David Byron was, unfortunately, on a downward spiral that the band or management couldn`t prevent in any way. Just one of many sad stories told in rock and roll. But on a more positive note – at the time of writing Uriah Heep is an ongoing band and I just recently saw them play live on a bill together with Nazareth and Saxon. There was no doubt that the Heep was the best band of them all that night. I would highly recommend that you go see them if you have the chance – they were really, really a joy to see. Read on!
Heep hit back
By Dave Fudger
TWO WEEKS ago, to this very day, you read in your copy of Sounds the Dave Byron account of events leading up to his ‘sacking’ from U Heep, an account that did not please Bronze, the Heep’s record label. Dave y’see pegged policy disagreements between himself and the record label and Bron (the company that manage Heep), plus certain organisational slip-ups by same, as the causes of the rift that culminated in his exit from the band. This week Bronze reply to some of Byron’s points and Ken Hensley speaks for the band. Bronze boss Lilian Bron took issue with Byron’s claim about the effectiveness of a press jaunt to Switzerland to launch Heep’s ‘High And Mighty’ album. “This is not a knock on David, it’s a fact that we got quite a lot of Press coverage on that.” (Byron had said that for the £10,000 cost, the trip had achieved little in promotional terms.) “I refute that, I’ve got the bills here and it was £5,750.” As for Press coverage Lillian reeled off a list of some ten UK national music, trade and newspapers who had covered the trip. “We would have had the News of The World and one or two other papers that were there had it not been for something that marred the atmosphere right at the end when David almost started a fight in the cable car with a couple of people, which was terribly embarrassing because the entire party was there, in that cable car. “I’m not having a go, these things do happen, but it’s a fact that he was unpleasant and for no reason at all.” In spite of the incident the junket did earn extensive coverage in the European and Scandinavian pop papers as well as radio support. Ms Bron regards the money spent on the trip more effective in marketing terms than the £10,000 Byron had proposed spent on TV advertising. Bronze’s past experience of TV advertising had given them nothing to believe that it increased sales of their product at all, Ms Bron says that the subsequent poor sales of ‘High And Mighty’ is due to the quality of product, the first album that the band had produced for themselves. Lilian feels that more could have been made of the material. Heep keyboardist, Ken Hensley concurs: “On analysis, I really didn’t feel that the band was together enough as a unit, in other words our communication wasn’t strong enough for us to be able to pull it off. For a number of reasons that was quite an important album — the eleventh album — and at that critical a point in our career it was probably a bit dangerous to start experimenting.
“I was personally quite pleased with the album, I thought at the very least it represented a marked difference in our musical attitude. It may have reflected the distinct lack of communication which had become evident in the band by then.” Hensley feels that the band had become a bit complacent, having achieved a certain level of success they were in need of a new direction, but he now feels that the band’s recent action has managed to “stop the rot”. The band had been aware of a decline in support at concerts in America and they, particularly David Byron said Hensley, passed the blame onto management and record companies without perhaps examining their own contribution. Such an examination is now taking place at Hensley’s home studio where he, in the company of Messrs Box, Kerslake and Mr X — the mystery new vocalist — are “getting together their gameplan”. The new vocalist, whose name is yet to be announced due to contractual problems, was spotted by the band about a year ago and from the little Mr Hensley was at liberty to divulge, he’s a pro, “paid his dues”, dabbles in writing and instrumental work and when asked if he is British? “Can’t say that,” was the prompt reply from Hensley. (Still, d’yknow anyone who fits the description, kids?) “It’s actually worked out very well because it’s proved to be more than a replacement it’s like grafting on a new arm or leg,” Hensley continued, “unfortunately the adversity that was created by David’s attitude in the last twelve months has rather separated the individuals in the band and so it’s been really impossible (up till now) to get together on these things. I also think we have been working a little bit to hard and I think we’ve not realy allowed ourselves enough time for reflection. “It may sound too harsh on the band but I think we’ve been easy on ourselves for a long time and we can now afford to really be honest with ourselves. I’m really confident.”
