"Shadows of Grief" is a powerful and muscular heavy-progressive track with complex instrumental-parts. The title-track and "Love Machine" are driving heavy rock at its very best. But the rest of the album is absolutely awesome too. It perfectly captures the mood and sound of the decade. Right from the start with Hensley's heavenly organ-theme, to the soft and atmospheric vocal-parts and then to the fading riff at the end with excellent moog-playing by Manfred Mann, this track is simply one of the best songs ever recorded during the '70s. It features what many people consider to be their best song ever: the eleven-minute "July Morning". Uriah Heep - "Look at Yourself" (Bronze 1971)Īll the pieces came together on the third album that also was Heep's breakthrough. A very strong album even if they still struggled a bit to find a perfect amalgamation between the heavy and the progressive side of their music, but that would come very soon. A classic! The rest of the album was made up of the two decent rockers: the slow "Time to Live" and the faster and lighter "High Priestess". But the best-known song here is actually the acoustic ballad "Lady in Black" that was performed on no less then four acoustic guitars and a wordless-chorus that sticks to your brain. Even the album's heaviest number, the opener "Bird of Prey", has got a slight progressive edge thanks to the Mellotron, organ and the operatic vocals that never were more over-the-top than on this track. At the end it turns into a jazzy start/stop-instrumental part with the sound of birds making the park-atmosphere complete. It starts as a ballad sung in a high falsetto and the arrangement includes organ and vibes that makes an incredible atmosphere. The atmospheric "The Park" is another progressive song. Influences from both jazz and classical music can be heard here. This was a very impressive and complex composition where the band's hard rock and choir-like vocal-harmonies melts together with brass and woodwinds, creating a very unique symphonic heavy-progressive piece. "Salisbury" remains probably their most progressive album, most because of the 16-minute title-track. The album contained one flaw with "Lucy Blues" but the rest is great.Īll of Heep's true ambitions (and they were not few) came to the surface when Ken Hensley took over most of the songwriting in the band. WHAT an atmosphere and sound! And now I almost forgot to mention "Dreamare" with it's idiotic but irresistable catchy "la la la la" chorus. The second part is basically the same melody as the first, but with a much calmer and laidback arrangement, including Mellotron. The lighter, more melodic "Wake Up (Set your Sights)" is a kind of a two-part track where the first part have a slight jazz-influence. First you had the complex "I'll Keep on Trying" that probably had their heaviest riff ever. The two closing numbers showed Heep from their most progressive side. The album also features a Mellotron-dominated cover of "Come Away Melinda" and this is for my money the best version ever recorded of this track. The only track that I don't care for here is the limp blues of "Lucy Blues". Both the non-organ songs ("Walking in Your Shadow" and "Real Turned On") are also excellent tracks based in great riffs. This is '70s heavy rock as good as it can get. The track is based in a simple but genius riff that gets relieved by powerful vocal-parts with David Byron at his absolutely best (along with Ian Gillan, Byron was one of the very first typical heavy metal singers) and a long and absolutely outstanding organ-solo from Hensley. The album opened with one of their best and most legendary hard rockers: "Gypsy". And not at least, the very powerful B3-Hammond of Ken Hensley, who also contributed with some guitar on the non-organ songs. Even if their debut-album was pretty much your typical early '70s organ-drenched heavy rock, several of the most distinctive Heep-trademaks could already be heard here, like the operatic vocal-harmonies and the wha-wha dominated playing style of guitarist Mick Box. Uriah Heep - "Very 'eavy.Very 'umble" (Vertigo 1970)įew bands captured the sound of classic '70s rock better than Uriah Heep did with their grandiose, melodic and progressive heavy rock.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |