WONDERWORLD

This is still very much proggy to me. It's not as proggy as some of Uriah Heep's other album's, but still there is a good amount of Hard Rock and Progressive Rock. Flowing basslines and hard rock organ's and mini-moog make this album unique. This is the last good album with David Byron in the lineup, and this is the last album with bassist Gary Thain, and a year later is died, unfortunatly.

The opening track "Wonderworld" is excellent. The mini-moog in the begining is so forceful and it makes you know that this is Uriah Heep. The lyrics are excellent, especially for this album, and are much better than their last album's lyrical work. David knows how to add that emotion, which Gary knows how the make a melodic bassline, and Ken Hensley knows what to do on the keyboards. This song is just great, and it shows that they have come a long way lyrically since their last album. "Suicidal Man" is a very good hard rocker. The riff with the guitar and hammond organ present itself well, and are very heavy metal for the time, similar to what people like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple were doing at the time. The bassline is very loud and forceful, not as bottom end as usual, but still containing the low end crunch. David adds emotion and passion to the okay lyrics. A great track, though not the top cut, but in the middle of the pack when it comes to the songs. "The Shadows and the Wind" is a nice and flowing track, with organs that are really touching deep down to the heard. It's a bit proggy because of the excellent lyrics, some of my favorite lyrics for a song. The drumming is fairly good for Lee and are very flowing with the song. It seems a bit like a winter song, it's got that nice warm feeling, at least to me. "So Tired" seems a bit like filler, but it's a decent hard rocking song. The lyrics aren't good at all, they just talk about doing things on the road and stuff like that. The vocals aren't good on this one either, they just don't have that usual passion that David usually has. A let down track. "The Easy Road" is an excellent ballad-like track, with some excellent orchestra and piano type of sound. David has some excellent emotion, it seems a bit like low falsetto that he is singing. It's a sad song, with power and emotion that only Uriah Heep can give. "Something or Nothing" is a fairly good track, but it's not my favorite track after a slow and steady song like the last. It's very short, and sounds a bit like what was going on in the 1960's era of music. Vocal harmonies throughout, mostly a doubled voice really. "I won't Mind" is more or so one of the extended tracks, and is a good one. There is a bass guitar and a drum intro, flowing very nice with each other. The guitar seems to just add that right amount of hard rock into the song. David adds some nice vocals to the song with the good lyrics, though they are not the best lyrics of the album. The music beats the words on this one, though it's a top cut. "We Got We" is a good track, with a soft organ intro. The keyboards and bassline are excellent, add some nice atmosphere to the song. The vocals are really nice on this one, and the lyrics aren't bad for the album. The vocal harmonies are also great. The guitar playing isn't very well heard, but when you do hear it, it's very good for Mick Box playing. "Dreams" is hands down the best track, and it's the longest of the two extended tracks. The organ intro is very creepy, with the drums slowly following behind. The guitar is nicely playing solo's in the background, and are really just making this song all the freakier. The organ is very nice and is very loud. The lyrics are excellent, and David just gives it his own thing. This track is a must have. Bassline is flowing with the other isntruments excellently.

This album has a lot of filler material, but the stuff that everyone really tried on was excellent, and has that emotion that you can only find on Uriah Heep albums. This is a 4 stars because it's not a masterpiece, but you should definatly get it in your progressive rock album collection, or 1970's heavy metal collection.