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HEAD FIRSTUriah HeepHeavy Prog |
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Lets talk about Head First. It is not as strong as Abominog - as "we've heard that tune before" - previously played in Abominog. BUT, Head First still comes as good hard-rock album. Other Side of Midinight - is nice rock song with good melody to sing along - backed by harmonius backing vox. Stay on Top is a cheesy arena-rock- show-opener rock song. Terrible lyric, but - hey, this comes from old 70s band, certainly can match Bon Jovi or Dokken in that era. Lonely Nights is a strong pop melody - coming from oh well - Bryan Adams! Guess everyone is entitled to make money!
My favorite track has always been Love is Blind. The backing vocals during the chorus always remind me of - Styx. Peter Goalby - the voice, has a deeper heavy voice naturally but he sings slightly falsetto in the chorus. The rest of the tracks - are in the same vein - with Straight Through The Heart and Weekend Warriors are the other outstanding tracks.
If your interest is in pure prog - skip Uriah Heep. If you like Heep in the 70s - you may not enjoy this album If you like good - hard rockin songs (think Rainbow's Bent Out of Shape, Styx's Killroy was here) - Head First is a gem - along with of course - Abominog.
Rizal - Jakarta

This was Uriah Heep's last album for the Bronze Label, whom they had grown up with since their early days. The break was down to the financial state of the label more than anything else.
"Head first" has signs of Uriah Heep's slow but ultimately complete recovery. The sleeve is reasonably tasteful (the gallows in the distance not being immediately apparent!). The line up was the same as on the previous "Abominog", a level of stability not seen in the band for some years. They sound much more together as a result, with more adventurous but traditional Heep like vocal harmonies and a slightly stronger set. The songwriting is still questionable, and three tracks are written by non-band members.
"Rollin' the rock" and "Weekend warriors" are the best tracks. The former has some nice transitions from soft phases to loud rock, while the latter is a more traditional hard rock track, but with a much better hook than other tracks on the album. Goalby's vocals are once again strong, more in the way of John Lawton than David Byron, but solidly performed. Box throws in a few of his instantly recognisable solos, but unkind as it is to labour the point, the Hensley effect is still noticeable by its absence.
Definite signs that the band are getting back on their feet, but still a bit to go yet.



Both "The Other Side of Midnight" and "Stay on Top" although heavy rock numbers are rather dull. The first interesting track is "Lonely Nights" thanks to its catchy melody and good rhythmics. A very nice and poopy tune. More in line with their work in " Conquest" which I quite liked (surprisingly). I guess that since heavy metal was rather popular in these days, that the Heep tried to attract fans from the genre with numbers like "Sweet Talk" (still formatted fo radio broadcasting). Not too bad though.
Another good rock song is "Love Is Blind". I have already written that when the Heep sticks to good (hard) rock songs it could still be pleasant (the best years being of course behind).
"Roll-Overture" could have been featured on "Salisbury" : it is one of their most symphonic (even a bit pompous) number. ELP is not far away. This could have been an intro to an epic song. Instead, it introduces the rather violent "Red Lights". Fabulous rythm here, and high pitched vocals as Byron had used us to. It is really a return to old the good old days (reminds me definitely "Bird Of Prey " from... "Salisbury" back in 1971). It has been ages than the Heep had not produced such a great song. Fantastic guitar work (thanks Mick). The absolute highlight here (too short, unfortunately. But this was already ture for some of their legendary tracks like "Easy Livin").
"Rollin' the Rock" is also a good number. Almost prog intro (for about 2'20") with very nice vocals and backing keys. The song then rocks strongly for a little while, like if the Heep was hesitant to produce a prog song (IMO, there were never really prog with the exception of "Salisbury", the album). I have always categorized them within the hard- rock genre. This song is again a very good surprise. Strong and efficient. Another highlight. The same spatial vocal from "Bird Of Prey" can also be heard at the end of the song (very briefly, I must say).
This album is rather pleasant : a global good rock feeling throughout the whole work. Here and there some weak songs like the AOR "Straight To The Heart"(but there was a time during which only poor songs were proposed). So, let's not complain too much. The closing number "Weekend Warriors" is again a solid hard-rock song with a fantastic rythm and a good melody. A very good song indeed to end this rather interesting (and surprising) album.
As I concluded in my review for "Conquest", the Heep is back on business. Should they only avoid this AOR sound here and there, it would be far much better.
Three stars. I hope the Heep will go on like this for their future releases.

