Uriah Heep

[Adm.Kirk]

As much as I love Heep's classic albums I'm quite fond of the current lineup and their output as well. Wake the Sleeper was a killer record. The last two or three albums have been really strong.

Bill

[Sonia_Mota]

Cool but I'm not sure why anyone would not believe your real? Nice photos though. Thanks for sharing.

Hello Fracktured,
That weekend was so much fun, it’s my pleasure really for sharing, thank you very much for commenting on that.

It was mentioned in another thread but I think it's because some guys on here have a hard time believing that an attractive young female could be into this kind of music. It just blows their mind and they can't process it so they assume she's not who she says she is.

Aww Digital_Man,
Thank you for such a big compliment! I am very friendly that’s what I am. Thank you also for clarifying that previous issue.
In part I was to blame for that too coming here, opening a thread introducing myself hehehehe… completely obvious to the fact that unlike on PA it’s not done like that on this forum thus I understand that alone obviously raised some suspicious eyebrows.

Man, have you seen those pics? Have you seen the image file name? "ROCKFEST KEN HENSLEY SOUTH AFRICA 2012".jpg! Her account is most probably Ken Hensley in disguise. If it had been really her the title would have been something like "SONIA WITH THE DUDES FROM URIAH HEEP"!

Hahahaha! Jai.Dee,
I actually have been asked before if I am not some dude behind a pc

[Scrotum Scissor]

The other footage (videotape) with that same line-up is the Shepperton show from 1974. But IMHO that is not a great performance (Byron is particularly ropey)

It was actually seeing this that took a lot of gas out of my balloon for UH back in 1985, when much of the Shepperton footage was released on a 15-year anniversary video they conjured up (featuring a hungover Ken Hensley interviewed and commenting in between tracks and not much else). I particularly remember the occasion where Byron just stares into the camera in the middle of a song, obviously thinking himself to be something of a charismatic rock God yet rather coming across as somewhat of a drunken fool.

[mogrooves]

Gary Thain

The only redeeming feature of these thudmeisters, imo.

[Fracktured]

As much as I love Heep's classic albums I'm quite fond of the current lineup and their output as well. Wake the Sleeper was a killer record. The last two or three albums have been really strong.

Bill

Wake the Sleeper is great. The others have good material on them, but they're not as solid as Wake is. IMO

[ronmac]

Yeah, Byron was a bit of a mess after those prime years. The King Biscuit release from '75 demonstrates that pretty well. It's unfortunate, because I think he had a great voice.

[NogbadTheBad]

Wizard, Magician and Salisbury for me, only started exploring them in the last couple of years

[Progbear]

Yes, I concur. "July Morning" is a complete drag, IMO - yet it pales next to that "Shadows of Grief", with its bizarrely unimaginative main riff and never-ending verses.

I’ll give “Shadows of Grief” a pass for being a solid hard rock attempt, and being as scary as this band ever sounded. What it lacks in variety and competence it more than makes up for in atmosphere and nuance, two things I find sorely lacking in much of their music.

^It's the tone, which is wobbly, whiny and dry. People like Keith Emerson were getting far, far better sounds out of it.

Reportedly, Mann was so bombed that he doesn’t even remember playing the session!

[Klonk]

Man I loved Demons And Wizards and Magician's Birthday. Played the hell out of those two albums. I tried their stuff after these two, but none worked for me.

I still love this tune. It's the extended version bonus track on the remaster. Nice bass...

[notallwhowander]

I have Salisbury, Look at Yourself, Magician's Birthday, and Demons & Wizards. I think they are all fun albums, and I deeply enjoy them. Yes they are full of flaws, but then so many bands are. The idiosyncrasy is part of the charm, IMO. Plus they could rock, and let us be clear, rock is the primary virtue on display. Everything else is window dressing, really.



Is there really much going on in this song? But somehow the backup singers really put it over the top. Love it.

[GuitarGeek]

One of my all time favorite hard rock bands. I don't care if they were or weren't (ahem) "progressive". They just were a bad ass rock n roll band as far as I'm concerned. The first six albums just totally KILL, with Uriah Heep Live being one of the all time great live albums. Sweet Lorraine and the live version of Gypsy ("It's a song that features the Mood Symplifier and organ...yeah, that's the one, Gypsy!") were amongst the first things I remember hearing a synthesizer on when I was a kid.

