''Valentyne Suite'' is the second

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

released by the band

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...

. It was

Vertigo Records Vertigo Records is a record company with United Kingdom origins. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by Uni ...

' first album release, and reached number 15 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

in 1969. The album peaked at number 18 in Australia in 1970. Though the song "The Kettle" is officially listed as having been written by

Dick Heckstall-Smith Richard Malden Heckstall-Smith (26 September 1934 – 17 December 2004) was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most influential English blues rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s. He is known for pri ...

and

Jon Hiseman Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman (21 June 1944 – 12 June 2018) was an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer, and music publisher. He played with the Graham Bond Organisation, with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and later form ...

, a credit which is confirmed by Hiseman's liner notes for the album, bassist and producer

Tony Reeves Anthony Reeves (born 18 April 1943, New Eltham, South East London) is an English bass guitarist/contrabassist, noted for his "distinctive and complex bass sound" and use of electronic effects. Career As a teenager Reeves learned orchestral doub ...

later claimed that it was written by guitarist and vocalist

James Litherland James Litherland (born 6 September 1949) is an English singer and guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive rock band Colosseum. He was born in Salford, Lancashire, England. He is the father of singer and producer James Blak ...

. The song's riff was later interpolated in three songs, notably "

Ya Mama "Song for Shelter"/"Ya Mama" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim, released as a double A-side single in September 2001. Both songs are on his 2000 album ''Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars''. "Ya Mama" is on the ''Charlie' ...

" by

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

.WhoSampled entry for "The Kettle"
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Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

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..."

Track listing

''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 ''Those Who Are About to Die Salute You – Morituri Te Salutant'' is the debut album by Colosseum (band), Colosseum, released in 1969 by Fontana. It is one of the pioneering albums of jazz fusion. The title is a translation of the Latin phrase ...

'', "The Grass is Always Greener" was substituted for the final movement in the UK release. Compact Disc issues of the suite follow the track listing of the UK release.

Personnel

Colosseum

Dave Greenslade David John Greenslade (born 18 January 1943) is an English composer and keyboard player. He has played with Colosseum from the beginning in 1968 until the farewell concert in 2015 and also from 1973 in his own band, Greenslade, and others inclu ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, vibraphone, piano, backing vocal on "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice" *

– saxophones, flute on "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice" *

– drums, machine on "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice" *

– guitars, lead vocals *

– bass guitars

Guest musicians

Neil Ardley Neil Richard Ardley (26 May 1937 – 23 February 2004) was a prominent English jazz pianist and composer, who also made his name as the author of more than 100 popular books on science and technology, and on music. Early years Neil Ardley ...

– conductor on "Butty's Blues", string arrangement on "Elegy"

References

{{authority control 1969 albums Colosseum (band) albums Vertigo Records albums Bronze Records albums Albums produced by Gerry Bron Albums arranged by Neil Ardley Albums conducted by Neil Ardley