URIAH HEEP

Some great classic rock! I want you all to get out your pens, papers, bic lighters, and hippie do rags, for this is a lesson in 1970's radio rock.

Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards (1972)

Overall Rating: 5

Best Song: It's all the same! EASY LIVIN', if you're really desperate

You want classic rock? Well come get some! This is it, boys! This is the most notable arena prog rock since early Styx, baby, and god I love me some early Styx, boy howdy. Yeah, for all you folks who've exhausted Led Zeppelin's IV, or Foreigner's debut, this is the next inevitable step forward (or backward). Uriah Heep are known for being precursors of early heavy metal, and early hard prog rock. Well, I'm here to clarify some things. Boy does this stuff suck! No, it don't do a damn thing for a single bone in my body, even the painfully simple radio accessible "Easy Livin", which is a song that some band like foreigner would have killed to have written, and a guy like Peter Gabriel would have committed suicide for having written.

What did that little spiel mean, my cheddar pals? Well, This is some shallow stuff. It doesn't even rock, man. Jethro Tull rocked harder on Aqualung, and they even took the time to write memorable riffs, and, oh, I don't know, expand on their base? Uriah Heep has really limited vision, and it makes listening to the entire album quite difficult. This is generic hard rock mush at its finest (or is that lowest?) It doesn't matter. The vocal melodies are so simple and derivative that it hurts my ears, man. What is this [&*!#]? Poetic Justice has that gaudy vocal soar, with the male choir ooh's and aah's in the background. Shoot me. Did the band take themselves seriously? I don't take them too seriously.

I won't even mention the lyrics, because they suck. Wait, I just mentioned the lyrics. These guys are screwing with my head! Lets pretend there are no lyrics, anyway. You know what we don't have to pretend, though? Melodies. We don't gotta pretend there are no melodies. Uriah Heep were kind enough to package each copy of Demons and Wizards, sans melodies, for our wonderful listening un-comfort. I bet Ken Hensley worked as a sales representative for a car company in his earlier days.

There's a big focus on thick, simple hard rocking with some keyboard interplay, and it's all done with the lowest common denominator in mind. The band is hardly exceptional, and I've a mind to peg them as fairly inadequate for their aims. the energy level is low, and tracks such as Circle of Hands ooze unnecessary mush. The guy's voice makes me want to stab my ears off, though. This is all the bad sides of progressive music, such as pretentious ideals, cheesy and hollow sound and song structure, and a nerdy lead vocalist, without the benefits of the genre, like being melodically ingenious, or having brilliant musicianship, or taking you to another world. Where does the band take you? Possibly to your favorite teenage dive on the outskirts of town, playing in some boring empty bar on a damaged juke-box. That isn't right, who would spend good money on an Uriah Heep song?

I know I said I wouldn't pay attention to the lyrics, for my own sanity, but this made me cringe: "Sacrifice, the future has its price, and the future is only yesterday's tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow." Isn't yesterday's tomorrow, today? I get it. Today is when I'm listening to Demons and Wizards, and tomorrow is when I'll kill myself over it. Holy hell, those lyrics are so downright awful that I can't help but subtract some points. Even the solo is repetitive and lifeless. At least Page had the gall to do some in your face and energetic punching stuff. This was probably a large influence on heavy metal, specifically power metal, but was that such a good thing? I'll let someone else decide. I'll just hate it to myself, irregardless of judgment. It would have helped if the band had stopped being so cold-stoney long enough to actually have made the record diverse, but they didn't. It's just one generic slab of proto-power metal, one after another, until you fall asleep. Actually, this record made me laugh, like when the dude tries his hand at being Ian Gillian near the end of All My Life, failing miserably.

Hey, truth is, some of this stuff rocks out, and they are all competent musicians, but with Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple, you really don't need this album, and you definitely don't need the band. At their best, Uriah Heep undeniably epitomized the bad side of 1970's hard rock. At their worst, Uriah Heep records could easily replace nuclear bombs, if you dropped enough of them on one centralized location.

