Colosseum – Valentyne Suite

Does anyone know who the model on the cover is

Incredible album - and this first press sounds absolutely phenomenal! If you can find a clean copy of this buy it - it’s absolutely amazing.

The track Valentyne Suite is a work of genius, I would say it is is the prog rock equivalent of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D minor; it really is that seminal and one of the great musical compositions IMHO. Shame the rest of the album doesn't live up to this but you can't have everything. No record collection would be complete without it.

The Vertigo label couldn't have started any better than this album, Valentyne Suite, Colosseum's second album. The band wanted to go into more progressive realms with this particular album, but the jazz and blues are still the most dominant. "The Kettle" is more in hard rocking territory, where James Litherlind gives some aggressive guitar riffs. "Elegy" is much more jazzy, with jazzy drumming from Jon Hiseman and sax playing from Dick Heckstall-Smith. "Butty's Blues" is very much a blues-oriented piece, but what makes this such a great piece is the organ work from Dave Greenslade, plus there's lots of horns. "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice" is another bluesy number than ends with some strange electronic effects. The title track is what really makes this album, you'll have to have no pulse to just be blown away by the intensity of this piece. These guys really make it seem so easy and effortless, which in reality, it would be very difficult for anyone else to pull that off. Check out the organ playing from Greenslade, and the drumming from Hiseman. How did they do it? It's little wonder why many people have this as a favorite. I find it interesting that the first two parts of the title track, as well as "The Kettle" made it on the U.S. release of Those Who Are About to Die Salute You on ABC/Dunhill, and that American version was released some three months prior to Vanentyne Suite, so basically Americans were previewing Valentyne Suite. I don't know what was going on with ABC/Dunhill and Fontana (Colosseum's original UK label) and Vertigo (Daughter of Time was their only studio album where it was the same for both UK and US releases). Just one listen to the title track is enough to make you understand why many have Valentyne Suite as a favorite, this album is truly a must have!