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Uriah Heep - Sweet Freedom CD (album) cover

SWEET FREEDOM

Uriah Heep

 

Heavy Prog

3.45 | 416 ratings

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Rushlover13
4 stars This album is much more moving away from that overly proggy sound that Uriah Heep had been chasing for the past few albums. There is still an awesome amount of prog on this one, but it's not as strong. The lyrics are not as abstract, but some moments seem to fit perfectly with Demon's and Wizard's and The Magician's Birthday. Excellent musicianship throughout the album, everyone's playing is above average.

"Dreamer" is a song about someone who want's to be someone. The lyric's are far from interesting, but the music is upbeat and is very interesting. The guitar solo's throughout are nice, and the drumming is excellent. When David Byron goes falsetto in this song, you know from that second that this is a Uriah Heep song, it just has the feeling and vibe. "Stealin" was their hit on the album, I remember hearing it on the radio the other day. The intro is slow and is very melodic. David's vocals are very loud and are very powerful, much like him. The vocal harmonies on this one are definatly to die for, they are excellent and add some needed soul. "One Day" is the shortest, and is the least proggy and is my least favorite. The music overall is very good, bassline is definatly pumping, but I find the lyrics to be very boring. Not much to lyrics beside's talking about stuff that is very standard in hard rock or heavy metal songs for the time. "Sweet Freedom" is one of the extended tracks and is one of their best in their career. Slow intro with some nice hammond organ played very well by Ken Hensley. This song just has a really nice and interesting feeling and vibe, somewhat similar to some of the songs on the Demon's and Wizard's album for some reason. The guitar part at the beginning is excellent. David adds some well needed emotion to the excellent lyrics, and the vocal harmonies are very nice and sound great for this type of song. Gary Thain is really puming the basslines with passion, playing great with Mick Box and his excellent guitar parts. The vocal harmonies on the sweet, sweet freedom seem to be really catching and are very, very loud with some nice stereo. This song is a must listen to a prog lover. "If I Had the Time" is a little long than the normal for this album, but it seems to be a bit of filler. I don't find it interesting because the intro is really wierd. The overall music isn't bad, but it's not amazing. The mini-moog makes a nice appereance as well, and sounds really nice layered over the bass, organs, and drums. It's slow, which makes it a little uninteresting, but the moog adds some nice synthesizer-like depth. David sounds awesome, but not his best track on the album. "Seven Stars" isn't a great song, one of the few songs with an acoustic guitar being played, and it really dosen't add anything. Ken Hensley is playing guitar on this one, which means no hammond organ or any keyboard instruments. David's vocals are just okay, the vocal harmonies don't seem to help that much, but it isn't that bad. "Circus" is terrible, though the intro is nice. It's kind of a jazzy tune, but I think that "The Park" from Salisbury is better. Drumming is excellent, played by our very own Lee, but I don't think that it has that much interest in it. Thank god the next track is simply stunning. "Pilgrim" is another extended piece and is easily the best, and pretty much makes up for the filler stuff that was on the album. It's a masterpiece in it's own right. The vocals at the beginning flow very oddly in, but sound interesting and are very loud. The wah-wah really gets you into the song, and adds some nice atmosphere. The lyrics are nice and abstract, which is something a little rare for this album. Vocals are excellent, as with the hammond organ being played very well. Piano also makes an appereance. The musicianship is amazing on this album.

This album has a lot of filler, but a few songs make up for it. Though this isn't a masterpiece of the genre, you should get this album if you like something like Rush combined with Yes. 4 stars for a great album.

Rushlover13 | 4/5 |

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