Not exactly a masterpiece of prog rock but definitely a masterpiece of hard rock. Let me just say that Ken Hensley is now one of my favourite Hammond organ players, he also plays a mean 'heavy metal' piano as proven in The Spell. Mick Box is better at the acoustic guitar than at the electric one in my opinion and he definitely shouldn't be allowed too many electric guitar solo. His style during a solo seems to be to play it as slow as possible and keep it simple, which isn't a particular problem (he is just showing he isn't a virtuoso) but after a while, they all seem the same and they get a bit tedious.As usual the lyrics aren't the strong point, but if you can kind of put these to the back of your mind and concentrate on the good stuff (Byron's vocals, the four-part harmonies, Hensley's keyboards and occasional slide-guitar, and the interplay of the band in general) this kind of cancels out the slightly iffy lyrics, doesn't it? The album starts off wonderfully with The Wizard with Box on acoustic guitar and it seems to be a nice subtle start, with a great middle part, where we first hear the vocal harmonies. Traveller in time is more of their traditional sound and again is a very good track. Easy Living is arguably their best known track and it is definitely a majestic song: very short but very fast and it's a thrilling ride. Poets justice doesn't seem quite as excellent after that excellent track but it's still more than average. Circle of Hands is another majestic track and is very well put together, the most progressive track on the album. Some reasonably good lyrics as well. Rainbow Demon is my favourite track on the album though. Just love the way it builds up from the scratchy organ intro, then introducing the vocals and then introducing the rhythm section after the second verse. Byron's voice sounds great here too. The only slight problem is there is an unnecessary (and characteristically slow) guitar solo near the end. All my life is a mediocre track, its like a wannabe Easy Livin' and it doesn't come anywhere near that track. The ending medley Paradise/The Spell is not as good as some would have you believe. The main problem is that the two songs together are too long, and this is because there is a guitar solo in the central section of the Spell which makes me feel as if I want turn the song off which is a shame considering their instrumental sections are usually so awesome. Paradise is alright (good acoustic guitar and relatively good lyrics). So overall the album starts slightly better than it ends although it's relatively consistent throughout.

PS I have the deluxe edition but I havent really got much to say about the bonus tracks except that Gary Thain's bass on Why is excellent and he takes a lead role for part of it.(or is it Gary thain on this track? I've just noticed that apparently he didn't play on this track. Anyway whoever it was, the bass playing is great!) PPS I am soon going to get the Uriah heep live 1973 album and will review it as soon as I have a good idea about how much I like (or dislike) it!

What to say about album that never really had a chance. Coming after great Demons and Wizards The Magician's Birthday could never beat expectations. Although it doesn't start in that way opening song Sunrise is so strong and powerful that I had feeling that this album will be powerful at lest as last one. This song has everything that I like in UH great David Byron's vocal , great screaming back vocals and strong powerful music. Also has some kind of fantasy mystery around it that most great UH tracks have. Spider woman its nice little love song but not quite in the standard of the first song. Guitar is somewhat annoying it doesn't quite sit well in main ear. Now it comes Blind Eye probably mine favorite from album. Its starts with a "riding" rhythm and nice guitar melody. Byron's voice is calm when he starts to sing like he is telling a story. Its very good song. Echoes In The Dark is mystical song as the title suggests. Very nice guitar work through entire song. Nice vocals and lyrics. One of the highlights of the album. Rain is a beautiful ballad on which I just to dance with mine wife so I have emotions attached to it. Beautiful song , great piano, nice emotional vocals, what else to say.

Sweet Lorraine. Hmmm this one is tricky. I love this crazy opening music , lyrics are ok but I just hate this main catchy chorus it sounds like country. So everything is ok except the main chorus I just cant swallow it. Tales is a slow song trying to be mystical but it just fails. Uninspired song fails to touch you in a right spot. Now it comes The Magician's Birthday everybody's favorite. Probably because its long over 10 minutes. I never understand why people think that one song is great just because is very long. Its a stupid thought. Song starts with good rhythmic guitar and drumming work. Standard vocals and decent lyrics. Song is great until it comes to happy birthday chorus. I just hate this chorus its spoils entire song. Song after a while again comes back to the opening theme which then quickly fades out to some kind of dark music which after a while evolves to a annoying guitar solo which continues fore a couple of minutes. After that main story and singing continues and then song finishes. All in all not that bad song but I cannot escape felling that is somewhat forced. Like band was trying to make a equivalent for Paradise/Spell from Demons. They had a great idea but after a first chorus they just didn't now what to do so they force song until the end .

