WONDERWORLD

"Freely speaking of dreams"

With the soon to come sacking and subsequent death of Gary Thain, it seems incredible that this was to be the last album by the line up which has come to be regarded as Uriah Heep's finest. In fact they only recorded four studio albums together, although the nucleus of the band (Box, Byron, Hensley, and from "Demons and Wizards" on Kerslake) recorded more.

"Wonderworld", Hensley's name for his dream world where he finds inspiration for many of his songs, continued the slightly softer more melodic approach of its predecessor "Sweet Freedom". The opening title track is a power ballad, with soft melodic verses and a sweeping chorus; it is reminiscent of "Sunrise" from "The Magician's birthday". "The shadows and the wind" has Heep's most complex ever vocals arrangement, almost Beach Boys like in structure, if not sound. "The Easy road" is one of those lovely soft Hensley ballads, which he appeared to write with Byron's vocal prowess in mind. It really is a truly moving song.

On side two of the album, "I won't mind" is a plodding blues, and despite the excellent guitar work, one of the most disappointing Heep tracks of the period. The final track "Dreams" has a melody which sounds very similar to the old single "Windmills of your mind" by Noel Harrison. It's a very good track though, if slightly lacking in the impact which previous final tracks have had.

In all, "Wonderworld" is another solid album by the classic line up, but the cracks are definitely beginning to show It does lack the knockout punch of other albums by that line up.

The recently released "deluxe" remaster has excellent sleeve notes and packaging, and includes 6 additional tracks. Two of these are live versions of tracks on the album, one a slightly extended version, and three are tracks recorded as part of the sessions for the album, but not originally included on it.

Here the long slide Downwards of one of the top and gender-defining Hard-rock group is evident and the results are plainly sculpted on wax. It was clear that all was not well internally and Thain would get soon kicked out , and Byron was looking up in his own arse and..... a million other stuff made this album ..... a failure but still correct when seeing what was to come . Wetton will come in for one album worse than this one and then ..... Although I have heard the albums alkl the way to Fallen Angel , I will stop my reviews of this band here as the classic line-up is dwindling apart. It was not prog , anyway.

Of the Heep albums I bought back in the 80's, this is the only one I still play now and then. It has a truly meditative and spiritual quality that I enjoy. By comparison, Demons and Wizards and Magician's Birthday, though brilliant, have a tendency to be overblown and lacking in emotional depth. The opening and closing tracks capture the special feellings we have when lost in our nightly dreamworlds. The Easy Road is a lovely soft composition, very romantic with beautiful orchestral touches. The Heep could really create some jewels in the easy-listening genre. Granted, there are some weak moments...Something or Nothing is fairly trivial, but not terrible. The album is still overall worth having in your collection.

I must admit that "Wonderworld" was a bit of a disappointment. The title song which opens the album is great, the keyboard sounds predict the feeling of a the forthcoming "Return to Fantasy" record, and there's a great pathos on it! There are also some other good tracks like the following "Suicidal Man", which is quite heavy in URIAH HEEP's standards, and it has some very good bass lines by late GARY THAIN. But too many of the songs aren't very good, and many of them are clearly basic rock'n'roll fillers. Maybe the band should have had more time to create better compositions? I think one can get the hit song from some of the many compilations, and at least one shouldn't spend very much money for this LP!

"Wonderworld" is a very underrated Uriah Heep album (but it is not very proggressive, however) This albums is a vast improvement over the previous "Sweet Freedom" and it once again proves Ken Hensley's impressive song writing. The title-track is great both lyrically and musically as well as "The Shadows and the Wind" which features an extended a cappella section (that sounds quite a bit like "The Prophet's Song" by Queen, released the year after this) "The Easy Road" is a great piano ballad and "Dreams" is an underrated song that should have been a Uriah Heep classic.

This album has more of grand piano than most Uriah Heep albums and fans of Queen as well as fans of classic 70's rock should check this album out. Proggrock fans however should perhaps start with "Salisbury" or "The Magician's Birthday" instead.

In my opinion this is not a weak album. Here are some good moments like The easy road, what a beautiful track. All the album are more hard rock than progressive but fits for me very well. I always enjoy listen to this band, so my rating is 3 stars. A good one, maybe not their best but close enough. Enjoy every track, worth a spin...