Although I like Abominog more than Head First, I still give it three stars; as with Abominog, HF won't satisfy many progheads, except maybe for those who also enjoy AOR, hard rock and classic heavy metal.

Here the problem is not even the kind of sound, really. It´s the quality of the songs that suffers. While the first post Hensley album had some very strong tracks, here they simply tried to follow the path, but ended up recording tunes that not as good. Head First was a tentative LP: not really bad, but the band was trying to look what they´re not. Like throwing away the last vestiges of their glorious past and gain a whole new audience. Yes, that happened a lot at the time. It may nave worked for some (like Scorpions) but not for UH. At least not as much.
Anyway, things would go even more downward by the next release, Equator. But fortunaltly after that, UH would rise again, slowly, but steadly, with a better line up and stronger CDs. Head First is for collectors and hardcore fans, only.


"The Other Side of Midnight" has some really nice riffs, it's just the keyboards and vocals that really don't work because of the fact that they really make it sound poppier, and it kind of annoys me because of the prominance of the keyboards. The bassline and guitar solo are definatly appreciated. "Stay on Top" has an interesting intro, but the guitar solo at the beginning is just so Mick Box and so predictable. The bassline is awesome and loud. The vocal harmonies on this one seem alot like some Queen stuff, but worked out a little sloppier, but it's a good song. "Lonely Nights" sounds like a wannabe copy of some of the other stuff that was going on, but a little more country sounding. This song really annoys me. "Sweet Talk" has some really nice keyboards in the beginning, and sounds like something very fasted paced for Tangerine dream, but the telephone talk is just terrible. The lyrics are boring and they talk about the same old things. Seems like i've heard it before. "Love is Blind" is another ballad that we have heard before, but has some nice basslines and guitar parts, but the lyrics and vocals seem so predictable. "Roll-Overture" is one of the only tracks that really has potention. It seems a bit random, but the beginning stunt is absolutly excellent. The vocal harmonies after the loud and beautiful intro are excellent too. Too bad it's so short, because it's easily the best track on the album. "Red Lights" has some heavy riff thanks to Mick, and this is one of the better songs on the album because of the guitar playing and the heavy sound. The lyrics aren't great, but it's a good and hard rocker song. "Rollin' The Rock" is a decent song, and is one of the longer tracks on the album and a little more proggy than the rest of the album. The lyrics aren't great, as usual, but the vocals are excellent and music overall is excellent. "Straight Through the Heart" sounds like everything else at the time, but the guitar playing is a little better. The lyrics are the same old same old stuff, so chances are you have probably heard this before. "Weekend Warriors" sounds alot like the last track on the last album, with a great Tangerine Dream almost intro, but then turns into a boring heavy rocker that we have heard before.
Though some of this stuff you have probably heard before from other bands, there is some okay stuff. The lyrics are bad throughout and the ballads are unbearable, so I can't give this more than a 1 star, because only fans sound really have it.


The overall impression is an unstoppable flow of refined music which is difficult to resist and it's hard to tell whether is gleaming AOR or pure heavy rock. There are four highlights IMHO: the opener "The Other Side of Midnight", another kick ass hard rock number in the very same way of "Too Scared to Run". But the most interesting part (for a prog lover) is side 2 with the combo "Roll-Overture" and "Red Lights": the former is a real symphonic break, too short and not far from THE ENID, that leads to the metallic up-tempo "Red Lights" featuring typical Heep's dramatic choruses (awesome!). The title and the general mood of the latter reminds me of UFO and their memorable exciting hard rock attitude. The closer "Weekend Warriors" is in a similar way.
The other tracks are more radio-friendly cuts, arranged here and there with heavy metal grit and passion thanks to Peter Goalby his wonderful set of pipes. Well, I know that for many reviewers this is not Uriah Heep anymore; in particular, its bad fame is in part due to the BRYAN ADAMS cover "Lonely Nights". However, I find the song pretty decent and the whole disc more surprising than that I would expect from such poor ratings and negative reviews. At that time the band dreamed that they could conquer the US charts. They did not but still released an appreciable work.
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