. Alas, the stars did not align for, well, Starz; the band were to remain a hidden gem, and one that needs unearthing. Coliseum Rock is perhaps the jewel in their crown, the last album in their seventies heyday, and what turned out to be the last hurrah for the original line-up of the band.

Coliseum Rock sees Starz at their best: 70s hard rock with swathes of blues and funk influences flowing through the album. The confluence of these sounds is channelled through the guitar heroics of Ranno and Messano, and the epitome of a rock 'n' roll singer, Michael Lee Smith.

"So Young, So Bad" kicks into gear and is classic riff-driven rock, setting the mood from the off. It's from "No Regrets" that the band's blues roots start to appear through the cracks in the, until now, rock hard appearance of the album thus far. It's at that point that Coliseum Rock comes into its own, with songs that segue freely wherever the mood takes them, eventually culminating with the title track, perhaps one of the best instrumental rock tracks out there, if not the best.

"Coliseum Rock" is an odyssey in sound, a sonic journey through which you are led by the unchained and uninhibited guitar work of Ranno and Messano. If you were to pick one track to try then this would be it; of course, given the way it leads perfectly into the following "It's A Riot", you might as well stick around a bit longer... and give the rest of the album a go.

"Last Night I Wrote A Letter" may seem quaint in 2023, but the song is still as powerful as it was in 1978, seeing Michael Lee Smith shine, especially with the chorus harmonies. It is tracks like this that highlight how well the production work has stood up, allowing each element to shine while also giving the song an analogue charm that doesn't exist anymore.

If there is anything to critique here, it is that some of the lyrical content... hasn't aged particularly well, to put it mildly. Some of it is innocent enough, with "It's A Riot" having the novelty factor of being a song with the insult of calling someone a "fat porker" (very rock 'n' roll). It, however, goes very wrong with "So Young, So Bad", a song that openly talks of the band having a, well, close acquaintance with a 15-year-old schoolgirl (yikes).

Coliseum Rock is one of those albums that got lost to time, not for lack of quality, but for whatever reason that leaves it without the kudos it deserves. While I won't be singing along to "So Young, So Bad" anytime soon, there are plenty of moments that will leave that track to gather dust.