THE MAGICIAN'S BIRTHDAY

Uriah Heep

Heavy Prog

3.85 | 687 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

I've had this on vinyl for as long as I can remember. I've never been able to bond with it so, after reading these reviews, I took it for another spin.

The problem with this album is that it sounds "dated". I know what year it was made but plenty of music from that era has aged very well. Too much organ, silly lyrics, mediocre musicianship, over-dramatic vocals, etc. This sounds like a parody band. It's Spinal Tap, except there's no humor to be found here. These guys are very serious.

Most of the album is forgettable. Occasionally, there are some moments of quality. For example, "Sunrise", peaked my interest before going nowhere. "Sweet Lorraine" is so generic that I have to guess they were hoping for radio airplay. Any band could have written that tune. Absolutely indistinct in any way.

I gave this record two stars because of two songs, "Blind Eye" and "Tales". The former is good while the latter is great. "Tales", alone, made it onto my ipod. There's no organ, Byron shows some needed restraint, and there is some great interplay between the synth and pedal steel. It sounds nothing like the rest of the album which is a very good thing.

All in all, this is one of my least favorite recordings in a genre that I otherwise enjoy very much.

Sabicas75 | 2/5 | 2012-5-10

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