01	The Kettle						04:28
	02	Elegy						03:14
	03	Butty's Blues						06:47
	04	The Machine Demands A Sacrifice						03:54
	05	The Valentyne Suite						16:56
	06	Jumping Off The Sun						03:37
	07	Lost Angeles						05:34
	08	Elegy						03:14
	09	Butty's Blues						06:46
	10	Rope Ladder To The Moon						03:45
	11	Bolero						05:30
	12	The Machine Demands A Sacrifice						02:53
	13	The Grass Is Greener						07:38

Colosseum - "Valentyne Suite" (1969) The second album was released later the same year and is widely regarded as Colosseum's masterpiece and in my opinion one of the very best progressive rock albums of the late 60's. It was also a historical album as it was the very first release on the legendary Vertigo- "swirl" label and also one of the best on that label. The first side of the album consists of 4 tracks that demonstrate their jazz/blues- influenced proto-prog very well. It opens surprisingly heavy with "The Kettle" which was their most hard rocking track ever. My favourite track of side 1 is probably "Elegy" with its excellent jazzy drumming, string-arrangement and cool melody. And the more blues- inflected tracks "Butty's Blues" and "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice" had also got a much more progressive sound and structure. However, the real highlight here is of course the fantastic 17-minute title-track that takes up the whole of side 2. Next to "In the Court..." this track was probably the best piece of progressive rock ever recorded in the late 60's (although, be aware that Colosseum didn't sound like King Crimson at all!). An intense firework of hyper-energetic progressive rock dominated by great themes and some truly breathtaking organ-solos from Greenslade built around the sax-riffs of Heckstall-Smith, all driven forward by some really furious drum-work from Hiseman. This track blows me away every time I hear it! An essential album in any serious progressive rock fans collection.



VALENTYNE SUITE
(released by: COLOSSEUM)

Year Of Release: 1969
Overall rating = 12

It's jazzy, and it rocks. In a world where most jazz-rock prefers to, er, "flow", this album's a good exception.
Best song: THE KETTLE

