INSIDE URIAH HEEP - THE HENSLEY YEARS 1970-1980

Once a female USA rock magazine reviewer quoted about Uriah Heep: "if this band makes it, I will commit suicide"! And Uriah Heep has often been named 'a poor man's DEEP PURPLE'. Nonetheless, Uriah Heep sold million copies of their albums and had many Top 10 hits. So what about the music from Uriah Heep? Well, to me they are very precious because Uriah Heep led me through a very turbulent emotional periode when I was between 13 and 16.

On the two DVD's you get an excellent impression from the typical Uriah Heep sound: a powerful heavy progressive sound, loaded with floods of the Hammond B3 organ and fiery electric guitar, a strong and tight rhythm-section, topped by the distinctive vocals from the late David Byron. Uriah Heep was often nailed by a very cynical and venomous rock press but if you listen to their songs, you will be impressed by the catchy rhythms, the pleasant and climates, the very harmonic and melodic structure and the strong soli and often swirling interplay between guitar and organ. And what a variety: heavy and sumptuous in "Gypsy", dreamy with Mellotron in "Come away Melinda", warm acoustic rhythm-guitar in "Lady in black", a classical and alternating atmosphere in the epic "Salisbury", propulsive in "Look at yourself" (featuring the OSIBISA percussion), catchy in "Easy livin'" and compelling and impressive in the excellent Hammond B3 drenched composition "July morning" (in my opinion on the level of 'classic rock tracks' like "Stairway to heaven" from Led Zeppelin and "Child in time" from Deep Purple). The two DVD's contain lots of live archive footage and many interesting interviews with the band members and people around the band, even fellow Dutchman Louis Rentrop (according to the band the #1 Uriah Heep fan!). The booklet describes every song on the albums "Very 'eavy very 'umble" until "Conquest" delivering lots of fine remarks.

Discover the world of Uriah Heep in order to do justice to one of the most underrated heavy progressive rock bands!

Essential DVD for all prog listners

This DVD is divided in two parts, first, the Byron era 1970-1976 and the second Lawton and Sloman era 1977-1980. On this DVD you get the idea how Uriah Heep sounds through an entire decade, from the heavy prog with bursting guitars from Mick Box and heavy hammond sound from the master Ken Hensley with long pieces and fantasy lyrics to the popy sound of the late '70's Fallen angel era. Very often UH was put to the wall by the critcs and by no means they were wrong almost every time, but if you have all the albums and listen to them from glory days of the band to the decline you will see how great and very underrated they were and still are. Stunning rythmic section, great harmonies on guitar, catchy tunes and powerfull hammond. So this DVD has all the ingriedents to become a major visual prog document in the future. 5 star and among the best DVD i saw, recommended