I think the rate beneath 3 stars for this record is unfair, as it is by no meaning a weak album. Despite some silly filler songs, and Heep's decay at the time, this album has arguably Uriah Heep's best side A in all of their discography. Being the last album by the 'classic lineup, this record was made still back in 74, far away from any conquest or abominog thing. Hensley's creative wonderworld was still at its best.

'Wonderworld', the song itself, is a masterpiece, a Heep's giant. Byron sings softly like an angel whispering, sliding through dynamic lyrics, a perfect Hensley's songwriting, in great style and superb melodic feeling. The hammond intro is also mind-blowing. 5/5

'Suicidal Man' is a more rocking track, with a heavy Box's riff. Byron sings in a darkened atmosphere, somewhat, this which caracterize the whole album, including the weird cover. Not an Easy Livin', but still a worthy song. 4/5

'The Shadows and the Wind' is a must-have. The song opens with a gentle, catchy hammond organ, Byron singing gently and firmly, increasing the sound to a rocking chorus. In the end, excellent heep's classic falsetto choir, closing the song in great style. 5/5

'So Tired' is an excellent rocking piece (the album alternating between a heavier track and a more gently one), with precise drumming and catchy rhythm, Byron singing in a more rock n' roll style. The songwriting is somewhat silly, but fits perfectly. The outro by 1:30 with a soft chorus, is the most beautiful and catchy thing you'll ever hear. 5/5

'The Easy Road' is Hensley's tour de force as a songwriter, better than 'Rain' from Magician's Birthday, a lovely ballad which will catch even the hardest heart. 5/5

Starting the so bad famous B-side of this record, comes 'Something or Nothing', an interesting piece with very good harmony vocals, an excellent songwriting and a catchy chorus, not a bad song at all, a piece worthy of the first side. 4/5

'I Wont' Mind' starts with a rhythmic play by Thain and Kerslake. The guitar riff is very good, but should have had a better use. Byron sings well, although the songwriting is desinteresting. He still shines with his voice in some lines. 3/5

'We got we' is an unpredictable song. The songwriting is silly and dull, although well sang in harmony vocals. Not an interesting song at all. 2/5

'Dreams' starts with great and mind-blowing keys, an exotic songwriting which only Byron could interpretate so good, and some of the best basslines ever made by Thain, as his last effort before leaving Uriah Heep and this world. 4/5. If not the best possible, at least an worthy closing for this album. Rest in peace, Gary.

Result: 5 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 4= 37/9 = 4 stars

not really bad, but not up to parr with what they did prior to this. Heep lost their rough edge and the guitar isn't as important as it used to be. The organ sounds and bass are the main instruments as is Byron's voice. But when you think of Uriah Heep you will think of Mick Box's guitarworks, which is hardly present.

The ballads are still quite good, with some stunning stuff from mostly Hensley, and the Heep choir, Byron in front of the music, and effective rhythms from Kerslake and Thain. The opener Wonderworld is a good ballad, the following Suicidal Man again features strong driving rock, but where is Mick Box hidding (answer somewhere in the rhythmics), good short ahhh's from Heep splitting the cords as if they are part of the percussion.

Mostly carried by the beautifull vocal lines (think Queen, or Gentle Giant) The Shadow and the Wind is nice but not really very good. after that again the pace quickens to a sloppy played but nice classic rock/blues tune called So tired, which in a way describes this album so tired so uninspired. The Easy Road is what they explore on this album, creating beautifull music, but never really challenge the listeners. beauty is what remains, but if that's enough only you can decide.

I wanted to go through the album song by song, but the last two songs say enough really. It surely isn't a bad album, and beautifull moments can be heard, but the band was going through the motion, creating what everyone will please, but non will be stunned by this like their previous albums could do.

2 stars, because this easy road should have been avoided by the talented band Uriah Heep is, musically it still is rather good. Check it out if you like their albums, and enjoy this good album, but don't expect real magic.

For the second time in their history, the album opener is a ballad : "Wonderworld" : great melody but not quite usual a track for the Heep.

This album will clearly mark a line between the great moments the Heep has achieved in the past and their current (not talking about their future) production. "Suicidal Man" has a catchy melody and is quite a good hard rock song.