The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale! Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com The offer should be 20 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage). If you order several papers – contact me for a “special” offer. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties. If you have a large collection of the following magazines, don`t throw them out, but contact me as I would be very interested in these: Creem, Circus, Hit Parader and Metal Edge.
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I can see what Mr. Hedges were trying to do here, but I think he maybe over-did it this time. As an intro it would be fine, but I feel we could have had a better report from their tour if he limited himself a little. But that`s just my opinion. Looking forward to seeing the Heep in Trondheim, Norway the 11th of August 2023. Read on!
Flying tonite
`Just be there` was the message Dan (war correspondent) Hedges received. So, without hesitation, he jumped into his Racing Bentley and sped off to the airport. There he met the rest of the war correspondents. They jumped into the Lancaster. Destination: Switzerland. Mission: High And Mighty.
SLOW ZOOM IN TO COCKPIT INTERIOR
SO THERE we were, alone, vulnerable, and on a Date With Destiny — winging through the cloudless, azure blue skies over war-torn France — heading straight into the sunrise. Wing Commander Byron (‘Sweaty Dave’ Byron to those who were lucky enough to serve under him) winked at his rabbit’s foot and eased up on the throttle. “Take her for a while Henny,” he said, glancing over to his second-in-command, Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Hensley — once grounded for landing a heavy bomber on the roof of Buckingham Palace (“for a giggle”), but given his wings again when “things began getting a bit sticky” in that hellish summer of ’40. Behind him, ‘Gentleman’ John Wetton, the finest navigator in the business, quietly mopped the brandy off of his charts after Corporal Kerslake, tail gunner and squadron extrovert, staggered forward to complain that he had nobody to talk to back there — having failed to rouse Sergeant ‘Micky’ Box (bombardier extraordinaire) from the depths of the forty winks he was sneaking back in the bomb racks. It was a hand-picked crew — the cream of the crop — just back from a special detail in ‘the States’ where they taught the Yanks some of the latest low altitude, high devastation, sonic blitz tactics. And the rest of us? War correspondents mostly. Just a group of lads and lasses much like yourself really — yawning and bleary-eyed — pulled from the warmth and security of our wives, our families, our lovers, our friends, and our back gardens to help drive back the black cloud that was sweeping across Europe. No questions were answered. “Just be there,” the letter said. And so we were. Although the Commander was observing strict radio silence on our end, all frequencies were blocked with Uriah Heep’s new album, ‘High And Mighty’ — innocent enough, so it’d seem — except for the fact that the signals were emanating from a spot Somewhere Near Berlin, and were, as ‘Gentleman’ John was heard to observe “probably laced with subliminal propaganda messages by a cunning and ruthless enemy who’ll stop at nothing to attain his fiendish goal.” Hensley wasn’t listening — he’d been through this movie before. The number two engine was beginning to act up, and he didn’t like the look of that sky at all. Too calm. Too peaceful. Too empty. At any moment now, a nightmarish swarm of Messerschmitts might roar straight out of the sun, but there was no turning back. As the second hand raced around our synchronised watches, we realised that it was far too late for all of us.