I kinda lose track of them slightly after the live album. I never did get Sweet Freedom or Wonderworld. I agree Return To Fantasy wasn't very good (a massive disappointment for me, actually). High And Mighty wasn't bad, maybe not up to the same standard as their Look At Yourself/Demons And Wizards/The Magician's Birthday peak, but still some good songs, and that 8 string bass riff on One Way Or Another just absolutely slays!

After that, I have Innocent Victim, which I think two or three great songs, as well as several duds. On the CD reissue I have, Ken Hensley talks (in the new liner notes) about how he wanted to "experiment with the songwriting, instead of simply repeating Traveler In Time again and again". Uhhhh, I wouldn't really call writing bad MOR songs to be "experimenting", dude. One of the best tracks, actually, I thought was a B-side, can't think of the title, but apparently it was the second part of a song that was used on the album, and some turkey at the record company or whatever decided to split 'em up, put the first half on the album, and the second half as B-side for the single, anyway, the B-side is significantly better several songs that made it onto the album.

After that, the only record I have that I like is Abominog. I know a lot of people around here hate, or would hate if they heard it, this particular album, but I think it's another good rock n roll record. Someone once told me Abominog "sounds like every other hard rock record that came out in 1982". Which I suppose it's sort of true, there's a fair amount of synths replacing the Hammond/piano combo you hear on the earlier albums, and I guess it has that sort of 80's style of singing, drum sounds, etc. But I happen to like a lot of those records that came out circa 82-84, so Heep's take on that approach works for me. I do wish they had put Son Of A Bitch (a fantastic non-album B-side) on the album in place of the awful Hot Night In A Cold Town, though.

After that, the handful of records to me aren't very good. The live in Russia deal is an embarrassment (the keyboard cadenza in particular pales in comparison Hensley's Gypsy solo on the first live album ), Raging Silence I think the one thing I liked on it was the Argent cover, and I think I have another live album that I didn't like as well. I don't want to dis Bernie Shaw, because in any other band he'd be a great lead singer. But let's just say he's no David Byron.

But man, those first half dozen are all just...(jive talkin' witness mode) I mean, shit! (jive witness mode off)

Circle Of Hands is probably my favorite. A great melody, great lyrics, super awesome guitar solos (I think the first is Mick Box, but the slide thing I believe is actually Ken Hensley), and just...(jive talkin' witness mode) shit, man (jive talkin' witness mode off). And I don't care what anyone says, Gary Thain and Lee Kerslake were one of the most underrated rhythm sections EVER!!!!

[GuitarGeek]

Conquest is actually not a bad album (sometimes it's great like 'No Return', 'Out On The Street' and 'It Ain't Easy') but it doesn't sound much like Uriah Heep. I suspect everyone in the band knew it, particularly Hensley who made no secret of disliking John Sloman's style and left soon after.

I've heard it said that when Lawton left the band, Hensley actually wanted to hire Peter Goalby as the new singer, but apparently got outvoted by the rest of the band (and/or management) and that was part of why left the band after Conquest. Oddly enough, Goalby eventually got hired to sing in the early 80's, starting on Abominog, but Hensley says if they had chosen Goalby over Sloman in the first place, he might not have left the band.

I have a live album by Gary Moore from the early 80's, I think it's called Rockin' Every Night: Gary Moore Live In Japan or something like that. Anyway, Sloman is the vocalist on that and he does a fine job there.

[JJ88]

^There was political wrangling within the band at that time. It is suggested that some were very unhappy at how Ken Hensley was dominating the writing and a non-band writer was even brought in (Jack Williams) for the earlier Lawton albums.

Abominog is a more mid-Atlantic, Foreigner-style AOR sound. Good at what it is, as is the follow-up Head First. But I think the writing suffered when Hensley left...Abominog is half covers, along with a song they'd already recorded with John Sloman ('Think It Over').

The only redeeming feature of these thudmeisters, imo.