One of their weakest track so far is "The Shadows And The Wind" : sometimes ridiculous (listen to the finale of this song to be convinced). Rather poor : no words to describe it. I can only recommend to skip this track. Fortunately, "So Tired" is a good hard rockin' tune. One of the best song of this album, but not a classic to be remembered. Just above average on this album. Good rhythm and at last some... fantasy.

The syrupy "The Easy Road" is very poor (thank god, it is a very short one). Hell ! What happens to the Heep ? Strings and trumpets ! I must be dreaming.

The Heep tried (once more) to reproduce "Easy Livin' " with "Something Or Nothing" : the end result is not bad when compared to the other tracks. It will not achieve to approach this legendary number but it is good enough to raise a bit the level of this album.

The Heep will then try a bluesy one. Did they try and match Mark III Purple and their bluesy oriented sound at times with Hughes ? I don't know. " I Won't Mind" is not bad in the genre. It features a great Box on guitar and it's one of the best track of this album.

The worse is probably reached with "We Got We". Only the chorus saves this song from complete chaos. "Dreams" is one of the highlights (but would never have been considered as such on previous releases). A good song though, full of great keyboards and bass playing (again, this is a Heep trademark, whoever holds the bass so far).

"What Can I Do" is a typical middle of the road song. An average rocky one : not disturbing nor too boring. A bit too much elevator-type music for me though. The remastered edition features some bonus tracks : remixes or live versions. Not bad of course, especially "Something Or Nothing" but they won't raise the quality of the album unlike previous ones in which the bonuses were really good. I guess that it was due to the lack of originality of the Heep in those days.

IMO this is the weakest Heep effort so far. Not yet a disaster but only deserving two stars.

THE MAGIC TOUCH IS GONE!!

We are in 1974 now; URIAH HEEP has released 6 studio albums and a live one between mid-1970 and 1973; this is maybe a record , even for back then when releasing a new album every year was the norm. 6 albums (from good to great) in 3 years, you have to expect one day, the inspiration and energy will dry at some point. Finally, the first bump will arive with WONDERWORLD.

Despite the title, we are not entering anything close to wonderful when listening this album. I guess KEN HENSLEY after composing most of the songs of UH repertoire run out of ideas and inspiration. So KEN HENSLEY discovered the virtue of democracy and let the other members of the band join him in the joy of writing great new anthems, so to speak.

I can't see one number of this album that could make it on any URIAH HEEP compilation or best-of; a lot of middle of the road rockers like ''Suicidal man'' or the tired ''So tired'' or the inept ''something or nothing''with nothing special. You listen to them once and after it's over, you can't remember anything about these songs: dull, uninspired, completely forgetable.

On the other hand, URIAH HEEP is trying to get into the power ballads; not a success either, even if the title track WONDERWORLD is the best track of the album, imho. Even DAVID BYRON seems to go through the motions and has hard time to bring his passion to these weak songs. I guess was a reason KEN HENSLEY was almost the sole writer of the band: the other ones , especially MICK BOX, only bring bland rockers with no meat on the table; So when KEN HENSLEY gets tired and lack inspiration, the whole band is set to suffer badly.

''I won't mind'' is for me the best part of the album, thanks to a great extended guitar solo from MICK BOX; But again, everything goes down badly after that with the awful ''We got WE''.............iS it the same band that came up with LOOK AT YOURSELF? difficult to believe how the mighty have fallen.

2 STARS

Wonderworld. My first studio experience with Uriah Heep. My first Heep album was Live in Moscow. I didn't know if I like it or not; now I realize that the awful 80's synths and arrangements were the reason of my mixed reaction. Bought Wonderworld before the internet, guided by te cover. That 70ish rock attitude is really cool! And the tracks didn't disappointed me. I agree with the guy that said that this is one of Heep's best side ones. Wonderworld is MY Heep song. And the weaker one, So tired, is a simple rock tune that doesn't make any hard rock fan being sad. My complaints are in side 2. I won't mind and We got we are outrageous, showing a lack of inspiration by the great Hensley that make me feel embarrased for him. Dreams has nothing special, and Something or nothing can be boring after few listenings. But the brilliance of side 1 plus the extra bonus of being my first contact with the best line-up ever of this wonderful group makes this album too special for me. It's not a prog album in any way, but contraring my practice of reviewing albums in PA by their prog value, I'll give it four stars. It's not the best UH album (Demons and Wizards has this honour), it's not an album with fresh ideas (the first Lawton-era Firefly gets this prize), but Wonderworld will always be the album that really make me love Uriah Heep, the ultimate 70's band.

