THE LANSDOWNE TAPES

In 1965 Mick Box (guitar) was one of the founding members from beatgroup The Stalkers, soon David Byron (vocals) and Paul Newton (bass) became fellow members. After changing their name into Spice they build up a reputation in the London venue circuit and this resulted in an invitation to record an album. The recordings took place in the Lansdowne Studio and their sesssion keyboardplayer Colin Wood suggested to take keyboardist Ken Hensley as a new member. Ken played with Mick Taylor (later The Rolling Stones) in The Gods, other members from that 'cult-band' also later joined famous progrock bands like Lee Kerslake (Uriah Heep), Greg Lake (King Crimson, ELP, Asia) and John Glascock (Jethro Tull). After Ken had joined Spice the band changed their name in Uriah Heep.

This CD contains six Spice songs and eight previously unreleased Uriah Heep track versions from the era 1969-1971. The "Spice" composition "Born in a trunk" sounds like early Uriah Heep featuring raw and harder-edged guitarplay and the very distinctive vocals from David Byron. Another nice "Spice" song is the jazzy "Magic lantern" with strong bass play. Most of the Uriah Heep tracks feature compelling, bluesy inspired keyboard work from Ken Hensley (on "Why", "What should be done" and "Lucy's blues"). The final composition is the 'classic' "Look at yourself", so propulsive and powerful, this is perfect simplicity! This CD has a running time from at about 75 minutes, its mid-price must seduce some progheads...!