6360 015
WARHORSE - ''same'' (end of 1970)

Line-up: Ashley Holt, voc/ Ged Peck, gtr/ Mac Poole, dr/ Nick Simper, bsgtr/ Frank Wilson, keyb. Production: Ian Kimmet & Warhorse. Cover-design  by Marcus Keef Photography by Marcus Keef. Graphics by Sandy Field. Liner notes: none. Cover manufactured by Howard Printers. Recorded at Trident Studios Track listing A-side: Vulture Blood (Warhorse)/ No Chance (Warhorse)/ Burning (Warhorse)/ St. Louis (Harry Vanda + George Young). Track listing B-side: Ritual (Warhorse)/ Solitude (Warhorse)/ Woman Of The Devil (Warhorse). Running time is not mentioned The Vertigo logo on front is brown. Matrix number A-side: 6360015 A//2  1 1 7 Matrix number B-side: 6360015 B//2   1 1 4 Rarity scale: R2

Maybe it's all Deep Purple's fugitive Simper's fault, that this sounds uncomfortably akin to that particular band. A lot of organ and mannered and gruffy vocals are the main ingredients. Some bolero-like rhythms are enjoyable enough, but the main objection - as often with this kind of venture - remain the meagre compositions. Bands who cannot write songs should take refuge in cover versions, but the Easybeats' St. Louis isn't much help unfortunately. Very dated now.

Old-fashioned. soldiers rest in a bleak landscape of dirt, crates and barbed wire coils. A horse waits in the dust beside his tired rider. Brown in brown and very gloomy.

The lettering is the kind that is sprayed through a stencil to mark military goods. Very apt!
The inside shows five photographs of the faces of the band in neat and completely unfitting frames. The lettering here is like a menu in a bourgeois restaurant. What a blunder!

A cassette release in Britain has been confirmed, the catalogue number is 7138 021.

Notes: there are two label variations known: one shown above and the other with ''Made in England'' at 1 o'clock and a slightly altered lay-out.

6360 016
PATTO - ''same'' (end of 1970)

Line-up: Clive Griffiths, bsgtr/ Olly Halsall, gtr, vibr, keyb/ John Halsey, dr/ Mike Patto, voc. Production: Muff Winwood. Cover-art  by Tony Benyon Photography by Allen Melina Liner notes: by unknown. Cover manufactured by Howard Printers. Recorded at unknown Track listing A-side: The Man (Patto)/ Hold Me Back (Patto)/ Time To Die (Patto)/ Red Glow (Patto). Track listing B-side: San Antone (Olly Halsall + Mike Patto)/ Government Man (Olly Halsall + Mike Patto)/ Money Bag (Olly Halsall + Mike Patto)/ Sittin' Back Easy (Olly Halsall + Mike Patto). Running time is not mentioned The Vertigo logo on front is red. Matrix number A-side: 6360016 1Y//2 ▼420 1 1 Matrix number B-side: 6360016 2Y//3 ▼420 1 1 4 Rarity scale: R2

Patto shows us that driving and heavy can be gorgeous weapons, if only the right men handle them. Almost every track is a winner and it is hard to understand why this wasn't instantly world-famous when it came out. Loaded with emotion, highly expressive, still no frills and tricks anywhere, quite a feat. The mean time/measure changes in Time to die, the pushing harmonies on Hold me back, the world-record pace and anarchy of San Antone, are just a few points in case. Masculine and mature, this album puts a whole bunch of better selling bands to shame.



A strange cover, no doubt. From out of the open window in rushes the Patto-monster in glowing red on yellow. His hair is mustachioed Norse heroes, his mouth is agape, his teeth are readable: Patto!! The cover is structured as a cheap sort of tapestry (see scan above).

The lettering is just as discomfitting as the whole drawing and so scores a point.
The inside shows the name Patto in small patterned squares in red ink. Small photographs of the boys, too.

A cassette release in Britain has been confirmed, the catalogue number is 7138 018.