PANORAMIC LONG SHOT OF SNOW CAPPED PEAKS THE SUN was already high in the noonday sky when the Alps loomed up ahead of us from the misty depths of nowhere — majestic, snowy spires that were somehow strangely cold, and bleak, and… forbidding. Calling on all the skill that’d made him a legend in his own time, Commander Byron laughed at the danger as he eased us through those beautiful but-oh-so-deadly peaks to the postage stamp-sized airfield, Somewhere In Switzerland, that’d been hewn out of the snow and ice only a half hour before. When the landing gear connected with a goat herder in mid-yodel, we knew we were there. “Over there on yer right, them yellow things is mustard,” Lee `Bournemouth Is Cheaper’ Kerslake bellowed from the front of the coach. “To yer left is fuck all. See that? Yer all bleedin’ educated now ‘cos y’know the difference between mustard an’ fuck all.” No doubt about it, Switzerland’s mighty nice. It’s like a big technicolor travelogue really — ‘Alpine Holiday’ perhaps — or one of those glossy TV commercials for Swiss cheese or expensive cigarettes. Towering peaks to the left. Bubbling, crystal clear mountain streams to the right. Throw in a couple of cascading waterfalls, a few gingerbread houses, a handful of smiling cows, a cable car or two, a herd of ‘local yokels in ‘traditional native costume’, free food, and enough alcohol to keep Dublin lit for a week, and you’re bound to find thirty-odd volunteers who’d be perfectly willing to get up at some obscene hour and haul themselves down to Gatwick just for the privilege of hearing Uriah Heep’s new album. As Mick Brown pointed out in his thesis on the subject a couple of months ago, the age of the Great Press Junket has nearly passed into history. Nobody has that much money to throw around anymore, and even if they do, why bother? Heep’s record company seemed to think otherwise however. As a result, the aforementioned Mr. Kerslake, his fellow conspirators in Heep, and a horde of marginally airsick journalists found themselves speeding along a Swiss highway in the aforementioned coach, en route to a restaurant called Piz Gloria (?????). Perched rather precariously on a mountaintop in the Swiss Alps, it looked suspiciously like the laboratory/fortress in that `Alpine Villagers vs Horrors From Another World’ Sci Fi epic, ‘The Crawling Eye’, and even more suspiciously like the place where Diana Rigg nearly met her high altitude doom in `On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. It was — though nobody seemed to take much notice, being preoccupied with posing for silly photographs… drinking… taking silly photographs… drinking… embarking on daring one-man expeditions in search of the mystic loo (great view from the gents, by the way)… drinking… posing for more silly photographs… drinking… watching Mr. Kerslake wrestle his manager’s wife to the floor… drinking… watching Mr. Kerslake being led off to one side by a manager who was Definitely Not Amused… drinking……..
SLOW TRACKING SHOT ALONG INTERIOR OF AEROPLANE THE FAILING emergency lights cast a feeble, flickering glow as Flight Lieutenant Hensley picked his way through the bodies that were strewn like rag dolls through the entire length of the plane. Some (like ‘Gentleman’ John) talked quietly to themselves. Some (tailgunner Kerslake among them) still cried out for “drink” to wash away the ever-mounting horror. Most just lay in mute, deathlike silence, waiting for the last precious drop of fuel to give out, and that final, inevitable plunge into a hungry sea. With the stabiliser and three of our four engines shot away by those Hunnish jackals that came screaming out of the clouds the moment we left the safety of those friendly mountains, a nearly unconcious Wing Commander Byron still refused to relinquish command. With a faint-but-knowing sneer on his face, he piloted his limping ship and her nearly spent but oh-so-precious human cargo towards the distant safety of home. Gently shifting a jumble of living corpses, Hensley — knowing full well that he’d done all he could (and then some), wearily slumped down for a smoke in the bomb bay, one watchful ear tirelessly listening for the sinister drone of enemy engines in the night. We talked the sort of talk that keeps men sane when all else fails. Small talk really. Cricket. The weather. Churchill. The new Uriah Heep album. “It’s a major departure really,” he winced, glancing down at the gaping hole in his flak vest that he insisted was ‘just a scratch’. “It’s a conscious effort to try and get the musical ability in the band exposed a bit more. We’d come to two conclusions — the first of which was that there was an awful lot of music in this band that wasn’t being exposed within the confines of our previous practices, standards, and recording techniques. The second thing was that we weren’t taking our music seriously enough, therefore we couldn’t reasonably expect anybody else to take us seriously on a musical level. “I’ve often mooted this point about trying to get us taken seriously, although somewhat halfheartedly, because there’s always been this thing about, ‘Well, we’ve got to kind of tread the trodden path.’ But I felt that, after ten albums, we’re surely justified in trying to do something different.” Byron was still up front, still refusing to give the order to bail out and ditch the old girl in the Channel. I wondered why he was waiting so long. I also wondered why Heep had waited until this stage of the game to make a change. Ken (the formalities of rank didn’t seem to matter anymore) had all the answers. “Well, up until the sixth album, the live album, and even afterwards, we still had good reasons for following the formula which had evolved by then. But when we did ‘Sweet Freedom’ it was the first sign, to me, that we should be doing something else.
“This is a group, and although I write most of the songs, there’s still a great deal of politics involved in making decisions. The decisions have to come from the group. They can’t be forced onto everybody by me or anybody else. “The only way to really get anything effective out of this band is to wait until everybody feels the same way. It may mean wasting an album, but time isn’t a problem to me. I was happy to wait until everybody fell into feeling the same way I felt a couple of years ago.” Engine four was beginning to act up. Somebody crawled back with a flask, offering us a drink to steady our nerves. Ken knocked his back straight — instantly bringing to mind the dauntless, sometimes reckless young man who’d been bold enough to step outside the road tested Heep formula on his own solo albums. “In some ways, ‘Eager To Please’ was an attempt to consolidate my own beliefs. It did that — although it didn’t set the world on fire, so I thought ‘Just be patient.’. Now, with the departure of Gerry (Bron, Air Chief Marshal from an earlier conflict) as producer and us taking over production, it gave us a much freer atmosphere to work in. Arrangements became looser, and the music suddenly started to sound, if anything, perhaps a little more human.” Despite the fact that all hell could break loose at any second, Ken seemed optimistic, and I remarked that the wartime press had been much kinder to Heep over the past year. “That’s true. ‘Return To Fantasy’ did bring us into a much more amicable relationship with a lot of people in the press, but it wasn’t all that we really expected it to be. This album is a lot closer. It still isn’t quite there, but I want this pattern of thought to be carried over to our stage act and everything else. “I want to be able to perform songs there as varied as these are on stage, but that’s a much more hazardous thing because we’ve established a definite thing over six years which people expect. If we don’t do `Gypsy’ or ‘July Morning’, they’ll jump on us, so it’s a question of feeding in this new approach naturally. The last thing we want to do is alienate the following we already have, because then it’ll be back to square one.” Suddenly, without warning, engine number four began to sputter and cough, and when the flames began to lick over the cowling, the last remaining vestiges of colour drained from the young Lieutenant’s face. This was it, and he realised that he’d never see his brave young wife again. Heavy with their unborn child, she was, at that very moment, anxiously watching the eastern sky for the glint of silver wings in the moonlight. His words flowed faster in a relentless stream, sensing that all time was nearly at an end. “This album is much more grown up. It’s much more dynamic. It’s much more varied. It offers a much better insight into what makes the group work as a band of musicians, and what we’re individually capable of doing. “We decided to go in and do whatever felt good and sounded good. Although it sounds idealistic, it did work out. It can improve, but as long as we can do stuff like that, and move forward every day, I’m happy. I personally have a criteria. I won’t accept stagnation at all. If the group stood still for a minute, I’d have to say goodbye because I couldn’t stand it.” Then, all at once, a mighty cheer went up from the forward section of the plane. Peering through the broken glass and twisted metal of what was once a gun turret, we saw what we’d given up all hope of ever seeing again. The end of our long journey through hell. The white cliffs of Dover. Home.
MID-SHOT OF WING COMMANDER AT HATCHWAY WE FILED out slowly — enlisted men and correspondents alike — carrying those survivors who were far too shattered to walk. We shook hands with ‘Sweaty Dave’ as we passed through the hatch, making promises to meet again “when it’s all over,” and stepping out into the cool British night. In the end, only Corporal Kerslake, our jolly, fun loving tail gunner, remained — eyes closed and head hung forward at a crazy angle, slumped over in a seat in a now empty aeroplane. As we slowly walked across the tarmac, the medicos were drilling through the wreckage to drag him out. We didn’t stay around to watch.
The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale! Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com The offer should be 20 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage). If you order several papers – contact me for a “special” offer. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties. If you have a large collection of the following magazines, don`t throw them out, but contact me as I would be very interested in these: Creem, Circus, Hit Parader and Metal Edge.
If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!
David Byron tell tales of American madness in this one. If you are in a fairly successful band and have a strong image, I guess you must be prepared for anything and all. Just embrace it as it sells records and t-shirts. Read on!
Out demons, out! (or:-clammy hands across the water)
Heepers Creepers! How comes a bunch of `ordinary working-class rock`n`rollers` got taken up by the chill embrace of American Wierdom? This and other spine-chilling questions fearlessly answered as Uriah Heep`s David Byron talks to Tony Stewart.
THIS INTERVIEW had the most ordinary of beginnings. David Byron and Uriah Heep’s Press Miss and myself left the other four members of the band in Lansdowne studios to clean up the tracks of the new album “Sweet Freedom”, while we had a quiet drink in the public house over the road. We broached the usual topics to open a conversation — like who’d drink what, and who was going to pay, which Miss Press settled amicably. And then came an introductory spiel about the album. “We’ve been told by our producer Gerry Bron, that this is the album. But I said to him last night he’s going to say that with the next album, and the one after that. I think he’s said the same about all the albums. “But I sound better, everybody else sounds better, the ideas sound better, and the songs sound better.” Indisputably the album is of major importance in Heep’s career since their inception, when they were no more than, says Byron, “a second rate Vanilla Fudge”. However, when Byron starts to recall their past albums we divert, as Byron settles himself down to talk of the invidious position that “Demons and Wizards” and “Magicians Birthday” put them in. Fair enough, on a musical level they achieved respect, and even Robert Plant, for instance, has words of praise for them. AND YET in America it was the lyrics and song titles which unfortunately developed into an occult myth. Byron outdoes himself as he relates the stories. He talks of Undergrounder Leaders as if he were telling chilling ghost stories. Uriah Creeps, one could say. But in a damn-right ordinary manner Byron explains there’s no foundation in the substance of the songs to provide an association with any Occult Art. But then as yet – he’s undecided as to whether it has damaged the band. If we had genuinely got into that bit,” he says, “then we’d have something to answer for. But all we did was title two albums. If we’d called those albums, `Uriah Heep Volume Four’, and Uriah Heep Volume Five’…” Right, things would have been different. “In a way it may have done us good,” he continues, “we’ll see with the next two and the sales of this one whether it has harmed us.”
Then, with an almost sinister air entering the conversation, Byron – an excellent raconteur — tells of their eerie first encounter with the Demons of the US of A. “We got to the States and we started to get a few freaky people turning up to gigs.” His conversation is, at first, light-hearted, as he illustrates the humourous elements of the cult following. Though it later transpires that American Weirdom should be treated with caution. “These birds with cherry red lipstick came up,” he adds, “and say, ‘hey man, you’re really cosmic’. Cosmic was the word at the time. “It’s so heavy,” he continues effecting the drone of a female American’s voice, “‘And I really dig it, an’ it trips me out, an’ I always listen to your message’. Crap. “They’re so into this — and he sneers the word — “cosmic thing. But with us we go in the studio because of recording commitments. Then we did `Magician’s Birthday’, and we thought it was a great title because it’s a long track on the set, and it had the connotations of a good album sleeve. It also followed on well from ‘Demons’. “Then it really started,” and his tone is one of exasperation. “We got all these freaky letters. Half way through the letter we’d go, ‘we can’t read another, we’re going to throw up’ – seriously. “All these weird birds got hold of our old ladies’ phone numbers and addresses, and they started doing all these ghostly trips when we’re away. So we finally came to the conclusion it had to stop, because we weren’t really into that,” and he stresses his point, “but we were getting terrible repercussions. “For about three months,” he elaborates, “we were getting so many weird letters that it was driving us round the bend. We got letters from people on another planet” — he doesn’t smile. “It was a joke for a while, and then it just started to do us in. So we decided to steer away from it. “Why did Bowie quit? He’s the weirdest guy who’s come around in a long while other than Alice Cooper. So I can imagine they’d be hundreds of these people at his London gigs, and I can imagine the phone calls he gets and the letters, and you’re supposed to read ’em. But it’s a job — they can blow your mind. “All he did was dress up and go out and do his act, as far as I can see. He didn’t try and ram down people’s throats he was from another planet, or was God or anything else. He just went out and made records and did his act: his act was different, that’s all.”
