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Chus 
Prog Reviewer 
Joined: October 16 2006 Location: Venezuela Status: Offline Points: 1991 |
 Topic: Uriah HeepPosted: December 15 2006 at 10:53 |
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I have VEVU, Salisbury, Demons & Wizards and The Magician's Birthday and, to tell you the truth, they sound more to me like a good hard-rock/metal band (Salisbury is the closest to prog)... than a prog band (sometimes they do long songs, but I find them to be overlong really... plus long songs do not necessarily equal prog)... IMO they're not prog, but I find the music enjoyable at times (I still haven't heard Look At Yourself yet, so I wouldn't know about that album's "progginess")
Edited by Chus - December 15 2006 at 10:56 |
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Jesus Gabriel
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IVNORD
Forum Senior Member 
Joined: December 13 2006 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 1191 |
Posted: December 15 2006 at 08:06 |
Progger, salmacis, ozzy_tom, No offence intended, JMHO. Heep’s tunes are straight-forward, main-stream rock. The musicianship is good, but again criterion rock, nothing extraordinary. Their use of guitar, organ and percussions suggests more leaning toward Heavy metal (at that early stage Heavy metal was much more “music” than today, that’s why the association could be confusing). And finally, the bass guitar line is more of a background and rhythm support than of an independent instrument. |
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
Content Addition Joined: April 10 2005 Status: Offline Points: 3928 |
Posted: December 14 2006 at 15:22 |
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Yes, I like John Lawton's vocals a great deal, but the material was quite weak on some of the albums. I'd say the current line-up's albums 'Sea Of Light' and 'Sonic Origami' (with a bit of editing on that one) could stand up to most albums.
For me, I always preferred the live version of 'Gypsy' on the 1973 Live album. Got to love that Moog workout from Ken! |
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ozzy_tom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 15 2006 Location: China/Poland Status: Offline Points: 754 |
Posted: December 14 2006 at 15:20 |
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Uriah Heep is my 2nd favorite band (just after ELP). I especially like their 5 first albums and above all I prefer "Look at Yourself" and "Salisbury". But their first album consists their best song ever - "Gypsy" where is this famous cacophonic organ solo made by maestro Ken Hensly, really great. But after this "classic 5" they played a lot of good songs in the next records, like "Pilgrim", "Dreams", "Return To Fantasy" or "Beautiful Dream" and many others. I like even their albums with diffrent vocalist than Byron but definitely they aren't so good.
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
Content Addition Joined: April 10 2005 Status: Offline Points: 3928 |
Posted: December 14 2006 at 15:06 |
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Mmm...to me they are very definitely a prog band. 'Salisbury', 'Wake Up', 'July Morning', 'Shadows Of Grief', 'Circle Of Hands', 'Paradise/The Spell', 'Echoes In The Dark', 'Pilgrim', 'Midnight', 'Firefly' etc...lots of prog tracks, though I think the heavy rock in their music throws people. I love the mix.
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Progger
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 26 2005 Status: Offline Points: 1188 |
Posted: December 14 2006 at 14:20 |
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I play Heep more often than any other 70's band except YES and ELP!
Sweet Freedom still sounds fresh and is my favourite Heep album!
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IVNORD
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 13 2006 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 1191 |
Posted: December 14 2006 at 10:16 |
They are not a Prog band, more Hard rock/Heavy metal. It's rather nostalgic to me, 30+ years ago. Rarely listen to them nowadays. Demons and Wizards is their best album. |
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MegaMoog
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 22 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 112 |
Posted: October 20 2006 at 22:50 |
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I just got a DVD of the early 70's it was great even though it had a few sound problems It is really the only chance to see the best time in Heep history
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Zoot Allures
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 20 2006 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 127 |
Posted: October 20 2006 at 22:06 |
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I'm not really familiar with much of Heeps post classic era material so I can't be much of a judge.
I own all the Heep albums with Byron on vocals and Firefly with Lawton singing which is not a great album but not bad. Nothing after that.
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The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. - Hunter S. Thompson
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Eetu Pellonpaa
Special Collaborator 
Honorary Collaborator Joined: June 17 2005 Location: Finland Status: Offline Points: 4828 |
Posted: October 20 2006 at 17:54 |
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Well, post thee here ye ratings:
 URIAH HEEP - Conquest URIAH HEEP - Head First URIAH HEEP - Different World URIAH HEEP - Sea of Light URIAH HEEP - Sonic OrigamiEdited by Eetu Pellonpää - October 20 2006 at 17:54 |
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kev2307
Forum Groupie 
Joined: February 06 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 77 |
Posted: October 20 2006 at 13:18 |
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I was lucky introduced to Uriah Heep by my first girlfriend back in 1972 - I tried to educate her about Deep Purple and failed.
But I must admit I love the 'Live' album. The whole tuning bit at the beginning and Dave Byron telling everyone it was going out live, pure musical theater.
I was lucky enough to have an instructor in the army who taught us to type to Uriah Heep - he felt they had good rhythm.
One song no one seems to mention is 'Illusion' - I am a great fan of the early stuff but I did think this was an acceptional song from the late 70's
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Prog-jester
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 05 2005 Location: Love Beach Status: Offline Points: 5908 |
Posted: October 20 2006 at 06:31 |
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This is one of my fathers' fave bands!!!
