VERY 'EAVY...VERY 'UMBLE

This album has some really interesting things, like the band's typical high pitched choirs (Gypsy, I'll Keep on Trying...), some good riffs from the versatile guitarist Mick Box, and the good work of the singer David Byron. But some of the songs are far from being impressive, and this album is maybe too 60's sounding sometimes (like in Wake Up, Set Your Sights...), and far from the high levels of bands of this time like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, and later Uriah Heep's efforts.

Nevertheless, the contribution of this album to the creation of heavy metal is obvious... You have only to hear the riff on Gypsy and Dreammare to notice it. It was really heavy for the time this album was released... Maybe not so heavy like Black Sabbath, or Deep Puple's In Rock, but it was hard for its time. And the contribution of this band to create this new way to understand rock music is important anyway, despite the obvious influence of other bands they had in this their first album.

The worst fact I find in this disc, is the lack of strenght of some songs, like the insipid Walking in Your Shadow and the not very inspired Real Turned On... Lucy Blues is (obviously...) a blues, and it's a song easily forgettable, nothing special, like the too 60's oriented (for the mood of the rest of the album...) Wake Up (Set Your Sights). So this album is too full of fillers in my opinion... Four good songs of eight is not enough to say that an album is good. Just an average one.

Best Tracks: Gypsy (a song wich was important for this new thing called heavy metal...), Come Away Melinda (beautiful ballad, with a very sensitive Byron's interpretation...), Dreammare (good riffs for a good song, despite the repetitive chorus...) and I'll Keep On Trying (the high pitched choirs are a band's trademark...)

Conclusion: Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble... is an album just for Uriah Heep's fans, in my opinion... Only if you are curious to hear some songs wich contributed to the birth of hard rock and heavy metal, you'll find this album insteresting. But in the beginning of the 70's, it was a lot of better albums that this weak debut... And of course, there is almost not prog to be found here.

My rating: **1/2

Share this URIAH HEEP review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to The Crow
• Report this review (#180868)
• Buy URIAH HEEP music online with PA partners
• Show all URIAH HEEP MP3/Stream
• Go to URIAH HEEP page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for URIAH HEEP related discussions