3,5 stars really. Wonderworld is definitly the least succesfull album done by their ´classic´line up of the 70´s. It was done during a big inside crisis (Byron´s drinking and bassist Thain addiction to heroin) and not many critics liked it at the time. And there is controversity about it even today. Nevertheless, they still could deliver a better work than most of their competition.

The LP has a great side one: the classic title track, Suicidal man, The Shadows and The Wind and the beautiful short ballad The Easy Road. Only So tired is a throwaway song, with its lyrics confessing its lack of inspiration explicity. side two is not as good: not a really bad song, but not any highlights either. What saves the album is the group´s fantastic chemistry: even at their lowest those guys were special, including Gary Thain´s playing is impeccable and fluid. those backing vocals are also unique and thrilling.

Certainly changes had to come, but they did it in a very sad fashion, with Thain´s death not long after the LP release. And things would never be the same again. So Wonderworld, with all its faults, is still a good farwell CD to Uriah Heep´s golden era. Not their best for starters, but essential for the fans.

Revisiting the Uriah Heep catalogue and Wonderworld has always been a kind of loner of an album. It is not weaker than it's predecessor Sweet Freedom and contains a lighter edge and mood to the album. ' Wonderworld' the opening number gets the album off to a great start. In fact the first half of the album is pretty darn good, after that the inconsistencies begin to creep in. This may well have had a lot to do with the dischord within the band, the spiralling downward slide of both Thain and Byron from health point of views. Hensley's dominance perhaps along with Box and Kerslake's input remain the cement within the mix.' The Shadows and the Wind' is a classic UH piece and also the Hensley written ' The Easy Road'. ' Dreams' the closer is also a great rocker and the various bonus tracks on the master release shed some more light to this often unfairly criticised album.

The first side of this album is very good. The title track, The Shadows And the Wind and The Easy Road are all really great songs! Maybe I am biased because I really like the live DVD Acoustically Driven where these three songs are (excellently!) performed? Suicidal Man and So Tired are much less interesting but you don't notice that too much, since they are wedged in between the three great songs I mentioned. The Shadows And The Wind, with its extended a capella vocal section is particularly interesting (Queen must have been inspired by this song when they wrote The Prophet's Song for their A Night at the Opera album a year later.)

The second side of the album is much weaker, with only Dreams standing out as a decent song. I used to like this album a lot and I still love some of the songs on the first side. But, Wonderworld doesn't really deserve a high rating. Still, I give it three stars for the interesting moments. Overall, I think that this is a decent Uriah Heep album, even slightly better than the likewise uneven Sweet Freedom (that came just before it) and Return to Fantasy (that came just after it).

Good, but uneven.

Another proud deja vu for Uriah Heep. But not exactly deja vu, because of the rhythmical variety of the album. It contains so much different types of ideas like one melancholic piece - The Easy Road; blues-oriented I Won't Mind; some rock & roll songs like energetic So Tired, Something Or Nothing, What Can I Do and We Got We; hard rocking one - Suicidal Man; hymn-oriented The Shadows and the Wind and two songs, I would call, of extreme highest standard - the homonymous Wonderworld and Dreams. It means, that almost the half of the songs are rock & roll oriented, but even though the musicianship is so powerful, except the drums. I think the drums are little bit hollow. The Byron's voice is again powerful after the experimentations on Sweet Freedom! Again 4 honest stars for the heepsters!!!

This is still very much proggy to me. It's not as proggy as some of Uriah Heep's other album's, but still there is a good amount of Hard Rock and Progressive Rock. Flowing basslines and hard rock organ's and mini-moog make this album unique. This is the last good album with David Byron in the lineup, and this is the last album with bassist Gary Thain, and a year later is died, unfortunatly.