There are British copies with the info divided on both labels, too. No big swirl anywhere in sight...
The matrix is 6360017 1Y//3 ▼420 1 1
and
6360017 1Y//1 ▼420 1 1 4
so somehow they used a later mother for the A-side on this one. This seems to be more common than the big swirl release.

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6360 023
GRAVY TRAIN - ''same'' (end of 1970)

A very typical Vertigo early prog-rock LP. The tasty interventions of the flute provide the music with a character of its own, although the composition department is just good enough, definitely nothing more than that. Most tracks make use of contrast between heavy rocking passages and rural, almost folky, episodes. In this they resemble a side of Jethro Tull, but without that band's use of a dominant personality. They ensemble play is excellent, the instruments are played with taste and skill, but the songs, well, some are really nice nevertheless. Dedicated to Sid is full of finely honed opposites and at least half of the extremely long Earl of pocket nook is outstanding too. There's just a tad too much half-blues to make the record wholly convincing.

If it weren't for the natural colours, this could have been a Keef cover too. The lilliputian reads his magazine in placidity against the wall of a country station long ago abandoned. Horrifying details abound, like the window-mannikin in the wheel-chair and the outstretched arm from the side-window. It is only natural that the backcover has our little citizen peering at the horizon where no train appears. Vegetation is already taking over the rails. The sun sets... The cover has a minutely structured texture to its surface.
The lettering is much too voluptuous to blend into the image..
Inside a large photograph of the band shows that they are rough and ready..

A cassette release in Britain has been confirmed, the catalogue number is 7138 023.

Notes: This was issued in the USA on Polydor (24-4056) in 1970.
There are copies reported of this record that look like genuine UK releases, but have the matrix numbers hand-etched. For all we know, these could be counterfeits.

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6360 024
  KEITH TIPPETT GROUP - DEDICATED TO YOU, BUT YOU WEREN'T LISTENING (beginning of 1971)

So many great musicians and so little inspiration, such a disappointment! Apart from the almost incredible sounds that leave the bells of the brass in Five after dawn and the tiny replay of the Soft Machine on the title-track, there is very little to please the ear. Maybe the Mingus Workshop-clone Green and orange night park is fine too.

Fine cover this is, but also one that inadvertently gives the content away. The Germans have the great expression ''Kopfgeburt''  (meaning something like head-birth) for a creation that was concepted by the brains rather than by the heart and lo! there it is... The backcover holds the information and the small photographs of only four band-members.
The lettering is neutral and this is very effective in contrast to the painting.
Inside there are two typical Dean concoctions made out of large moths and fairy virgins. The liner notes consist of the expected ridiculous praise and raving, as usual wholly undeserved and even badly formulated too.

A cassette release in Britain has been confirmed, the catalogue number is 7138 024.

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6360 025
CRESSIDA - ASYLUM (beginning of 1971)

Another Vertigo highlight! Culley is more of an electric guitarist than Heyworth was and quite naturally this fact influences the overall sound, when compared with the debut album. Tracks are longer, arrangements more elaborate, but the atmosphere of resigned emotion is maintained. The modesty of the singer is still examplary, the melodies are still brimming with pastel colours and wistful progressions. The band is at its very best on the highly emotional Munich, one of very few long tracks in this realm that are enjoyable from the first to the last note. Great sadness and diversity is found on Lisa with trumpet en cello and the uncrowned Queen of Melodies is featured on Summer weekend of a lifetime. In fact it is only the closing track that tends too much to massiveness, something that this full-fledged prog band miraculously avoids on the rest of the LP. Top-notch!

And another fine surrealistic cover shot by Keef. A typical British seaside with multi-coloured stones and a pier. The poleheads are crowned with earless white heads, while another bunch of those stands among the stones. The one in front is burning. Why? The backcover gives the mirror-image of the front and as usual this is a bad idea and a waste of dear space.
Simple but adequate lettering is provided.
Inside the band poses as earnest people, which they probably were.

