VALENTYNE SUITE

You know those 50 things you want or need to do before you die - well one of mine was to see the Colosseum play the Valentyne Suite live - and last year I did in a Culture Centre in Oldenburg Germany. Barbara Thompson was on sax and replicated the late Dick Heckstall-Smith's deft handling of the intricate moods on this brilliant piece. Unfortunately Dave Greenslade didn't have his vibes with him but his unique distinct keyboards playing matched that on the original album. So back to the album then. There are a couple of nice pieces on Side One (in vinyl terms) - the Elegy and Butty's Blues accompanied by two quite distinct non-Colosseum sounding pieces (pre Farlowe and Clem) - but the star of the show is the Valentyne Suite. Jon Hiseman articulates in his cover notes the thought process behind the piece so no need to go over this - just relax and enjoy the changes in mood, texture, pace and 'conflict'. If I was to name my top 3 concept pieces of all time - 3rd A Tab in the Ocean - Nektar; 2nd Close to the Edge - Yes and 1st the Valentyne Suite by the band that could do everything - blues, soul, rock, jazz - the fabulous Colosseum.