The opening track "Wonderworld" is excellent. The mini-moog in the begining is so forceful and it makes you know that this is Uriah Heep. The lyrics are excellent, especially for this album, and are much better than their last album's lyrical work. David knows how to add that emotion, which Gary knows how the make a melodic bassline, and Ken Hensley knows what to do on the keyboards. This song is just great, and it shows that they have come a long way lyrically since their last album. "Suicidal Man" is a very good hard rocker. The riff with the guitar and hammond organ present itself well, and are very heavy metal for the time, similar to what people like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple were doing at the time. The bassline is very loud and forceful, not as bottom end as usual, but still containing the low end crunch. David adds emotion and passion to the okay lyrics. A great track, though not the top cut, but in the middle of the pack when it comes to the songs. "The Shadows and the Wind" is a nice and flowing track, with organs that are really touching deep down to the heard. It's a bit proggy because of the excellent lyrics, some of my favorite lyrics for a song. The drumming is fairly good for Lee and are very flowing with the song. It seems a bit like a winter song, it's got that nice warm feeling, at least to me. "So Tired" seems a bit like filler, but it's a decent hard rocking song. The lyrics aren't good at all, they just talk about doing things on the road and stuff like that. The vocals aren't good on this one either, they just don't have that usual passion that David usually has. A let down track. "The Easy Road" is an excellent ballad-like track, with some excellent orchestra and piano type of sound. David has some excellent emotion, it seems a bit like low falsetto that he is singing. It's a sad song, with power and emotion that only Uriah Heep can give. "Something or Nothing" is a fairly good track, but it's not my favorite track after a slow and steady song like the last. It's very short, and sounds a bit like what was going on in the 1960's era of music. Vocal harmonies throughout, mostly a doubled voice really. "I won't Mind" is more or so one of the extended tracks, and is a good one. There is a bass guitar and a drum intro, flowing very nice with each other. The guitar seems to just add that right amount of hard rock into the song. David adds some nice vocals to the song with the good lyrics, though they are not the best lyrics of the album. The music beats the words on this one, though it's a top cut. "We Got We" is a good track, with a soft organ intro. The keyboards and bassline are excellent, add some nice atmosphere to the song. The vocals are really nice on this one, and the lyrics aren't bad for the album. The vocal harmonies are also great. The guitar playing isn't very well heard, but when you do hear it, it's very good for Mick Box playing. "Dreams" is hands down the best track, and it's the longest of the two extended tracks. The organ intro is very creepy, with the drums slowly following behind. The guitar is nicely playing solo's in the background, and are really just making this song all the freakier. The organ is very nice and is very loud. The lyrics are excellent, and David just gives it his own thing. This track is a must have. Bassline is flowing with the other isntruments excellently.

This album has a lot of filler material, but the stuff that everyone really tried on was excellent, and has that emotion that you can only find on Uriah Heep albums. This is a 4 stars because it's not a masterpiece, but you should definatly get it in your progressive rock album collection, or 1970's heavy metal collection.

The master piece from the masters!

Probably the most sentimental, the most introverted and the most touching Heep album and certainly the most underrated one ..

The album starts with the title track Wonderworld which I always wished it lasted throughout the whole "side A "of the LP :)

The Shadows And The Wind and The Easy Road are my all time favorite tracks. SUicidal Man is a catchy track too.

Side B is an absolute winner with four awesome tracks specially the Dreams! The keyboard tracks are to tastefully blended and sound so classy. Great playing and composing from Mr. Hensley. Also Thain is awesome in this last album of his career.

Without the Wonderworld, the Uriah Heep would be half as much as they are to me now. Lovely grooves, delicate nuance, fine recording and great composing. No only one of the best Heep albums but one of the best rock albums of all times

Only four months after the release of 'Sweet Freedom' and the band were back in the studio for 'Wonderworld'. The problems that had been apparent during the recording of the last album grew as some of the band turned to drugs of one type or another to cope with the burnout. Given the workload that they were being placed under it really isn't surprising. They started work on their seventh studio album in January 1974, less than four years since the release of their debut and when not in the studio they had been on the road. Try explaining that schedule to bands today.

