URIAH HEEP

Perhaps the last truly consistent album in the Dave Byron era of the band. The band have scaled down their compositions somewhat but some of the material such as 'Seven Stars' can clearly be heard in the DNA of the British metal bands of the 80s- Iron Maiden in particular. Highlights include 'Pilgrim' and the soaring 'If I had the Time' which finds vocalist Byron in full peacock-like flight on the word 'siiiinggggg!'. Truly one of his best vocal performances. 'Stealin'' is a catchy, rollicking road trip of a hit single which displays the trademark sonic Heep casserole of swirling organs, wah-wah guitar, operatic vocals and the censorship worthy line 'I done the ranchers daughter' which allegedly prevented the band's natural ascendancy in puritanical America.

By 1976, things were not going very well in the nuclear bosom of Uriah Heep: the expulsion of Gary Thain and his regrettable death due to drug abuse at the end of the previous year, the discussions about the direction of the band between Ken Hensley and David Byron added to the growing alcoholism of the singer, and the discomfort of John Wetton in these situations, configured the unstable context in which the Brits released "High and Mighty", the ninth of their discography.

The album travels along a paved and flat road, without dangerous curves or major glimpses of venturing into routes that deeply challenge the band, and just like its predecessors "Wonderworld" and "Return to Fantasy", it has outstanding moments such as the promising beginning of "One Way or Another" with a great guitar riff and its fresh and energetic vibe, the psychedelic half-time of the excellent "Weep in Silence" and Mick Box's great solo, the elaborate structure of the intense "Midnight" and Hensley's hammond, and the crystalline beauty of Box's acoustic strumming on "Footprints in the Snow".

But the rest of the work fails to sustain a solid compositional regularity and cohesion, neither with "Can't Keep a Good Band Down", a kind of agile rock and accessible pop that welcomes a repetitive chorus, nor with the vaudevillian and simplistic "Woman of the World", nor with the disconcerting "Can't Stop Singing", which is halfway between gospel and soul, nor with the bland country boogie "Make a Little Love", songs that lack the vitality and hardock substance that at that stage of the band already seemed more part of a distant past even though it was not so much.

The brief and melancholic "Confession", starring Hensley's piano and containing an apparent confessional apology in Byron's singing, closes the irregular "High and Mighty", and sadly marks the end of the iconic singer's relationship with the band and also the departure of John Wetton.

2.5/3 stars

Following the route traced by their previous works, "Sweet Freedom" and "Wonderworld", Uriah Heep reiterates their inclination towards accessible formulas for "Return to Fantasy" (1975), their eighth album.

After a very interesting start with Mick Box's guitar riffs intertwined with Hensley's keyboards and synthesizers and David Byron's wide-ranging vocals on the eponymous title track, "Return to Fantasy" gives pride of place to melodies more in keeping with the sounds of bands like the Eagles, America, Bread and the like, where the melodic takes priority over complex and intricate developments, and is reflected in the light country rock of "Shady Lady", "Showdown" and "Why Did You Go" (a ballad supported by the Pedal Steel guitar of the guest B. J. Cole), in the spirited boogie of "Prima Donna", and in the gentle soft blues of "Your Turn to Remember", songs that inevitably lead to memorable and easily digestible choruses.

There are, however, some efforts to flesh out the sound and get closer to early Uriah Heep heavies, with Box's guitar solo preceded by the great counterpoint between Hensley's keyboards and Box's own riffs in the substantial middle section of the vigorous "Devil´s Daughter", one of the album's best, and with Hensley's cutting moog effluvia backed by Lee Kerslake's stubborn drumming on "Beautiful Dream", and not much else.

And between the keyboards, acoustic harmonies, John Wetton's accomplished bass (correct as in the rest of the work, although without much prominence), and the choruses that provide a peaceful epic aspect to "A Year or a Day", the album ends with more conciliatory will than brilliance and inventiveness.

"Return to Fantasy" is one of the British band's least appreciated works in the epilogical moments of their most renowned period, and although it is not a faded album, it doesn't add much to the band's legacy either.

2.5/3 stars

Increasingly melodic and distancing themselves from the harsh sonorities of rough and raw rock, with Ken Hensley playing an almost exclusive role in the composition of the songs, Uriah Heep deepened the tendency to make their approach more accessible with the release of "Wonderworld" (1974), their seventh album.

After a promising start with Hensley's moog and David Byron's plethoric voice in the moving "Wonderworld", the album is a hard rock of common places, lacking in explosiveness and fantasy, even though at least some doses of agility and a certain aggressiveness appear in Mick Box's guitar riffs in "Suicidal Man", in the rushing rhythm of "So Tired" and the boogie joy of "Something or Nothing", but not in the bland "The Shadow and the Wind" and Byron's excessive histrionics, the dreary "We Got We", and least of all in the inoffensive and mellow orchestrated ballad "The Easy Road".