When I think of 'thud rock', though, I think more of Grand Funk Railroad, Nugent etc. Uriah Heep are more melodic than any of those.

[Pekka]

Reportedly, Mann was so bombed that he doesn’t even remember playing the session!

According to a Record Collector interview (RC #326) he does:
I was on Look At Yourself with Uriah Heep years and years ago, but I played horribly. I thought it was terrible. Gerry Bron said, 'Oh, that's fantastic!' But I listened to it 20 years later and I still thought it was awful.

[Pekka]

and that 8 string bass riff on One Way Or Another just absolutely slays!

It's a Fender 4-string bass doubled with a guitar, most likely by Wetton himself. He just repeated the trick he did on "The Great Deceiver".

[Pekka]

Man I loved Demons And Wizards and Magician's Birthday. Played the hell out of those two albums. I tried their stuff after these two, but none worked for me.

I still love this tune. It's the extended version bonus track on the remaster. Nice bass...

It's the only track apart from "The Wizard" where Mark Clarke plays. Quite a long bass solo.

I have to add "Paradise" and "The Spell" to a list of UH songs that I like. On those they succeeded with their prog tendencies.

[JJ88]

Yes, I think it was mentioned but Mark Clarke actually sings the bridge on 'The Wizard'.

Demons And Wizards is the one where it all clicked IMHO. People always go on about that first Rolling Stone review for their debut, but look at the inner sleevenotes of their 1973 Live album and there's a very good review from the same publication for Demons And Wizards! I get swept up in the music of 'Paradise/The Spell' every time, especially that long instrumental section with Hensley's slide and those layered harmonies. Great! The only thing I could live without is 'All My Life'.

The Magician's Birthday was a rushed follow-up; some of it maintains the quality, but it's the crowd-pleasing rockers which really let the side down. They were looking for another 'Easy Livin' breakaway hit but I don't think 'Spider Woman' or 'Sweet Lorraine' cut it. And I think the title track is daft as a brush...as is 'Pilgrim' on the follow-up. It's the more reflective songs which have lasted- 'Sunrise', 'Echoes In The Dark', 'Rain', 'Blind Eye' and 'Tales'.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I get swept up in the music of 'Paradise/The Spell' every time

This is by far the best thing they ever did, IMO - and it retains a sense of magic which I find completely lacking in their other efforts, where the Spinal Tap-factor prevails all too easily.

[JJ88]

^Definitely. Like I said, 'The Magician's Birthday' is like a comedy recording, especially that long Mick Box guitar solo!

[GuitarGeek]

It's a Fender 4-string bass doubled with a guitar, most likely by Wetton himself. He just repeated the trick he did on "The Great Deceiver".

Really? That's the same lick?! It sounds much better in One Way Or Another than it did on The Great Deceiver.

[Jubal]

I saw them twice. Once on my birthday (yeah, Magician's Birthday was played and I pretended it was written for me), on the Sweet Freedom tour, and the second time on the WonderWorld tour.
They really rocked with Hensley and Byron. I lost interest after WonderWorld.
They take the cake for craziest opening act - Earth, Wind and Fire. EWF had one encore with people screaming for more.

[Reginod]

the Spinal Tap-factor prevails all too easily.

Precisely what makes the 'eep quite luvable. Bless 'em, they define unintentional humor in music.

[Rufus]

Precisely what makes the 'eep quite luvable. Bless 'em, they define unintentional humor in music.

Scrotum doesn't like melody, song or humour so I understand why he no longer likes UH!

[Pekka]

Really? That's the same lick?! It sounds much better in One Way Or Another than it did on The Great Deceiver.

The trick, the trick. He doubled the bassline with a guitar on that Crimso tune also. Which is also a better song.

[Sonia_Mota]

People's taste in moozik differ, this is a good thing too. Anyone bashing July Morning doesn't not affect me at all, I am ok with that I love that song from the beginning up to the end, that moog bit and the end with those guitars that simplicity to me is just perfect it worked and made it most memorable, just perfect for that song. I pick what I like to listen and it may not necessary be what others like, this bit I don't really care, to me that song is outstanding brilliant!