I grown up with the sounds of "Weep in Silence","Sunrise","Lady in Black","Illusion","Sympathy","July Morning","The Park","Choises","The Dance" and other legendary Heep tracks.I don't consider them to be Prog,but they're excellent anyway.Fave albums - "The Magician's Birthday","Innocent Victim","Demons and Wizards","Salisbury" etc |
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 27 2004 Location: Peru Status: Offline Points: 19557 |
Posted: October 18 2006 at 19:36 |
Yes Salmacis and remember thay had already passed for that same situation a few years before when Gary Thain almost died electrocuted on stage and his addiction to heroine rised so fast they had to kick him despite being probably the best bassist ever.
A short time after Gary Died woith OD so David Byron's situation was more of the same in a short lapse of time, it's understandable they were shocked.
Iván
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baldy flapstick
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 15 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 109 |
Posted: October 18 2006 at 19:31 |
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I'm not really
a fan of Uriah Heep and never considered them to be a prog band. I had
a compilation of their early material when I was a kid including July
Morning on it and I just considered it to be rock music, no more
adventurous than Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin, neither of whom I
classify as prog either. Firefly was an acceptable album but the only
other album I'm familiar with is Conquest which is ok in places but at
times almost embarassing. John Sloman's vocals didn't help. There are
any number of bands who have prog moments without really being prog but
how we classify what is and isn't prog I guess will be a debate which
rattles on forever.
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Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
Content Addition Joined: April 10 2005 Status: Offline Points: 3928 |
Posted: October 18 2006 at 05:34 |
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Yeah I know that Mick Box was shocked and took to drinking for a short period after it, and I think it was one of the catalysts in Ken Hensley cleaning up his act. I think anyway...
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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 21 2004 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 15585 |
Posted: October 18 2006 at 03:54 |
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Welcome Mina, always good to have another Heep fan on board!
I wouldn't read too much into the fact that only Wetton attended Byron's funeral. The rest of the band all had their own problems at the time, and had pretty much lost touch with David. It wasn't a deliberate snub as such.
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mina
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 12 2006 Location: usa Status: Offline Points: 387 |
Posted: October 18 2006 at 03:04 |
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ah, my first recommendation. exciting! thank you, ivan. i will definitely check that album out.
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 27 2004 Location: Peru Status: Offline Points: 19557 |
Posted: October 18 2006 at 03:01 |
Welcome Mina.
If you liked Salisbury you should try "Look at Yourself" it's the fisrt really Prog Heep album, still Gary Thain and Lee Kerslake hadn't joined the band for their best lineup (They had 30 changes in 10 years
 ) but the album is pure platinuum.
If it was only for this three songs, the album would be worth already, but it's much more. Iván
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salmacis
Forum Senior Member
Content Addition Joined: April 10 2005 Status: Offline Points: 3928 |
Posted: October 17 2006 at 13:51 |
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Well I consider myself to be a die hard of their 70s period but I found the 80s stuff quickly wore out its welcome and was basically anodyne AOR that any band could have recorded. Very little of the Heep sound was in these albums. They only found it again with the superb 'Sea Of Light'- right up there with the very best imo.
As for Lawton, I agree and posted here that he was the most underrated rock vocalist ever- close run with Samson's Nicky Moore. I think Lawton saved some of the albums he did with Heep. 'Firefly' is a classic and one of their best but the other two and the unreleased 'Five Miles' sessions are often obvious AOR missives that are a million miles away from the direction the fans liked. Lawton makes silk purses out of sow's ears like 'Keep On Ridin', 'Roller' and 'Put Your Lovin' On Me' which are all slight soft rockers.
John Wetton's contribution to Heep was mainly down his close friendship with David Byron, imo. Rumour has it he was the only member of any incarnation of Heep that attended Byron's funeral over 20 years ago. Wetton turned up at the Magician's Birthday Party event signing memorabilia etc. I think (I'm sure I can see him on the DVD), and was even due to play with them at the 2003 one but he never did. He did play a short tour with Ken Hensley, as has John Lawton.
I agree that 'The Magician's Birthday' isn't a progressive album as such- songs like 'Blind Eye', 'Echoes In The Dark' and 'Tales' have a sort of folk prog tinge that came out more in the 'Acoustically Driven' project. I always found the title track to be more excessive than progressive, particularly the gratuitous guitar solo section...However, I think their first 4 albums have a fair bit of prog here and there- never more so than 'Salisbury', their most progressive album. Edited by salmacis - October 17 2006 at 13:54 |
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M. B. Zapelini
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 21 2005 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 773 |
Posted: October 17 2006 at 06:06 |
 What a great place to start. This album turned five friends of mine into UH fans! Hope this happens to you too.
Uriah Heep was always one of my favorite bands - I actually like all their albums, except "Equator", which is a crap (still there's a few decent pop tunes, like "Heartache City", "Poor Little Rich Girl" and "Night of the Wolf"; even "Different World" has his moments. I think John Lawton is one of the most underrated rock singers of all time, and he's still doing a terrific job today, as everybody can see at UH recend videos (although he's sporting an horrible toupeé!). But his work with UH wasn't as strong as Byron's, so most fans tend to underrate him. It's a shame.
By the way, what would be your ideal UH line-up? Mine is a six piece band:
John Lawton - lead vocals
Mick Box - guitar
Ken Hensley - keyboards & guitar
Phil Lanzon - keyboards
John Wetton - bass
Lee Kerslake - drums
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"He's a man of the past and one of the present"
PETER HAMMILL |
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Uriah Heep
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salmacis wrote:
