LIVE AT SHEPPERTON '74

Madison Square Gardens, Filmore East, Red Rocks...Shepperton?

The recordings on this album are taken from a Television special that Uriah Heep recorded in 1974. Although the special was never actually broadcast, a number of extracts from it appeared on the now deleted "Easy Livin', a history of Uriah Heep" video. The performance was never intended for commercial release in any format, but with the ongoing demand for Byron era material by the band, a belated release took place in 1986.

The original album was rather brief, but this was rectified by the remastered version, which incorporates a number of additional tracks from the same performance, plus some other relevant additions. A few of the tracks duplicate the superior versions on the "Live 1973" album, but as these recordings took place around the time of the release of the "Wonderworld" album, tracks from that album and "Sweet Freedom" also appear.

The performance by the band is not one of their best, tempered perhaps by the fact that they were conscious of the need to appeal visually as well as audibly. The recording quality too reflects the fact that it was intended only for television broadcast.

While it is good to hear early live versions of tracks such as "Sweet freedom" and "Stealin'", only the emotive ballad "The easy road" shines through as anything more than average here. Uriah Heep made one of the best live albums ever. Unfortunately, this wasn't it!

Some ages ago (1974) the Heep made a live recorded show and I guess the band needed some easy money (for easy livin') and their record company put a recording of this concert on the market in 1986.

Some too conventional comments from Byron : you're a great audience ... after the first track ! Or very pretentious one : about "Something or Nothing" : this song might be a track of our next album or just a single unless I get it my way ...

I have rated their first live album with five stars; so this is really the reference for me in terms of Uriah Heep live album. There is absolutely no need to buy this one unless you really want to get hold of their whole catalogue or if you want to discover a few live performances from "Wonderworld" or "Sweet Freedom". Some of the best tracks of these albums are here. Older tracks like "Love Machine"and "Easy Livin" are featured here as well but are not superior to their studio versions. "The Rock'n'Roll medley" is good though.

If you ever want to purchase this one (which really does not make any sense), I recommend you to get hold of the remastered version : at least you will get an extended version of the medley as well as some good numbers like "Sweet Freedom" as well as intersting outakes. Three stars.