FIREFLY

To me, this was the beginning of the end. Without David Byron Uriah Heep seemed to turn into a new band completely. It was not that John Lawton was not good. He was. But the spirit, or the perfect chemistry if you like, was gone. The sound was lighter, more pop oriented and definitly Ken Hensley was not the same anymore (he latter claimed he should have left the band at the time, but was persuated to stay eventually). The cover is quite deceiving: it looks like a work of Roger Dean, but watch closer and you´ll see it is far from the real thing. The same goes for the music.

Even today, 30 years after the release of this album, I still find hard to listen to it. The songs are ok, at least most of them. The first track, The Hanging Tree, is the only one that has some of the old UH power in it, but the remaining tracks are not nearly as good. In fact, there are some bad ones, and Who Loves Me definitly seems to be included on the album to please the drummer (who was also threatening to leave). Everything sounds a little forced on Firefly. Even the title track, an efford to emulate their earlier prog epics, sounds half baked and rushed.

Clearly a transitional work, I can only recommend this CD to stabilished fans and completionists. Although it has some interesting moments, this is not a good starting point for a newbie. Two stars.