This is another great album from Uriah Heep with much better A side. I also have to mention another great cover art.

— First review of this album —

I haven't heard a single Uriah Heep album after their 1973 release Sweet Freedom but seeing that this new live album was recorded at a festival that I love to visit on regular basis there was a definite curiosity on my part about this release.

Although I was present at Sweden Rock Festival 2009 I didn't witness this particular performance since Uriah Heep headlined the Wednesday kick off of the festival. This was quite unfortunate since I usually skip that first festival day since it usually doesn't offer as many highlights as the next three days. This time around the only remotely famous acts performing that day were Deathstars, Amon Amarth, Sevendust, Blaze Bayley and Uriah Heep among which only the last one felt remotely interesting. Just for reference, Thursday's highlights consisted of Volbeat, The Tubes, Seventh Wonder, Hammerfall and Over The Rainbow, just to name a few. While Friday was the most progressive of the days featuring Neal Morse, Marillion, Voivod, Kamelot, UFO, Motörhead and In Flames. It should be added that the Wednesday kick-offs are relatively new since they were only introduced a few years back due to the increased demand for the festival.

The set-list for this particular gig comprised almost entirely of the band's early '70s material with the exception of two Wake The Sleeper tracks towards the middle of the show. Sunrise from The Magician's Birthday was a surprising opening since I would have expected to hear any of the upbeat classics, like the ones to come, to open the concert but I definitely atmosphere and tone that Uriah Heep created with this very well performed first track. Stealin' opens with a nice organ-sounding keyboard and Bernie Shaw's attempts at audience-interactions work well but the rest of the track sounds too much like a bunch of semi-retired rockers trying to please their equally old audience. The band keeps things simple with Gypsy only offering us the basic version of the tune while the wonderful Look At Yourself is expanded to the 8-minute mark by an expanded guitar solo where Mick Box really pushes himself to the limits of his ability. This is all great but I still miss the vital Ken Hensley's organ sound that just can't be replicated by Phil Lanzon's keyboards.

The two new tracks go by pretty unnoticed although Ghost Of The Ocean does reminds me of the good old days sound and I once again like Mick Box's work here. The last 20 minutes offer us the three most well recognized Uriah Heep compositions which don't really reach the quality of the studio takes mainly because of Bernie Shaw's vocal performance that just can't be compared to David Byron's young voice. It gets a bit ridiculous when the backing vocals on Easy Livin' completely overshadow the lead vocalist, but the audience don't seem to mind and help him gladly along.

Overall I guess it's hard to go wrong with classic material such as this and even though I have a few complaints related to some performances here and there it's great that the band is still alive and kickin' after almost 40 years of their existence!

**** star songs: Sunrise (4:50) Gypsy (5:36) Look At Yourself (7:50) Ghost Of The Ocean (3:36) July Morning (10:51) Easy Living (3:24) Lady In Black (7:35)

*** star songs: Stealin' (6:20) Angels Walk With You (6:33)

Uriah Heep's 'Demons And Wizards' is a hard rocking melodic excursion into fantasy and whimsical landscapes of castles inhabited by wizards.

The Roger Dean cover spells out the concept from the outset but as far as actual prog material, this album does not deliver. Having stated that fact it is still great melodic rock and highly memorable and one of the best of the Heep.

It begins with 'The Wizard' which begins with a melancholy acoustic three chord structure sand then the distorted guitars and organ take over. A great track with iconic lyrics and remains a live favourite to this day.

'Traveller in Time' is essential Heep and a definitive highlight. The killer riff is classic Sabbath, Purple or Zeppelin; in other words classic rock. There is a delicious keyboard solo over scorching guitar riffs and the lyrics are downright fanciful but somehow appropriate.

