SALISBURY

This is a very particular record.. Some songs are easily on the list of my favourites of all time for Heep.. Time to live is special, beautiful melody and Byron sings like an actor, he had the feeling of the character of the song, very passionate and emotional. Salisbury is a very solid suite, fully of progressive passages. Bird of prey is one of my all time favourite rocks. But in this case I prefer a more recent version. The unique reason I didn´t gave five stars to this record was Lady in Black - a kind of eventual uninspired Heep song. Almost any Heep´s records has at least one dull, dumby song! This is the one for Salysbury. If you are a Prog rock fan and really don´t know Uriah Heep, try to begin with this one! The natural pathway could be completed with Demons and wizards, Magician´s Birtheday and Sweet Freedom. By that time (72-75) Gary Thain (the bassist) stunned the rock scene, with pompous, blistering, soaring playing style. It´s difficult to find a match for him, even nowadays.. So I think you can imaine the impact he did years ago...Innovative style of bass playing - and one of my heroes... Sadly he died very young... And the band changed a lot without him.. But this is another story..