CONQUEST

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Things can only get better

Generally accepted as the low point of the band's studio career, "Conquest" has little to recommend it even to the most ardent fan. This was to be Ken Hensley's last album with the band, and it is a real travesty that his parting album should be so poor.

To be fair, the main problem with the album is the vocals of John Lawton's replacement John Sloman. The ex Lone Star singer has a good voice which fitted in well with the music of that band. Unfortunately, his style did not suit the music of Uriah Heep at all. Hensley soon recognised this, leading to a major personality clash between the two. Hensley thus departed after the album had been released, leaving Mick Box as the only original member.

Lee Kerslake's replacement Chris Slade (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) makes a much better go of the drums, but it's doubtful whether he saw his membership of the band as anything other than a temporary appointment.

The songwriting credits are slightly more distributed than on previous albums, although Hensley still manages sole or partial credit on six of the eight tracks. Songs like "Imagination" and Trevor Boulder's "Fools" would have sounded good if performed by Lawton, but Sloman seems to constantly struggle to identify with them, in fact he seems at times to be completely out of his depth. There are occasional moments of inspiration, such as the synthesiser and guitar interplay on "Out on the street", and the synth driven ballad "It ain't easy" (which also suits Sloman's vocals better), but generally the album lacks inspiration and focus. It seems clear that had the album been made by a previous line up of the band, the songs could have been developed into much stronger pieces (the potential IS there), and the performance too would have been much tighter.

In his 1997 sleeve notes, Mick Box recognises the failings of the album, while maintaining that he himself enjoys it. He does however propose that those who do not rate it "use it to play frisbee with your dog in the park"!

After Hensley's departure, Sloman's former band mate in Pulsar, Greg Dechart was brought in on keyboards on a temporary basis. Two of the tracks he recorded with Uriah Heep appear as bonus tracks on the CD remaster of "Conquest", but they sound nothing like Uriah Heep. The band then effectively split up altogether, founding vocalist David Byron having declined an offer to rejoin Box and Boulder. Fortunately, Box was to pull things together again, but the road back would be long and difficult.

Their last studio work was really poor and I wondered what I would discover with this one. During the opening number, Sloman sings several times "And now I've reached the point of no return". Is this premonitory ? Actually this number is rather good, with a great Box on the guitar. Not in the foreground, but solidly displaying his talent in the background.

"Imagnation" is a bizarre track. Quiet at times with good bass playing (but this is at least a consistency within the band), it gets more nervous here and there. Not a bad song. Rather different that what we are used to. Not hard, not AOR. Just bizarre. With "Feelings" we make a trip in time. The poor chorus sounds as"Stealin' " but the verses are much better. Same poppish kind of songs than what they released with "Fallen Angel" but a bit better. Intro and finale sounds like if it has been played life (fake audience I guess).

I quite like the intro of "Fools". Keyboard work is very subtle. It is actually a good rock ballad. This record is not as bad as I expected. No boring stuff as on their previous releases. This song features as well a brilliant guitar solo. Mick still has the faith of his twenties... Sloman even tries to sound as Gillan in "Child In Time" at the end of the song. The best number so far. It has been a while since the Heep wrote such a nice song.

"Won't Have To Wait Too Long" is another good rock song : good backing band with again an outstanding Bolder on the bass. I have the same feeling again with Sloman at the end of "Out On The Street " : he's trying to simulate the screams of Gillan (in a much, much smoother way). Again this song is quite pleasant.

The very quiet and peaceful "It Ain't Easy" closes the original album quite nicely I must say.

This album is definitely different from all the other Heep ones. No brilliant songs but no rubbish either. A good rock album. Compared to "Fallen Angel" it is a nice surprise. IMO the descent to the infierno has been put (temporarily ?) to an end. I don't have the impression that this album is AOR or even hard-rock (only some of the bonus tracks have these flavours). It is only rock music. And good one to my standard. I guess some of you will be surprised that I rate this album with three stars, but that's the way I feel, so ...

There are five bonus tracks on the remastered version. Two singles (both sides) and an outake from these sessions. Most of them will not add value to the original album. Still I like "My Joanna Needs Tuning" : very much in line withthe rest of the album. Actually, since the album was not very long, it could have fit pretty well there. So, it is only justice to get it now. "Lying" is also a good song : a bit Supertramp oriented. Quite nice I must say. Good rythm and very pleasant melody.

It has been ages that the Heep did not produce an effort that pleases me so much. Let's hope they will keep on like this. Unfortunately, this vocalist will only be featured on this album.

Not a bad album, but neither a good one. Ken Hensley´s last UH work is very different from anything they´ve done before. The main problem here is that the songs are not very inspired and the line up simply is not working properly. John Sloman tries hard to do his job, but it seems that his choice for vocalist was wrong. Not that he is a bad singer (he is good), but quite simply he does not fit it. And that´s the impression this CD gives you in the end: they are trying hard. Something´s clearly missing.

There are some pleasant tunes, although the sound is less rock and more jazzy. The opener No Return, sets the scene: differente arrangements, different tune, some tupical UH backing vocals for good mesure, but little excitment. And the second track, Imagination, does not even bear any of Hensley´s trademark writings. Feelings is much more like a track taken from Fallen Angel (not one of their best albums, though). And so it goes: average to good songs, but no highlights. The final irony is the last track, It Ain´t Easy, a good ballad, written and sung by.... Trevor Bolder.

This is surely a CD for the ones who have all Uriah Heep´s major albums and even then, one should listen to it before buying it. Collectors/fans only.

This is not as bad as everybody blame it, seriously. Musicaly speaking is much better than Falling Angel. The man who replace Lawton was an unknown musician to me till he appear here on this album - John Sloman on voice. I will be brief here, the voice is the worst from here, but sometimes has some really good moments like on Out On The Street. Strange but the bonus tracks are much better than the pieces from the album, Think It Over is a great Uriah Heep tune. Anyway The bass of Trevor Bolder is omnipresent and did a great job here, on the drums is ex Manfrd Mann's Earth Band man Chris Slade,and finally but not least Hensley save again an album that from the begging was lost cause . So a good album in my opinion , not among the best Heep albums but quite pleasent to listen from time to time, but no doubt i prefer to listen the albums before this one and the albums after this one. 3 stars

Oh... Great John Sloman!!! So controversial album and so different opinions about it. This is the last album with the songwriting leader - Ken Hensley. And he made great album for the last time with Uriah Heep. This is the last album by the old Uriah Heep, but I think it is not true. With the beginning of the 80s, Uriah Heep has changed dramatically. I neither think this album as the last one by old Uriah Heep, nor the first one by the new Uriah Heep. I think this album is an island in Uriah Heep's history. Yes, the first one that sounds in the spirit of modern 80s! The vocals was the sole thing that embarrassed me at the beginning of my experience with Conquest. I have realized this is great vocals work by John Sloman. The guitar works by Mick Box are wonderful again. Ken Hensley and Trevor Bolder, too! I just don't like very much the drumming style of Chris Slade. It's a blunt one. As whole this album is the third best without David Byron (after Wake the Sleeper and Firefly, but probably it's better than Firefly)! Conquest contains one of the biggest Uriah Heep's hits - Feelings, which in my opinion is one of the weakest songs on the album, because No Return, Imagination, Fools, Out on the Street and It Ain't Easy are surely better! I have said earlier, that this is an island in the history of Uriah Heep, because of the experimentations on the album and probably because of the vocals. I would like to discuss more about the vocal of John Sloman. It's a high voice, something like woman voice. Firstly I had heard it I thought it is woman. This singer use distortion to his voice and it gets very soul influenced voice. Wonderful - 4.25 stars!!!