'Easy Living' is the legendary single that always appears on compilations as quintessential Heep. It just motorvates at a quick tempo and drives headlong with grinding organ and guitar riffs. Absolutely wonderful and the first track I had heard from the band. I am sure many people would have only heard either this or 'Free Me' as they are the most recognisable singles. Every Heep fan knows this track and it is great to sing along to.

'Poet's Justice' is perhaps a lowlight and is quite forgettable though it does feature a great walking bassline and organ riff.

'Circle of Hands' is a more progressive song than the previous tracks with irregular beats and a great organ driven sustained motif. It is a strong track and one of the longest with a credible lead break that takes the song in a new direction.

'Rainbow Demon' is definitely one of the better tracks with a slow paced hard driving guitar and organ riff and a catchy chorus. I always found this to be a strong track and a perfect side two opener.

The next two tracks are rather forgettable but they are sandwiched with the wonderful closing track, 'The Spell'. This track has become a concert closer too in a medley with 'The Wizard' to good effect.

Overall this album is a great rocking delight for the Heep fan. The band would do better with albums to follow but this is still full of highlights. Very 'eavy and not very 'umble, it is still an album that is bombastic enough to confirm the hype surrounding it.

The Wizard: starting with acoustic guitars, nice and bright to my ears, the voice begins to sing a melody of the past, talking a story or something so, really melodic, easy listening and digestible, then begin the good noise, with calm and beautiful voice. voices again claim their value and make scene, we can also appreciate operatic stage and screaming, I can say that King Diamond was inspired by such kind of voices.

Traveler in time: what an amazing intro, OMG, nice guitars!, Yeah!, one of his best known songs around the entire world, really wonderful, I think this song is a great inspiration in hard rock and progressive in itself.

Easy Livin: another catchy, interesting, motivated, remember the time where these pieces were created metalheads.

Poet's Justice: starting with aggressive, heavy rhythms, movers and energetics, and a distortion similar to Blue Oyster Cult, the style of the background vocals and a melody, we have something fast on the guitar, a great voice range. you could say it's a little rock and roll, heavy stuff, with occasionally psychedelic passages the battery is the same throughout the song, making it a little predictable, at least the change in 2 : 49 is great, and from there we have brilliant moments, very progressive.

Circle of hands: starting with a keyboard a la Jon Lord, really similar style, a plane is approaching?, Then begins the typical electric rhythming guitar by Mick Box, after an apparent atmosphere of tranquility with the great voice of David Byron, well as continuing the melody a bit, back to the typical operatic background that characterizes much of this band,catchy choirs a little hard to diggest, good and sad one style, apparently, also could be thought of as one happy. the organ is the basis of this song, and finally we have a good solos by mick box. it can remind a little from ITCOTCK song.

rainbow demon:glorius type intro, as if something is coming, great keyboards mysterious, mysterious voice begins as usual, and a chorus for my taste lacks in power, although it remains a great composicion

all my life: WTF?

Paradise: nice intro, with good melody, a lot of sadness, And a good song.

The spell: the piano is the key of this song, a cheerful melody, where we find a truly psychedelic scene, masterly, that makes us travel in fantasy when we hear it, easily the best song of the album, which combines all the elements of this magnificent band, pianos are the ultimate music and interesting finishes.

in conclusion, one of his best albums with TMB, this band has inspired future generations and we notice with bands like Black bonzo, which are very similar, good album. 3.5 stars

1972 a magical year in great progressive rock albums, and Uriah Heep comes with this good album, starting with the incredible "sunrise" loud shouts by the amazing vocalist David Byron, the great company of rhythm made by Mick Box guitar, great guitarist, this album begins with Sunrise, and apparently it will be really aggressive the whole album , and Spider Woman: we again believe in aggression, a little a la Rock and Roll, but a little more heavy, spider woman is the weakest part of the album in my opnion. Uriah Heep apparently enjoys incredible moments where the voice rises at the maximum in a style of opera, then begins Blind eye:, and we now see a little more lightness of sound, thanks to the acoustic guitar accompaniment, and a mystic voice and powerful, is an acceptable piece but not the best, I like the melody on electric guitar. from there we are transported to one of the best pieces from the album "Echoes in the Dark" begins really dark, with an incredible Melotron, a truly mysterious guitar tone from there we are transported to a glorious guitar solo painting the melody , with a great feeling and passion, while the pace of the drumms are consumed, then the claim of the song, the chorus implying glorifies hope.

Rain: beginning with the gentle piano, to be shopping in a super market, quiet song, but there's nothing else to talk, you can get bored too.

Sweet Lorraine: start scandalous, returned to the base of "heavy progressive rock, rock and roll type", not so bad song, but in terms of composition there is not much to talk about.

Tales: a good song, good, but up there. melodic at times and a bit psychedelic.

The Magician's Birthday: Along with "echoes in the dark" sunrise "are the best songs on the album which really worth listening to this album, with the theme of heavy-rock, uriah heep leads to a passage in a really rock rich and energetic, dynamic voices, with interesting changes following the mystery that characterizes this album, reaching voices that can scare the audience or can make you laugh for a moment "happy birthday to you" to 3:31 it is very dark, i am scared about that part.OMG, and then begin the keyboards and the whole band starts to play aggressively, great solos, stunning, using the Wah Wah sistem, again the scary sound, of the keyboards, 7:19 amazing stuff by mick, speed and good accuracy. and then again agressive the whole band, that is a part of the progressive elemments by this band. and in the final part is the best of the best of this album, really, yeah!,nice vocals,i think that a lot of heavy bands took this album like their heart and starts doing music. NICE SONG.

3.5 stars.

After decade of silence UH released their new album. And it rocks! I really like few their early heavy keyboards based albums, including live recordings. They crossed few decades, missed bigger part of original line-up, released myriad of very average albums.

This work is unexpectedly strong. Main their strong side there is rock energy. Plus some melodic moments. Weak points are short straight hard-rock ( circa '78) compositions, AOR and faceless pop-rock moments. The band is far from their short innovative period ( far - I mean almost 40 years, no jokes!),so this work is mostly oriented to old fans searching on new release of the music they loved when they still didn't were grandfathers. This release partially fulfills their expectations.

Music is hard and energetic , what is not very usual for bands with such long history. Another thing, that in fact there you have a brand name, not really same band as in 70-s. But who cares! Negative side is there are no more long Hammond based melodic compositions some of us remember all these 40 (!) years. But there are something, what reminds its. So, you can listen your old LP's at home and listen modern UH version on (small) stadiums. But new release at least will confirm for many that they still can rock!

So, if you're UH fan, you possibly will enjoy this album. Far from their best works, album is still good enough to remind you your young years (and grass was greener). Hardly will attract new listeners, however.

Uriah Heep was nothing if not prolific in the early '70s and the band managed to churn out its first five albums in the space of only three years. It may seem a bit churlish of me to describe the band's fertility in this manner but by all accounts The Magician's Birthday was something of a rushed job, released quickly due to pressure from the record company. In spite of that it's a great album and as with Demons And Wizards it was certified Gold, although for me it will always lurk in the shadow of its more illustrious predecessor. The other major flaw with this album is that it is too much a clone of the preceding album. Side One of the original vinyl of Demons And Wizards consists of five relatively short songs, featuring a mix of ballads and rockers; Side Two finishes with an atmospheric acoustic song followed by a long multi-part track. Ditto for The Magician's Birthday. The album title and the Roger Dean cover even mirror Demons. That was the desired effect no doubt, but it borders on slavish imitation. Fortunately the chemistry of the previous recording remains in evidence, thus reinforcing this line-up's status as the classic Uriah Heep.