In my quest for world tolerance, I have nevertheless more or less tended to avoid jazz-rock outfits so far - not being a particular lover of jazz (because I'm an asshole who doesn't get jazz, hear that, people? I think I'm serious here), I tend to view "jazz-rock" with a lot of scepticism because usually it sounds just like jazz with electric guitars, and since I don't review jazz, it's a rather mean trick to make me review jazz by disguising it as rock, right? But, as usual, to every bad rule there's a good exception, and Colosseum is one of these. These guys only lasted for three years or so but released a bunch of really nice records that were somewhere on the border between 'wanky jazz-rock' and really angry, really artsy blues-prog mishmash. You probably never heard of them, but maybe you'll get a hint when I tell you that their sax player, Dick Heckstall-Smith, used to be in the Graham Bond Organisation with Bruce and Baker in the mid-Sixties. So Cream and Colosseum are twin brothers, except that by the time Colosseum formed Cream already disbanded, aw shucks, read on anyway.
Valentyne Suite is by many considered to be Colosseum's masterpiece, and that may well be so ('may well', since I haven't heard any other Colosseum albums yet). It's drawn out and bombastic, and yet it ain't very long; all over the place and tastefully arranged, and yet never really disorganized; well-performed, and yet never show-off-ey. As every democratic band at the time, they prefer not to let any single player overshadow the others, although at times I mourn that Litherland's guitar playing is too much subdued in favour of the sax and organ, but heck, that's jazz-rock for you.
In any case, the songs here rule. The first side is occupied by four powerful "artistic statements" which all sound the same and yet are all different. Key word is still 'different' - they tackle four different styles, namely, hard-rock, pure jazz-rock, blues, and psychedelia. Since the instrumentation is more or less the same, and they love giving the songs those grand, multi-tracked arrangements and all, there is a certain sense of sameness, but it really wears off very quickly. Litherland's numbers aren't particularly well-written, but they're written well enough for the band to be able to establish a competent groove over each of these ideas and turn in a sharp, ear-pleasing performance. 'Elegy' could probably be dubbed as a 'fast jazzy ballad'; the shortest track on here, it's mostly a showcase for Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman's brushes, but the string quartet touch in the background is extremely nice, lush even. If you can cope with Litherland's "backthroat vocals" (and hey, when you're dealing with jazz-rock singers, you have to cope with all kinds of off-turning vocals, so you've been warned), it'll be a masterpiece for ya, mister. Likewise, 'Butty's Blues' may essentially be just blues, but it's powerful 'blues-de-luxe', as Jeff Beck would title it, with a grand near-symphonic sound to it, guitars, saxes, and organs all rising in unison to rise the song out of boredom to ecstasy... just get that furious ending coda, with all the trumpets and saxes blaring as if they're going to jump right at ya out of the speakers.
'The Machine Demands A Sacrifice' is even better, for the first part of it, at least. It has more of a 'psychedelic' flavor to it, with occasionally trippy vocal harmonies, exaggerated nonsensic vocals... then the song fades out right after two minutes, and then goes into an, er, 'acid percussion solo' I'd call it. I really don't know if these guys had been doing acid (well, everybody was at the time, except Mr "Just Say No" Ian Anderson, I guess), but this track certainly sounds like they'd been paying tribute to those who did. Nice track anyway.
In any case, the best song on the first side is undoubtedly 'The Kettle', a totally engaging and authentic hard-rocker which was the hardest these guys ever got, which was not THAT hard, which isn't really that important because whoever dubbed Colosseum as hard-rock? Okay, coming full circle: it's a nice little hard rocker with a great wah-wah guitar tone, Hendrixey but cleaner, terrific 'controlled chaos' drumming from Hiseman and - get this - a memorable vocal melody. Funny that the track's billed as a collaboration between Hiseman and Heckstall-Smith when in reality Dick hardly even shows up on it: this is mostly Litherland's moment to shine, and his guitarwork is teasing and suggestive, and really economic. For some reason, he never really lets rip until the very end of the track, where he adds scat singing to accompany his guitar lines, in a rather cute way.
The "magnum opus" of the album, of course, is considered to be the title track, a three-part completely instrumental movement that occupies the entire second side. A seventeen-minute instrumental from a jazz-rock band; what could sound more evil? The very idea made my hair stand on end, but fortunately, the more I listen to this stuff the more I feel relaxed and happy in a silly way. It's... it's music, you see. It's not just a cool sax-playing guy soloing around for thirty minutes showing how good he is on his instrument without even expecting any kind of emotional resonance. There are no memorable riffs or themes here at all, but there is some kind of development, with things always changing and drawing you somewhere. Dave Greenslade particularly shines with his keyboards: on the faster parts of the suite he displays terrific organ chops well worthy of an Emerson, reaching breathtaking culminations. Heckstall-Smith and Litherland also get solo spots, the latter with a strangely subdued echoey guitar solo in the background, but like I said, this suite should not be regarded in terms of solo spots - the different solo spots are there just so that you wouldn't get bored.
Perhaps the best thing about this suite is that it really rocks - the faster parts, when the volume is turned up loud, display a near-endless potload of energy, like in the final section of 'The Grass Is Always Greener' where the band gradually speeds up and finally reaches breakneck tempo with Hiseman at his very best... heck, everybody at his very best. In this way, I can forgive the lack of purpose or truly memorable riffs or anything - this stuff is so dang pleasant. I have not the least idea about what this 'suite' has to do with Valentynes and whether these guys really thought of the three parts as representing different stages of something, but even if they didn't, that doesn't mean YOU don't have to make your own interpretations. Music is free, remember? You bought your music, you're the master - the music is now ready to perform YOUR own command. (Granted, I bought this CD for, like, three bucks, so maybe I'm not that much of a master. But at least I give you the hint, right?). Anyway, the album gets a strong eleven, maybe even a weak twelve when I'm in a good mood - it's not the kind of music I'd like to listen to every day of my life, but it's not the kind of music I couldn't bring myself to praise with all honesty, either. Good music, the kind that reinstates my faith in jazz-rock and all.




Colosseum - Valentyne Suite

Member: kidamadeus
Date: 12/5/2003

Released in 1969, Colosseum's Valentyne Suite is an early example of progressive blues, featuring Dave Greenslade on organ, James Litherland on guitar/vocals, Jon Hiseman on drums, Tony Reeves on bass, and Dick Heckstall Smith on sax.

Being an early progressive recording relying heavily on blues, this album is a near classic. I say near classic because while it is an important record in the history of prog, it is not an essential album. To me it has not aged well at all.

"The Kettle" starts the proceedings in a psyche-prog manner. It is definitely a song of the times, with traces of Cream (among others) readily apparent. And while it is not a bad song, it just doesn't do much to thrill me making it my least favorite song on the album.

"Elegy" is far better. A jazzy selection with some wonderful sax work, but entirely too short for my preference.

"Butty's Blues" is the first song on the album in which you can actually hear Dave Greeslade's organ work. I seem to recall reading that this was a live performance, and you can hear it in the songs casual but swinging vibe. A wonderful horn section augments this piece, creating a swing-blues vibe sound like one half Buddy Rich Orchestra, and one half Brian Setzer Orchestra. A nice piece.

"The Machine Demands A Sacrifice" sees the band moving closer into progressive territory...it's psychedelic percussive ending is comparable to Pink Floyd's "Bike"

"Valentyne Suite" is by far the crowning achievement of this album. At times sounding jazzy like an early Chicago or Santana, while at other times proggy like an early Yes (and that's just in the first few minutes!), this tune rocks...and at over 17 minutes, it is an epic work. Dave Greenslade rips one of the best organ solos of the era.

