THE MAGICIAN'S BIRTHDAY

This is the album that truly got me into Prog music. A person who only knows "Yes" and buys it on a lark, then falls in love with the "Prog" genre... If that doesn't earn this album a 5 star review, nothing will!

I'd been weaned, literally on diapers, with it and 60s folk in the background. But as a kid I went into 80s "Punk" and "NewAge" and worse, "Pop"... In my early adulthood, I'd truly discovered "Yes" and was buying up the CDs but was worried since their music sounded so unique would there be anything like it once I got used to their music?

On a lark, at "Best Buy" I picked up this album, which was bargain priced at $6. It was the "Roger Dean" cover art that pointed me, because even though any artist would draw about any album cover for $, hopefully there was some association.

And, boy was I right! This album was full of deep and rich songs. Most albums in "The pop machine" one song sounds good until the third play, then it's boring. But a good "Prog" album is a masterpiece from beginning to end. The song of the title was only the desert at the end of the great meal, the rest of the songs were wonderful.

Besides the title, which I always play on my B-Day no matter what, the song that really gets to me the most is "Blind Eye" which to me is a deep philosophical song.

I am also impressed that like Yes, Uriah Heep seems to be going and going and going on a level almost equal to "The Dead". Despite the "Colostomy Rock" label, they seem really healthy, probably got diet and yoga tips from Jon Anderson and kept them up or he'd shove 'em in the "Sweat Lodge" to re-purify them:-)