Sunrise opens the album in provocative manner. It begins with a gradual crescendo on Hammond organ that beautifully evokes the breaking of day. Some typically melodramatic choral effects burst forth along with Gary Thain's swaggering melodic bass line, which intermittently acts as the lead instrument. The main song features sharp contrasts in dynamics from subdued, pensive verses to rousing, fervent choruses. What a wonderful song and it's no surprise the band used it to open the Live '73 set. Spider Woman is one of the band's unremarkable rockers, so enough said about that. The next track, Blind Eye, has a memorable tune and features agitated acoustic guitar and an urgent twin electric riff. It's quite different to the band's usual sound mainly due to the timbre of the guitars, and I always think of Wishbone Ash when I listen to this song! Echoes In The Dark features Moog and slide guitar, both played by the multi-talented Mr Hensley. Manfred Mann's guest appearance playing Moog on the Look At Yourself album obviously made an impression on Hensley, as he himself uses the instrument extensively on this album. Echoes has some nice atmospheres and David Byron's vocals are fraught with emotion. Side One closes with Rain, a quietly reflective song with piano, vibes and organ providing the sole accompaniment.

Sweet Lorraine cracks open Side Two with a willowy Moog intro, followed by a superb wucka-chucka wah wah lick from Mick Box. The instrumental section midway through the song features a wispy, thread-like Moog and meandering bass duet. This song is undoubtedly one of Uriah Heep's finest rockers. The penultimate track, Tales, is a haunting ballad featuring gurgling Moog and a guest appearance by session musician B. J. Cole on pedal steel guitar. The 10-minute title track then closes the album in grandiose style. It consists of several different sections including a guitar/drums jam that struggles not to outstay its welcome. Earlier in the track drummer Lee Kerslake actually improvises on a kazoo during the 'Happy Birthday To You' section. The closing section includes a verbal exchange between the magician and his adversary, and features Byron's vocals in unison with Hensley's Moog. Nice effect guys, so why the sudden fade?

I always think of The Magician's Birthday as the companion album to Demons And Wizards; if you own one, you'll probably want both. I wouldn't describe it as essential but it has more than its share of highlights and is certainly worthy of a 4-star rating.

Uriah Heep is classified as Heavy Prog on ProgArchives and Demons And Wizards has been criticised in some quarters for not being very prog-oriented, although I hasten to add that this criticism is not entirely unfair. Ok, so Demons And Wizards isn't very proggy. In fact it isn't really all that heavy either. I don't know how the band members themselves would have described their music in 1972, but I doubt they would have referred to it as Heavy Prog. Who knows? However, if we set aside these arbitrary labels what we're left with is a great rock album, in my opinion one of the best ever recorded irrespective of genre. Demons And Wizards is a truly iconic recording that represents the complete package, from the fantastic songs to the erotically charged Roger Dean cover (look for the hidden images!).

From the acoustic intro of The Wizard to the final fade-out of The Spell this is a great album. It was the first Heep album to go gold, although it only reached number 20 in the UK album chart. Uriah Heep never seemed to be the most popular of bands, even when this kind of stuff actually dominated the UK album charts in the early-mid '70s. Highlights for me are the aforementioned The Wizard, which was released as a single. Easy Livin' also had a worldwide single release. Both of these releases bombed in the UK of course (shame on you Britain!), but I believe Easy Livin' scraped into The Billboard chart at 39. I defy anyone to listen to Easy Livin' without wanting to get up to dance, or at the very least to jiggle about in their chair! Circle Of Hands is one of my all-time favourite songs, featuring a rasping Hammond intro, thundering rhythm section, and an emotionally cathartic guitar solo to end. Stunning. The mini-suite of Paradise and The Spell close the album beautifully and these two songs taken together probably constitute the only progressive part of the album.

Judging by the song titles and the album cover Demons And Wizards might seem like a fantasy-laden concept album. The lyrics do contain fantasy themes but in the sleeve notes Ken Hensley states 'it's just a collection of our songs'. The album doesn't feature complicated time signatures, modulation to distant keys, or overt virtuosity. There's nothing complicated or 'difficult' here, just a sublime collection of great melodies and heavy riffs. Uriah Heep arguably reached its creative peak with this album. Its sister album The Magician's Birthday came close to matching Demons, but after that it was really downhill all the way for Uriah Heep. However Demons And Wizards was, is, and always will be the pinnacle of... 'Heavy Prog'. Keep on truckin'.