A TIME OF REVELATION - 25 YEARS ON

HEAP it on

A now deleted four CD compilation of tracks covering the history of the band from when they were known as "Spice", through to the "Sea of light" album in 1995. The tracks have been well selected, including longer pieces such as "July morning" and "Paradise/The spell" in full. The only glaring omission is the title track from "Salisbury".

There are a number of "previously unreleased" tracks, most of which have since appeared as bonus tracks on the remastered versions of the albums for which they were originally intended.

The Byron era is rightly well represented occupying two and a half of the four discs. For me, restricting the "wilderness years" of the 1980's and early 90's to part of the forth disc was a sensible move. As is customary with these lavish box sets, a well presented and informative booklet is also included.

When first released, the spine of the box attributed the collection to Uriah HEAP. An unfortunate blunder for what is otherwise a very well packaged product. In view of the subsequent expanded remasters of the original albums, this collection is no longer essential for those who appreciate the music of Uriah Heep. For those with only a passing interest, if you see it at a reasonable price, it's a worthwhile investment.

Heep is close to my heart, I have just about every official studio & live recording. That is why I was debating to fork out some extra $ on this release. Thinking initially for more-less the tracks that I already own. But at a closer look, there are plenty of unreleased tracks in here, and if you are a John Lawton fan, or if you just "don't mind" the era of UH w/Lawton, you're in for a pleasant surprise! There are quite a few unreleased tracks, that are very good, perhaps the unreleased album in the works prior to Lawton's departure. The remastered sound is very good, the separation is noticeable on a majority of the tracks. One other pleasant surprise were the liner notes. Very informative, easy to read, all in all, a few great listening hours of music while reading the notes to put you in the moment. Highly recommended release.