The final section raises the level with the bluesy half-time of "I Won't Mind" and the guitar display of the always diligent Mick Box accompanied by the great bass of Gary Thain, and with the interesting approach to space rock in the conclusive "Dreams", surely among the best moments of the album.

Once "Wonderworld" was finished and showing signs of exhaustion due to the frenetic rhythm of releases and tours, the most stable of the Uriah Heep line-up (four albums in a row with the same musicians), began to dismember with the dismissal of Thain (who unfortunately died a year later from a heroin overdose), replaced by John Wetton (King Crimson/Asia, etc.) for the two subsequent albums.

3 stars

There are no more demons, magicians or symbolism in Uriah Heep's imaginary for their sixth album, 'Sweet Freedom' (1973), replaced instead on the cover by a bland and vaporous image of the musicians blurred in a reddish Martian background, for a proposal that opts for melodic and accessible structures, with a reduced but equally present contribution of the band's hard rock DNA and including some symphonic touches.

And so it is that "Sweet Freedom" unfolds between direct and neat atmospheres, like the restless guitar Funky of "Dreamer", the boogie rock of the active "Stealin'', the glam of the brief "One Day", the compact acoustic/electric ensemble of "Seven Stars", and the unexpected sonorities very close to the bossa-nova of the relaxed "Circus", whose contribution is limited, in my opinion, to the anecdotal and contrasting nature of its inclusion in the album.

But the band also gets 'serious' and dense with Ken Hensley's galloping, intense keyboards and David Byron's singing on the emotive "Sweet Freedom", despite the tiresome and unnecessary repetition of its chorus, with the mesmerising mid-tempo "If I Had the Time" and Hensley's lysergic moog, and finally also with Mick Box's affiliated guitar solos over the excellent sound carpet that Hensley's Hammond builds accompanied by Gary Thain's bass and Lee Kerslake's percussion, in the grandiloquent and epic "Pilgrim", a track that could be considered as one of the first ones that would feed years later on the still budding progressive metal.

"Sweet Freedom" may not carry with it all the magic of the band's previous works, but it manages to pull through because of the sheer quality of its performers.

3/3.5 stars

Less than six months after the successful "Demons and Wizards" and still under the echoes of its resounding general acceptance, Uriah Heep released their fifth album, "The Magician's Birthday" (1972). A work that once again uses allegories and sorcery as a metaphorical thematic vehicle to transmit profound reflections on the existential questions of the human being and that have their correspondence with the surreal graphic design of the album (Roger Dean), loaded with symbolisms such as the confrontation between the Magician and the Devil and the expectant naked woman hiding behind the plants.

And despite respecting its hard rock roots in the intense and epic "Sunrise" with its Purplelian beginnings with Ken Hensley's keyboards and David Byron's powerful voice, the album has, on the one hand, a less aggressive orientation with more agile and direct tracks like the light blues rock of "Spider Woman", the semi-unplugged soft rock of "Blind Eye" and the lilting "Sweet Lorraine" and its catchy choruses. On the other hand, it tones down its revolutions to initiate a lysergic, dreamlike immersion with Mick Box's Floydian slide guitar on the hazy mid-tempo "Echoes In The Dark", with Hensley's emotive piano chords and Byron's mournful singing on the soulful "Rain", and with the atmospheric pedal steel guitar contributions of guest Brian Cole (renowned session musician) on the acoustic vaporousness of the introspective "Tales".

Finally, the Englishmen resort to changing harmonies in the convoluted "The Magician's Birthday", ranging from energetic hard rock, verses in ironic rhythm of the traditional Happy Birthday accompanied by the Kazoo (an informal 19th century wind instrument), intriguing sound effects preceding Box's lucid and generous guitar jams in counterpoint with Lee Kerslake's frenetic drumming, to Byron's falsetto voice to pompously close the most progressive piece of the album.

The very good "The Magician's Birthday" was the break point that imaginatively marks the end of Uriah Heep's most brilliant period, after which the band's musical proposals would gradually become duller.

3.5/4 stars

Preceded by the versatile "Salisbury" and the solid "Look at Yourself", both of great quality but without so much commercial repercussion, perhaps due to their image being overshadowed by their highly successful references Deep Purple, Uriah Heep finally obtained general recognition with "Demons and Wizards" (1972), their fourth album. A work that, without leaving aside the rough edges of their muscular hard rock spiced with symphonic elements, shows a more refined proposal, already noticeable from the fanciful and surrealistic cover entrusted to the iconic graphic artist Roger Dean.

Configured within a wide sonic spectrum, 'Demons and Wizards' unfolds between the exquisite acoustic guitars of Mick Box accompanied by the rhythmic base of Mark Clarke's bass and Lee Kerslake's percussion in the limpid "The Wizard", the virtuosic guitar flexibility with Box's wah wah effects in the adventurous "Traveller in Time", Ken Hensley's dizzying keyboards on the vibrant "Easy Livin'", David Byron's vocal power on the energetic "All My Life", and the thick mid-tempos that intertwine hard rock roughness with progressive overtones on the emotive intensity of Circle of Hands (surely among the album's best moments), and on the ghostly "Rainbow Demon".

