Uriah Heep-Underrated?...Of Course.

Thandrus wrote: I think Uriah Heep still has a melodic world different to others.

DragonRojo wrote: Great band! Let down over the years by personal excesses and some bad decisions. Like most, my preference would be the classic era line up, but I was also a fan (and still am) of the great John Lawton! There's still many fans worldwide but information has never been that forthcoming from the official sources. There's no official fan forum in existence now AFAIK, but there's a bunch of oldschool Heep (Byron/Hensley/Lawton) diehards over at www.uriah-heep.org Apparently the official sources won't acknowledge their existence due to their tendency to criticise the present Heep incarnation!

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Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: Thandrus wrote: RP.. vocal harmonies aside.. they are quite similar groups.... UR is not self defined music at all.. you can't go 10 ft from a write up on UR without some sort of  a DP mention .. they are tied to together, for better or worse,  in some sort of psychic loop or continuum hahhahaha   I think Uriah Heep still has a melodic world different to others. Songs like Wonderworld, Sympathy, If I Had The Time or their balads will prove my opinion, I guess.   Agree with you thandrus, Uriah Heep is probably the only Heavy Prog band that worked with sytrong atmospheres.   While DP was making their own Hard Rock and blending it with some Classical sections (I still don't believe they were ever Prog), Uriah Heeep was working with structures, they were adapting Ken Hensley's unique mysterious sound to fit perfectly with Mick Box's wah guitar and making very complex vocxal harmonies in which all the band members participated (Yes I seen Gary Thain also singing in the Masters from the Vault DVD).   At least the sound of Look at Yourself, Magician's Birthday and Demons & Wizards can't be confused with anything, I can't find any Deep Purple reference, which BTW is very hard, because they were coetaneous.   BTW; People often forget that Ken Hensley and Lee Kerslake worked with Greg Lake and John Glascock from Uriah Heep in a Proto Prog project called "The Gods", so even their background is related with Prog.   Iván

My two pennys worth - I love most of their output up to about 1975, after which I feel they lost their way for a while, but before they did so, they were responsible for some of the most powerful, atmospheric music out there.



The combination of Box's power chords & the wall of sound from Hensley's Hammond B3 (let's not forget he was a very good guitarist as well) backed by Thain & Kerslake, and fronted by David Byron... classic! They never reached the heights of popularity attained by Deep Purple, but they've never gone away either - they've retained a strong fan base & the current lineup are always good value, as there is always a sense of humour onstage with them (something they always had... I mean, check out Hensley's stage clothes )



A lot's been said of the vocal harmony work, but am I the only one who sees comparisons with the harmonies employed by Queen in the 1970s? Could it be that one of the most popular prog/rock/pop bands ever to come out of the UK were influenced by the Heep...?

Well I'm gonna talk some stuff what I said in my reviews. I started to listen this band when I searched for wikipedia hard rock bands. Having this one being very influential by Deep Purple my fave band I thought why don't give it a try. Although there is shown tiny influence from DP Hensley's hammond is very similar to the play of Jon Lord although being Ken prog... I don't really think it should be considered as far as Floyd, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, others. But still I think this band has to be in your prog catalog. Being their debut, Salisbury, Demons and Wizards and Magician's birthday all 3.5, 4 and 5 star albums. Having Demons and Wizards my fave and think it has no filler the best one behind Salisbury (the most prog one) and Magician's Birthday (another intemped of Demons and Wizards). And then having their debut pretty well, this could be the most DP influential album cause being recorded in the same studio where In Rock was recorded. Having Heep metal oriented songs is the only problem (for me).

Edited by cacho - February 22 2008 at 11:09

Hello Uriah Heep (UH) was one of the best example of british hard rock with touces of progressive rock  i have listen to all his 70's albums and they are damn consistent and well carfted from his first record to the Fallen Angel and there are very professional and good hooks and harmonies.

Ken Hensley's melodies are remarkable and unforgettable.
For me, July Morning is on the same level with 'A Child in time'
and similar epics.
Everything they have done until Firefly is worth mentioning.
And I believe they are under-appreciated in this site.