The album is not what I would call a masterpiece; however, there is enough here to validate my purchase..."Butty's Blues" and "The Valentyne Suite" are more than worth the price of admission.

6.5 out of 10 stars.


c2001 - 2003 Progressive Ears
All Rights Reserved



Valentyne Suite is a 1969 album by Colosseum. It was Vertigo Records' very first album release, and reached number 15 in the UK Albums Chart.[1]

Though the song "The Kettle" is officially listed as having been written by Dick Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman, a credit which is confirmed by Hiseman's liner notes for the album, bassist/producer Tony Reeves later claimed that it was written by guitarist/vocalist James Litherland.[2]
Contents

1 Reception
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
3.1 Colosseum
3.2 Guest musicians
4 References

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars [3]

Allmusic derided the first three tracks, referring to "The Kettle" and "Butty's Blues" as "tarted-up 12-bar blues", and claiming that "Elegy" was beyond James Litherland's abilities as a vocalist. They were more approving of the rest of the album, and described Dave Greenslade's solo on "The Valentyne Suite" as "something to offer a challenge to vintage Keith Emerson, but with swing." They were critical of Litherland and Reeves's playing on the song, however, and concluded "In retrospect this might not quite the classic it seemed at the time, but it remains listenable..."[3]
Track listing

"The Kettle" (Dick Heckstall-Smith, Jon Hiseman) – 4:28
"Elegy" (James Litherland) – 3:13
"Butty's Blues" (Litherland) – 6:45
"The Machine Demands a Sacrifice" (Litherland, Heckstall-Smith, Pete Brown, Hiseman) – 3:54
"Valentyne Suite Theme One: January's Search" (Dave Greenslade) – 6:20
"Valentyne Suite Theme Two: February's Valentyne" (Greenslade) – 3:36
"Valentyne Suite Theme Three: The Grass is Always Greener" (Heckstall-Smith, Hiseman) – 6:57

The Valentyne Suite was originally written with "Beware the Ides of March" as the final movement, but since "Beware the Ides of March" had already been released in the UK on Those Who Are About to Die Salute You, "The Grass is Always Greener" was substituted for the final movement in the UK release. CD issues of the suite follow the track listing of the UK release.
Personnel
Colosseum

Dave Greenslade - Hammond organ, vibraphone, piano, backing vocal on "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice"
Dick Heckstall-Smith - saxophones, flute on "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice"
Jon Hiseman - drums, machine on "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice"
James Litherland - guitars, lead vocals
Tony Reeves - bass guitars

Guest musicians

Neil Ardley - conductor on "Butty's Blues", string arrangement on "Elegy"


The Grass Is Greener is an album by Colosseum, released in April 1970. In contrast to other albums by Colosseum, The Grass Is Greener was released only in the United States, on the Dunhill/ABC label. It was conceived as a U.S. alternative to November 1969's Valentyne Suite, complete with a muted, blue-green variation of the aforementioned album's cover. It features four tracks recorded with then-new guitarist/vocalist Dave "Clem" Clempson in the winter of 1969 ("Jumping Off The Sun," "Lost Angeles," "Rope Ladder To The Moon," "Bolero"); three tracks from the 1969 Vertigo LP Valentyne Suite but with vocal and guitar parts provided by Clempson ("Butty's Blues," "The Machine Demands A Sacrifice," "The Grass Is Greener") instead of James Litherland; and one track, "Elegy," that appears to be the same as the original from Valentyne Suite, including Litherland's vocal. The record was remastered and released as a bonus disc in Sanctuary Records' 2003 deluxe CD edition of Valentyne Suite.
Track listing

Side 1

"Jumping Off The Sun" (Mike Taylor/Dave Tomlin) – 3:00
"Lost Angeles" (Dave Greenslade/Dick Heckstall-Smith) – 5:30
"Elegy" (James Litherland) – 3:26
"Butty's Blues" (Litherland) – 6:45

Side 2

"Rope Ladder To The Moon" (Pete Brown/Jack Bruce) – 3:42
"Bolero" (Maurice Ravel) – 5:28
"The Machine Demands A Sacrifice" (Pete Brown/Jon Hiseman/James Litherland) – 2:48
"The Grass Is Greener" (Dick Heckstall-Smith/Jon Hiseman) – 7:31

Personnel

Dave Greenslade - Organ, Keyboards, Vocals
Dick Heckstall-Smith - Saxophone
Jon Hiseman - Drums
Dave "Clem" Clempson - Guitar, Vocals
Tony Reeves - Bass
James Litherland - Vocals (on "Elegy")