And with an acoustic tuning of a certain similarity to Zeppelin's 'Friends', the lilting but very linear "Paradise" dissolves into the introductory chords of the active and hasty "The Spell", the very good closing piece in which different musical planes coexist, such as piano rock, progressive elements with Genesian tints and the vocal interaction between Byron and Hensley.

With more than 3 million copies sold and the placement of the single "Easy Livin'" at position #39 on the North American Billboard, the allegorical "Demons and Wizards" is the most successful album of the English band.

4 stars

here can be no tangible argument against the school of thought that David Byron left some big boots to fill. Although it was perhaps inconceivable that Uriah Heep soldier on without him, "Firefly" is most likely the best album of the John Lawton trilogy (the other two, though passable, were too pop-oriented in my book). Notable tracks include "The Hanging Tree", featuring some nice synthesizer textures, the ballad "Wise Man", the rollicking "Who Needs Me", the bluesy (though lengthy) "Rollin' On" and the title track, employing a long keyboard intro and melding together classical, rock and folk elements. Like the preceding "High and Mighty", "Firefly" unfortunately seems to be another Ken Hensley "solo" record as he wrote nearly the entire album. Even though Heep were in the midst of their late seventies decline, "Firefly" rates checking out as it is an enjoyable set. It just isn't a classic one and can hardly be put on the same scale as "Demons and Wizards" and "The Magician's Birthday".

4.0

Less than a year after the versatile and very good 'Salisbury', Uriah Heep released "Look at Yourself" (1971), their third album, one of the band's most solid and polished works, with a marked orientation towards heavy and raspy sounds, but without leaving aside enriching experimental nuances.

The album shows a great sense of cohesion and maturity right from the start with the frenetic and homonymous "Look at Yourself" and the rhythmic "I Wanna Be Free", hard rocking tracks that combine Mick Box's fiery riffs and awakened guitar solos that at times go a few decibels further, creating spaces for the still embryonic Heavy Metal, with the timeless sonorities of Ken Hensley's hammond protagonist, and are reaffirmed in the energetic "Tears in My Eyes", a raw road rockabilly very well coloured by Box's guitar wah wah and brief acoustic chords in between.

Without straying from the path traced by the hard rock roughness, "Look at Yourself" also incorporates elements of progressive rock to give a greater sound flow to their proposal, with the stupendous and growing "July Morning", which goes through introspective and intense atmospheres from the instrumental display of the duo Box/Hensley, the cosmic moog of the guest Manfred Mann and the powerful vocal flashes of David Byron, surely one of the best pieces on the album, and with the complex "Shadows of Grief", which after a fierce first half with the whole band in full swing, plunges into mysterious places with aromatic hints of Floydian 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun' and into an experimental and psychedelic denouement with Hensley's keyboards.

And after "What Should Be Done", a ballad that doesn't quite seem to fit with the unified feel of "Look at Yourself", the raw hardrock returns with the frenetic and concise development of "Love Machine", leading the album towards a punchy and forceful finale.

"Look at Yourself", despite its lesser impact in the mainstream than contemporary works by bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, is among the group of albums that helped define the basis of Heavy Metal.

4 stars

The Purplelian influences, among others, very present in Uriah Heep's debut album, the rudimentary and crushing 'Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble' from 1970, continue to hover over their second album, 'Salisbury' (1971), with Mick Box's gritty guitar riffs and corresponding solos, the rough textures of Ken Hensley's analogue hammond keyboards and David Byron's powerful and expressive tenor voice, very similar to Ian Gillian's, although a little more uniform, in pieces immersed within the hard-rock spectrum such as the persistent intensity of 'Bird of Prey', the aggressive and rugged mid-tempo of 'Time to Live' and the overwhelming agility of 'High Priestess'.

But 'Salisbury' goes a few steps further, and adds nuances that give interesting tonalities to the work and somehow help build an identity of their own for Uriah Heep, with delicate pieces such as the baroque 'The Park' and its arpeggiated acoustic guitars over Byron's falsetto voice and the choral whispers of the rest of the band including a brief jazzy interlude, and the lilting 'Lady in Black', a refined folk melody sung by Hensley, who also gives it a notable touch of melancholy with the mellotrons.

And the really disruptive part comes with the extended 'Salisbury', a symphonic suite that departs from the general mood of the album and develops its own path from the profuse wind orchestration of arranger and musical composer John Fiddy, which contrasts with the rock structures and generates huge spaces for Hensley's virtuoso performance on keyboards and above all Box's with some splendid guitar improvisations in the last third of the song and prior to the epic and chaotic closing of one of the band's most progressive songs.

'Salisbury' is a pioneering work in the creation of a new direction in which the energetic structures of hard rock converge with the sophisticated elaborations of progressive rock, and the starting point for the most fertile stage of Uriah Heep.

4 stars