AND STILL referring to Bowie he continues: “It was probably purposeful in the beginning, but the only problem with anything that is purposeful is you don’t know where it’s going to lead you in the end. “I mean, every major act starts with an image and it’s a question of whether you carry on with it, or try to lose it after a while. “We certainly don’t have a `Demons and Wizards’ and `Magicians’ image in England and Europe, it`s just in the States where people are into that kind of thing. Say the word ‘Magician’ and they come flocking.” Sure enough they did. Whenever the band flew into an airport some freak from the City, usually garbed in the black cloak uniform representing Weirdom, greeted them. It became a nuisance, and aggravated the annoyance Byron already felt. Even when he recalls the incidents he’s rather bitter. “After a while I didn’t say, `listen man, er, I’m really tired’. I just said `fuck off’. All I want to do is get to bed for three hours and when I wake up do a good show. Fuck all these people. Who are they anyway? They’re going to get into the gig free and they’re going to get their albums free. They don’t give us anything.” To some degree that’s quite true, although Byron does contradict himself, because he credits the American Underground with creating an interest in the band. As he says, there are cliques in every town of “these heavy Demons, Wizards and Magicians tripping on dope”, as he describes them. “And they are kind of leaders in that little town. There’s an Underground Leader Man who can’t do any wrong.” Now his tone is respectful. Even though he doesn’t necessarily believe in their philosophy, it is the power of one individual over others he admires. “If he says something chicks almost faint, because he is the leader. And if he says, `I’ve just heard a band called Uriah Heep’,” and again Byron is imitating an American drawl, “and they’re really good’, you can bet your life you’ll start selling records in that town. He is so powerful, although usually totally messed up. “WE ACTUALLY believed in this for a while, and it totally destroyed us. Because one of the first major towns we were booked into in the States was Detroit — and they were very heavily into Uriah Heep. “We eventually got there, and this guy called Steve something-or-other was the underground leader. And he’d got our first album, “Very ‘eavy, Very ‘umble”, and he turned Detroit on to Uriah Heep and he got all the DJs playing it. We’d sold more records in Detroit than any one city in the States.
“But about two weeks before we got there he’d died from an overdose. It was a shame because we wanted to meet this guy, as he’d done us a lot of good in his own little way, and we wanted to shake his hand. “When we got there people told us he’d died, but they said,” and Byron lowers his voice to an ominous whisper as he again mimics an American,” ‘there’s a new leader’. Steve has just been buried, and they reckoned he had given them a new leader. That’s how weird it gets out there sometimes. “They brought in this guy who called himself Jaggers. It turned out he was a lunatic, and he was totally infatuated by Mick Jagger. He was dressed in black. I said, `allo there, ‘ow ya doing?’.” Byron pauses for effect, creating a slight chill as he adopts the roll of Jaggers. “`Yeaaahh’, he says, and he came in and shut the door and said ‘lock it’. Then he said, ‘I’ve spoken with Steve’.” Another pause and the earnest look upon David’s face is replaced with a grin as he takes his own role. ” `Good`, I said, ‘come to a gig tonight then’. You know you’re supposed to go, `wow’. But I said if he wanted to come along we could squeeze him into one of the limos.” BYRON THEN adopts the freak’s role. “He said, ‘you see the thing is the people think I’m dead, and that’s why I dress in black’. He had on this long black cloak down to the floor, and he was really a tall guy who looked a bit like Jagger. Then he says to me, ‘if anybody asks if you’ve seen me, say you haven’t . “That town actually thought he was dead,” Byron explains. “And his trip was so far out that he would disappear for a month and spread the rumour round he was dead. Then he’d appear around somebody’s house at four in the morning when everybody was smashed out out of their heads. He’d appear for a few seconds – dressed in black with this white make up on — and then disappear. “The kids would shout, `wow, I’ve seen a spirit’. One occasion when I was playing table tennis I said to one of these guys I’d been talking to Jaggers, and he says, `you talked to him? He’s dead. How did you talk to him?’ “This,” informs Byron, “goes on and on and on through every major town in America. “Of course with Demons and Magicians we were right in it, and we thought if we carried on writing about them we’d have made it there.” They decided against this, as they’re just ordinary working class rock ‘n’ rollers, who tired of the cosmic existence. And then there was a peculiar breed of groupies.
