COLOSSEUM Vinyl & CDs

Review: Nazareth, Buffalo, Uriah Heap, Genesis, Black Sabbath, China, Razorlight, Chase & Status, Metallica - the list of huge names that have recorded for, and released on, Vertigo is very long, very established and unarguably impressive. But it all started with this rather trippy adventure into the then-unchartered landscape of a nascent, acid-hued rock & roll scene. Valentyne Suite is, if borrowed memory serves, a wonderful summary of just how fertile and explorative guitar music had become by 1969. At times it's cacophonous, in other moments almost ritualistic in its hypnotising layers and movements. The vocals are gruff, riffs wailing, but the overall feeling is one of lucidity and evolution. You can almost see the loose white clothing flailing in your mind's eye. A forgotten classic from a time when it was, apparently, pretty easy for things to be forgotten.