10 insanely collectable Vertigo swirl albums you should always buy if found in junk shops

Patto - Hold Your Fire (1971)

Patto are billed as progressive jazz-rockers, thanks mainly to the late Ollie Halsall’s guitar noodlings. But that pigeonholes them unfairly. See You At The Dance Tonight is a Faces-style workout; the longing of Magic Door exerts a Reed Richards-like tug on your heartstrings.

The voice of mainman Mike Patto (who died in 1979 aged just 36, from throat cancer) was raspy and soulful, and his lyrics possessed a biting, cynical edge (check out the title track, a diatribe against brown-rice-munchin’ hippies). After this album, the band moved to Island and released the equally momentous Roll ’Em Smoke ’Em Put Another Line Out.

Discogs top price: $869.57

Buffalo - Volcanic Rock (1973)

If you know of Australia’s Buffalo at all, it’s likely because the late Pete Wells, who would gain fame as founder/slide guitarist of Rose Tattoo, played bass with them. But it was the unsung duo of vocalist Dave Tice and six-stringer John Baxter who gave this beast its rip-snorting, hoof-pounding USP. 

Tice – who would later hook up with rowdy UK pub rockers the Count Bishops – howls and hollers over Baxter’s ear-perforating, proto-metal licks and the result is so feral and primitive, it hits you like a Cro-Magnon’s cudgel to the cranium. From the slothful, sprawling Freedom to the unrepentantly evil Shylock, Volcanic Rock is a neglected masterpiece.

Discogs top price: $445.21

Warhorse - Warhorse (1970)

Bassist Nick Simper had a point to prove after being dumped by Deep Purple. Forming Warhorse from the ashes of soul singer Marsha Hunt’s backing band, he even recruited Rick Wakeman to rival DP keysman Jon Lord. (Sadly, Rick was “fired due to unreliability” at the demo stage.)

Warhorse’s debut straddles Purple Mk I and II. Nowhere is this more evident than on Burning, with its menacing Mandrake Root vibe, while Ashley Holt’s screams are straight out of Ian Gillan’s songbook. Simper, meanwhile, drives the band like Andy Fraser drove Free. Plus you can’t beat an album that begins with a track titled Vulture Blood.

Discogs top price: $634.41

Colosseum - Valentyne Suite (1969)

It wasn’t Sabbath or Quo or Rod The Mod who held the coveted catalogue number VO1 – that honour went to superstar drummer John Hiseman’s band, Colosseum. Even today, the cover of Valentyne Suite – which depicts a sultry 60s ‘chick’ standing next to a candelabra – resonates. Even if you didn’t buy a copy, the image exerted a powerful presence in the record racks.

A potent mix of jazz rock, fusion and prog, and featuring an all-star cast including keysman Dave Greenslade and saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, more than 45 years after its release, Valentyne Suite’s tour de force status remains undiminished.

Discogs top price: $215.04

Beggars Opera - Act One (1970)

Imagine a parallel universe where Deep Purple never recorded In Rock but instead continued in the same vein as Concerto For Group And Orchestra. Welcome to the bonkers world of Beggars Opera, where baroque, out-of-control keyboards rule the roost; where theatrical posturing is augmented by Sabre Dance-style guitars.

For a Scottish band they sound remarkably English – check out the clipped vocals on Passacaglia; very Video Killed The Radio Star. Strange to think they once demo’d a glam-rock opera, Diana Demon, with producer Tony Visconti. Stranger still, guitarist Ricky Gardiner went on to work with David Bowie and Iggy Pop.

Discogs top price: $277.11

Flied Egg - Good Bye (1972)

We bet this Japanese three-piece had smiles on their faces when they called themselves Flied Egg, in wry acknowledgment of their native inability to pronounce the letter ‘r’.

This, the band’s second and final album, features four loose’n’lethal live tracks, part Heep, part Hendrix; a trio of studio recordings that sound like The Hollies gone psychedelic; and epic, organ-fuelled closer 521 Seconds Schizophrenic Symphonic: all-out rawk with a Procol Harum bent. Strangely, there’s no sign of the Pythonesque humour of their debut, Dr Siegel’s Fried Egg Shooting Machine. Maybe they just wanted to get laid.

Discogs top price: $165.59

May Blitz - May Blitz (1970)

Listening to May Blitz’s ravaging sound, it’s no wonder they named themselves after the Luftwaffe bombardment that devastated Liverpool in 1941. Vertigo execs doubtless saw this Canadian/British power trio as the label’s answer to Cream, who’d split in late ’68; certainly this debut contains plenty of weighty, measured blues-rock in the Clapton/Bruce/Baker vein.

Unfortunately, all too often the songs become enveloped in a fuggy haze and end up as disjointed, dope-fuelled freakouts. The weirdly titled Squeet, meanwhile, includes the lyrics: ‘Squeet all over the wall/Let’s squeet away the night.’ Time to get the decorators in.

Discogs top price: $645.16

Jade Warrior - Released (1971)

Jade Warrior only signed to Vertigo because they shared management with the Osibisa-like Assagai. The label was desperate to jump on board the Afro-rock bandwagon, so it took on JW as a makeweight.

Based around the duo of Jon Field and Tony Duhig, this, the supernatural proggers’ second (of three) albums for Vertigo, is their most rock-oriented. On the highlight, the 15-minute Barazinbar, they prove themselves to be the missing link between Van der Graaf Generator and Santana. Duhig, who sadly died in 1990, chips in with killer power chords: his apeshit guitar burnout at the end of Minnamoto’s Dream has to be heard to be believed.

Discogs top price: $645.16

Juicy Lucy - Juicy Lucy (1969)

Juicy Lucy caused quite a stir when they, er, spurted on to the scene in ’69. The cover of their debut album depicted a raddled barmaid, naked except for a covering of overripe fruit.

The band’s flamboyant frontman, Ray Owen, sang like Jim Dandy uttering backwards Satanic messages. And mainman Glenn Ross Campbell was a demon on the twin-neck lap steel guitar, as anyone who saw the Lucy on TV playing their sole hit, Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love?, will testify. This uneven venture features too many cover versions – but all that is forgiven as soon as you hear Just One Time: slow, brooding and almost Doors-like.

Discogs top price: $234.94

Dr Strangely Strange - Heavy Petting (1970)

Many people’s first exposure to the dubious charms of Dr Strangely Strange was on the seminal Island Records compilation Nice Enough To Eat (1969) and the throwaway track Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal. A year later the Irish folksters cropped up on Vertigo for this oddly titled album.

The whiny vocals of Tim Booth are a major irritant, while many of the songs sound ill-conceived and under-baked, akin to an impromptu pub-rock bash-along involving fringe members of the Strawbs and McGuinness Flint. There’s some nifty stuff from their guest guitarist, a young Gary Moore, though.

Discogs top price: $1,032.26