A cassette release in Britain has been confirmed, the catalogue number is 7138 025

Line-up: Graham Amos, bsgtr/ Martin Cure, voc/ Terry Howells, keyb/ Alan Savage, dr. Production: Stephen Shane. Cover-design by Design Machine. Photography by Design Machine. Liner notes: none Cover manufactured by Howards Printers Recorded at Recorded Sound Studios. Track listing A-side: People In Black (Howells)/ Don't Go (Howells + Cure)/ October Witches (Howells). Track listing B-side: Love Song No.6 (Howells)/ Dreams (Howells + Cure)/ Time(Howells + Amos). There are no running time indications The Vertigo logo on front is violet. Matrix number A-side: 6360026 1Y//1 ▼420 1 1 2 Matrix number B-side: 6360026 2Y//1 ▼420 1 1 1 Rarity scale: R3

This is prog-rock's obscurity incarnate. We did not know the line-up until we found it on a Peruvian sampler! The music is quite obscure too: typical early prog with dual vocals that carry a lot of vibrato. The organ is very dexterously played and the combination of this and the double vocals make for a recognizable sound. The lyrics are concerned with unusual subjects like writers of angry letters to the press. Some of the tracks are too average to excite, but the rhythmical explorations of Love song no.6 are very convincing. An agreeable piece of prog, but just a pinch too ordinary probably.

The cover works at best when opened. After the sweet flowery front the backcover comes as a shock: a weathered skull with some teeth missing. Surely the phrase ''still life'' is expressed here at full value and thus this is a worthwhile packaging.
Gorgeous lettering, placed at exactly the right spot is a bonus.
Inside the band poses sitting very close together, an empty bottle at their feet. Too much symbolism for me.

A cassette release in Britain has been confirmed, the catalogue number is 7138 026. How many of those could ever have been sold?

Notes: A single by a band named ''Still Life'' was released on Columbia in 1968. The tracks are What did we miss/ My kingdom cannot lose. We could not with any certainty find out whether or not this is the same band. The composer's credits would not suggest so, as none of the names mentioned are identical.
Thanks to our diligent readers we now know that this is not the same band after all...

As we are approaching a label design change in the course of 1971, we could not find all albums from this transitional period with the ''old'' design. You will therefore find some labels with ''new'' and some with ''old'' designs during this interval. The main difference consists of the placement of the wording ''Vertigo'', which now is above the spindle hole, rendering the swirl logo smaller than on the previous design. The placing of most elements has been adapted. Please see scans below for the differences in detail.

6360 031
NIRVANA - LOCAL ANAESTHETIC (beginning of 1971)

In the short liner-notes Campbell distances himself quite portenteously from the former Nirvana, the pop group that gave birth to Rainbow chaser and the likes. This here, he claims, is the real Nirvana. Well, if that's so, too bad! Side A consists of superficial rock-songs that are bound together in some kind of a suite but that do not have any connection apart from the fact that they are as shallow as you could wish for. There are no contours whatsoever anywhere. Side B is more like singer/songwriter fare with the only remarkable feat being the appearance of some harpsichord parts. Sounds almost like an inadvertent parody, especially the episode with the lyrics I wanna go home repeated some thirty-odd times. Local anaesthetic would be very welcome now, especially on the ears.

Oh, those great Keef cover-shots! A lady all in white and grey in a room all white and grey, a desolate piece of a garden peeps in. A scene from a yet unknown fairy-tale.
The lettering is adequate and fits the image well..
Inside the lady and the child are absent. Patrick is looking in through one of the windows. He looks worried, and rightly so!

A cassette release in Britain has NOT been confirmed.

Somewhat similar to the strange Fairfield Parlour release from the first UK page, a diverging copy of this has shown up. The details are as follows: a single cover, the backcover with a white border. The matrix numbers are hand-etched and read: NIRV 1 and NIRV 2. The spine is unprinted. Again, as with the Fairfield, extra music was inserted: I wanna go home, a non-album single track, appears as A2. Anyone who can shed any light on this is very welcome to do so!

6360 074 - 636083 + irregular numbers

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