SWEET FREEDOM

After the controversial "The Magician's Birthday" Uriah Heep tightened up their sound on "Sweet Freedom", which is more akin to "Look at Yourself" with some of "Magician"'s flavor. I find this to be a stronger album, but not without its flaws. As they return to their artsy/heavy formula, they seem to be running out of steam and relying on less interesting riffs. This shows from the very beginning on the opening track, "Dreamer". It's not exactly bad, but for some reason it makes me think of Boston.....and not a particularly great Boston song. Just an ok heavy rocker with a funky edge.

"Stealin'" is much better, although I still am not sure what made this such a BIG hit and live favorite when compared to other UH songs like "Bird of Prey" or "Tears in My Eyes", for instance. I'm not too crazy about the lyrics but it's got a good, rocking pace and some strong guitar and organ work. So I really like it, I just don't see what makes it SO much better than everything else. "One Day" comes next, a short but powerful song that blends some of Mick Box's strongest guitar work with great vocal harmonies. "Sweet Freedom" is an anthemic power ballad that has a great chord progression, reminiscent of Rocky Horror's "Midnight Double Feature Picture Show". Afterwards, "If I Had the Time" comes on, an ode to being satisfied with yourself. It is built upon an entangled guitar/synthesizer riff that's oddly similar to the last part of "Only in Your Heart" by America. Weird, huh?

Then comes "Seven Stars".....oh boy. It's hard for me to really give a solid evaluation of the song, as compared to the other tracks on here. As a whole it's not bad, and the music has a nice groove. I don't really have a problem with the song until the lyrics at the end. I've heard plenty of bad lyrics in my time, and Ken Hensley is no great prog lyricist. But there's bad lyrics....and then there's reciting the alphabet. Hearing this really annoyed me, and it makes my opinion of the song go down a lot. I didn't like the alphabet being recited when The Soft Machine did it, but at least there it fit in with the band's sense of humor in their music; here it's completely out of place and its stupidity ruins an otherwise decent song.

Anyway, I'm able to grit my teeth and get past this. "Circus" follows, and again I'm reminded of America. UH are no strangers to folk rock-esque pieces, but while the others are more "English" in their sound, this has more of an American feel; specifically, I think of America's "Rainy Day". In any case I really like it. The "epic" on this album comes in the form of "Pilgrim", which is like a darker, more aggressive version of "July Morning". Because it's heavier it loses a lot of that piece's beauty, but it makes up for it by being just as entrancing. It's split into two parts: the first is the main vocal section with a heavy, theatrical atmosphere, beginning with the pompous introduction. It gradually builds up with increasing tension to a frenzied Mick Box solo. The album closes with "Sunshine", which is another power ballad, very similar to "Sunrise" from the previous album. It hits you right away with its alternate descending/ascending chord progression and screeching guy

Overall this was a very satisfying album. With the solid line-up of Hensley/Byron/Box/Thain/Kerslake the band was not going to put out anything bad. If you overlook the idiocy of "Seven Stars" and a few weak spots in their otherwise solid formula you will not be disappointed.