THE BEST OF (1985)

A landmark

This was an essential purchase at the time of its release, as it was the first time a complete album of Uriah Heep music had appeared on CD. The tracks are of course excellent, the selection leaning towards there more accessible pieces, and those released as singles. It does however include. "Gypsy" and "Sweet Freedom".

The songs are almost entirely from the Byron era with only the title track from "Firefly" to represent John Lawton's time with the band. The period covered thus only ranges from "Very 'eavy, very 'umble" to "Firefly".

This particular compilation has fond memories for me. While I had had all the band's albums on vinyl for many years, at the time of its release, compact discs were very much in their infancy. There were at the time several digital formats being trialled (such as digital compact cassettes, anyone remember them), and surprising as it may now seem, it was by no means certain that CD's would succeed in becoming the format of choice. Record labels were therefore reluctant to release anything other than mainstream albums on CD, as there was a significant risk that other releases would not sell in viable quantities. To find Uriah Heep on CD (even if it was in relatively expensive import format, this compilation being a German release) at that time was therefore a massive vote of confidence in the band's appeal. It also of course meant that I was able to hear their music devoid of the clicks and scratches my albums had incurred through many years of overuse!

There have since been many compilations of the band's work released on CD, and indeed, the original albums have been re-packaged a number of times. I suspect this particular compilation is now deleted, but it does make for a good if rather superficial introduction to the band's early output.

In my opinion, to call it "best of" is not really a good wording. You might call it a compilation of their most successful hits, maybe. I believe that lots of great numbers are skipped here and I am not even talking about numbers which format does not fit on a compilation effort like "July Morning". This compilation is too much "Return To Fantasy" and "Sweet Freedom" oriented.

Songs like "Traveller In Time", "Circle Of Hands", "Tears In My Eyes" and "Love Machine" only to name a few should have sit here.I understand that it is not easy to release a first compilation after sixteen studio albums. But the CD format would have allowed to be more generous in terms of lenght.

Therefore, I will rate this one with three stars. If their management / record companies did take a long time to release the first Heep compil, do not worry, you'll get a lot to choose from on later releases which will use the double CD format which is more appropriate for a band with such a long career.