A heepin' helpin' of Uriah Heep

Been listening to the first 3 albums alot recently, they've been hitting the spot. It's been quite awhile since I heard these and was pleasantly surprised by how well they've held up. Now...there was always a cheese factor with Heep and depending on my mood I can either handle it or it drives me batty...but when the mood is right they sound RIGHTEOUS.

Bird of Prey & Gypsy alone basically created every (bad) metal stereotype that still carries on to this day. I mean, listen to Uriah Heep and then play King Diamond right afterwards...the similarity is remarkable. Yet these aren't bad songs, they are incredible songs...they are just layered with a dollop of Cheez Whiz.

Dig beneath the singles though and you'll find some FANTASTIC songs, July Morning is a masterpiece for example. There is some killer guitar work on these records, the tone is just lethal. Ken Hensley sounds like an amplified satanic imp on the hammond organ...churning up chaos and doom. Plus the rhythm section is smokin'.

Also, the title track of Look At Yourself is one of their best tunes.

Love Uriah Heep and their first four or five albums are gold IMO, after that and it continues til this day their albums tend to be hit or miss with me, and currently, while still a good band, they are completely different band then what they were in the early 70's.

Another one of those bands that fall into the category of "I'll get something by them someday". I know a handful of songs, but I'd eventually like to dig a little deeper.

I'm primarily interested in their early, more raw material. Once they started getting a little more commercial and writing for radio-play, I'm not interested. I've looked over some comps discs, but the problem with them is that they either just focus on the hits, or they encompass their whole output, beginning, middle and end. I just want the early material. I've got the feeling that their greatest material wasn't necessarily the hits.

Eh, someday I suppose.

If you want to start with a compilation, then this is the one to go with...



The expanded editions of the original albums are really the way to go though, numerous bonus tracks make these the essential editions.

I'd probably go in this order with the original albums:

Uriah Heep (aka Very 'eavy, Very 'umble) (1970)
Demons & Wizards (1972)
Look At Yourself (1971)
The Magician's Birthday (1973)
Salisbury (1971)
Sweet Freedom (1973)

That's pretty much all I feel the need to own by these guys.

Ah, I love the Heep, haven't delved into them in awhile now.

Jamming on "Very 'eavy, Very 'umble" again this morning, man....what a kick ass debut album. Dreammare is brilliant, Come Away Melinda is a memorable little "minstrel ballad" and tracks like "Real Turned On" just flat out ROCK.

Detuned wrote:

Jamming on "Very 'eavy, Very 'umble" again this morning, man....what a kick ass debut album. Dreammare is brilliant, Come Away Melinda is a memorable little "minstrel ballad" and tracks like "Real Turned On" just flat out ROCK.

Listened to disc one of my boxset 'A Time to Revelation' which covers their first three albums and few singles released as Toe Fat, excellent boxset I am not sure if its in print anymore but it is worth checking out

I love the Heep, I have everything they've done practically and quite a few of the band members other projects. I mostly reach for the newer stuff when I'm in a Heep mood.

I'm a heepster for sure! I have most of their albums and have actually kept up with them over the years .... with the various incarnations. Heep was one of the first 'Heavy Metal' (that's what they used to call it!) bands that I was in to, along with Bloodrock and Black Sabbath ..... and I've always thought that they were underrated. The first five Heep albums are my favorites, but I like a lot of their later stuff as well.

I've been on a Heep kick lately. Everyone cites Demons & Wizards as their best studio hour, and it is really good, but my favorite has always been Look at Yourself. Those songs stuck with me from day one and I love what Paul Newton does with his bass. People like to piss on Magician's Birthday too, which I can't quite understand. It's a sweet ride.

My favorite record of them all is the Live 1973, which has a great setlist and some badass jamming. All of the Byron material is good for me though. I haven't heard the stuff after he left/died, so I can't comment on it. He was a killer frontman.

Also haven't heard their debut, sad to say, but I just ordered it along with Salisbury (which I used to have on vinyl but it was destroyed), so I'll be able to check it out at last.

S.D. wrote:

Dig beneath the singles though and you'll find some FANTASTIC songs, July Morning is a masterpiece for example.  There is some killer guitar work on these records, the tone is just lethal.  Ken Hensley sounds like an amplified satanic imp on the hammond organ...churning up chaos and doom.  Plus the rhythm section is smokin'.  

There's a really interesting tradition in Bulgaria that, strangely, was inspired by that song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Morning
It sounds like one helluva time

That said, I love Uriah Heep, what little I have of them anyway; Salisbury, Look At Yourself, and Demons And Wizards specifically. All fantastic. I also have a Ken Hensley side project just called "WEED" that is very much worth checking out

TIL that the satanic Moog in July Morning was Manfred Mann. Crazy.

I gotta pull out my Heep records and listen to them again.

I have been meaning to jam some Heep and snag the new album but I just haven't yet.

Akeldama wrote:

I have been meaning to jam some Heep and snag the new album but I just haven't yet.

I've been thinking about that new album since it pops up on Amazon so much. I need to take a listen to it on Spotify; I really am curious as to what they sound like these days.

Got my Very 'umble in the mail today.

I like their newer stuff and the last two I honestly haven't jammed as much as I like. I only lack the newest one. The debut is great.

Been jamming the debut at full volume. Though it's a little uneven and there are some spots that underwhelm, for the most part it is just hella fun. Gypsy just stomps and thuds with a great hook, Come Away Melinda is hauntingly beautiful, Dreammare is a hypnotic swirl, and Wake Up is just groovy with some great melody. Of course I got the expanded version which also has Bird of Prey (one of my favorites) among others. Not as strong as the next two releases where the band found their footing, but still phenomenal. I'm gonna keep this one going for a few days.