Due to all of these factors coming into play it is probably of little surprise that the album suffered somewhat. However, not nearly to the extent that one might think. Although there probably isn't any song here that could remotely be given the 'classic' moniker, the album itself is consistent. The band themselves felt at the top that they could do no wrong and this confidence does come through. David Byron was a great singer and frontman, and in Ken Hensley they had a great keyboard player and songwriter while guitarist Mick Box, drummer Lee Kerslake and bassist Gary Thain were no slouches either. In "The Easy Road" they showed that they were more than just a hard rock band as piano and extremely lush orchestration showed another side of the band, while "Something Or Nothing" showed that they could still blast away when they wanted to. Yet again this has been remastered by Rob Corich with more bonus cuts.

Originally appeared in Feedback #79, June 2004

Uriah Heep's 7th album (1974) follows along in the same style as their previous album "Sweet Freedom", it's a decent album where the band uses a lot of their trademark styles along with Byron's amazing vocals that also tried function as a way to build their audience. To do that, unfortunately, it meant paring back the progressive styles that made their previous work sound more inspired and interesting. As far as lite-progressive albums, though, it's still pretty good. The trademark organ, weird synths and over-the-top (sometimes) vocals are still there, it's just based on a more accessible rock/blues style that was much in the same vein as many Deep Purple albums.

Wonderworld - After a strong opening introduction, the music quiets down for the vocals and a building to the chorus. Similar to the strong ballads of previous albums which always featured heavier instrumental interludes. Nice and soulful, this one holds on to the past.

Suicidal Man - A heavier and rockier track that's much more beat and guitar driven with solid riffs. Excellent vocals especially in the ending.

The Shadows and the Wind - Soft organs bring this one in with a rolling percussion and more soulful singing, but becomes much more upbeat and heavy on the chorus and following verses.

So Tired - Anything but tired, a fast moving upbeat track, heavy on the organ and a driving beat. The bridge slows things up a bit, but it soon returns to the driving beat allowing for drum and bass breaks with a bit of guitar thrown in there to ramp up the heaviness.

The Easy Road - Piano led ballad with orchestral arrangement to create a bit of lushness. Drums come in later, but the song remains in the ballad realm. Nice track, but too short for the amount of trouble put into the orchestra.

Something or Nothing - A heavy, rocking and upbeat track which was released as a single. It's quite traditional when it comes to song structure and one that you would expect to do well on the radio, but I don't ever remember hearing it there.

I Won't Mind - One of the 2 longer tracks, this one at 6 minutes. A slow, pounding rhythm and bass bring in a killer guitar solo before the bluesy vocals come in. This one varies a bit in its overall blues style, but allows the drums to become more free which almost gives the feel of meter and/or tempo changes through the verses. These kinds of songs were where Byron was at his strongest, plus Mick Box gets to really shred on this one also for the extended instrumental ending.

We Got We - Awful title. Terrible lyrics. Dumb melody. Decent guitar solo in the middle, but that doesn't save the song.

Dreams - The 2nd of the longer tracks at just over 6 minutes. Starts as you would imagine, with slow ambient, droning organ and eerie UH style synth. After a minute, the tempo picks up and vocals come in. Has some recollection to earlier, more progressive albums. The middle section is some great classic UH sound with a nice build up to the next verse. However, you expect a little more jamming here instead of sliding so quickly into the verse. The build up is repeated in variation at the end, this time taking more time to build up with some bluesy-psychedelic sounds taking us to the end. Not bad, but you wish for a little bit more.

Bonus tracks: What Can I Do - The b-side to "Something or Nothing" that was left off the album. Mid-tempo rocker. It's okay, but nothing real special. This should have been substituted for the awful "We Got We".

Love Hate and Fear - This is a non-album demo. Not a bad mid-tempo boogie style riff drives this decent track. You can tell it's a demo track because of the light use of instruments, but it's still intact enough to almost pass as a finished track. Makes me wonder how good it would have been if it was finished.

Stone's Throw - Another non-album demo. More of an acoustic vibe to this one with a surprising amount of "twang" to it. The melody is too repetitive on this one to be very interesting. I can understand why they passed on this one. It seems they are a bit out of their element here.

Dreams (Extended Version) - Over a minute longer than the album version. The extra time is all in the psychedelic ending. It just stretches things out longer there but doesn't really add anything.

I Won't Mind (Live Version) - Great choice for a live bonus track. Too bad the singing is off key through most of it.

So Tired (Live Version) - See previous.

Pretty good, but lacking in progressive style. Great for a hard rocker's album though.