“Have you ever been to the Speakeasy and seen the kinda regular groupie?” he asks in an attempt to describe the American counterpart. “You know the type, with the long dress, and they’re tall and thin and they’ve got no tits. They’re totally made up with rouge and bright red lipstick, with black curly T. Rex hair – know what I mean?” A nod. “Them,” says he, “a few of them would come in and hang around.” “And these ladies,” he elaborates, “would do their utmost to rip off the band, which Heep have tried to express on one track from the new album called “Circus”. Nevertheless Byron is doubtful whether “Sweet Freedom” will alter the myth built around the group, although it should be regarded as their first musical stroke, far outclassing their previous releases. Still, with the title of the set the freaks in the Land of Weirdom will be able to add their own interpretation, as will other people like Heep’s former American record company. “This album is called ‘Sweet Freedom’, so what’s going to happen is all these freaky people in the Magicians and Demons, are going to go ‘wow, they’ve been released and this is how they’re telling us.’ he says. “Mercury Records,” he continues with a sly smile, “are going to think we’re doing a bum trip on them by saying ‘Sweet Freedom’ because we’ve just left them and gone to Warner Brothers.” Is it the release of Uriah Heep from their occult masters? Or is it a downer on Mercury? Could it just be a damn fine album. Allow David Byron the chance to explain. “We have got four singles on this album, and that’s how the record business judge a successful album. If there’s four songs we’ve got to chose from for a single, then it’s a good product.” Wow man, now that’s what I’d really call cosmic.
The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale! Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com The offer should be 20 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage). If you order several papers – contact me for a “special” offer. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties. If you have a large collection of the following magazines, don`t throw them out, but contact me as I would be very interested in these: Creem, Circus, Hit Parader and Metal Edge.
If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!
Well, who could have foreseen it? A great review of a Heep-album in the NME! Yes, you read that right. Mr. Stewart even uses the word “excellent” to describe it. Wow! Read on!
Uriah Heep – “Sweet Freedom” (Bronze)
Album Review by Tony Stewart
ALTHOUGH THEIR “Live” double supposedly brought them to the end of a period of studio recordings, their seventh album is not a radical departure from the style they nurtured through to “Magician’s Birthday”. It would appear that Heep feel themselves to be dangerously close to losing their individuality of performance. Thus various restraining tactics are used to prevent this, such as the way Ken Hensley on keyboards neglects to exploit his own ability, and consistently limits himself to providing the renowned curtain of sound. Quite a high proportion of the music is decidedly new in construction and playing. But whether they have gone far enough is arguable, because there are several numbers which can be described as safe moves. Undoubtedly it must be the final cut, “Pilgrim” which makes this point particularly apparent. Uriah Heep usually incorporate their own epic, like “July Morning” or “Gypsy”, this number is a series of movements opening with a full organ sound, lo, the Viking choral work, and a touch of grandeur with a few classical piano lines. David Byron is in sure vocal form, and the arrangement — again similar to previous epics — is good. Tempos change, the lyrics become stronger, and towards the end hit the pit of the stomach. In some respects, “Sweet Freedom” follows a similar pattern of light and shade through this beautifully melodious love song. Gary Thain on bass — who consistently impresses throughout the set — deals with setting the core of the number, while Hensley becomes a little monotonous directing his intentions into organ sound and texture, rather than playing well. Technique though is not everything, as Thain and Mick Box illustrate on their composition, “Dreamer”. It is without a lot of body and soul in the structure, and unfortunately, apart from an effective chorus, a typical guitarist’s number. Though it is an example of Box’s instrumental development, with a more sympathetic use of harmonics. Byron comes out well, singing now with greater feeling and with less tendence to holler unless absolutely necessary. On “Stealin”‘ especially, and “One Day” he expresses himself better, backed by some outstanding harmonies. It is these first three songs, and then a gloriously sensitive “If I Had The Time” and a song about LA groupies, “Circus” on the second side, which act as apt illustrations of a better melodic sense in compostition. Sadly Thain has to carry most of the themes, which he does excellently, though Hensley does project the core of “Time”. “Circus” is basically something new for the band, played on acoustic guitars, with light percussion and a more sympathetic organ embellishment. This, like other of the numbers, is a song. And although they can play shuddering rock — with some indelicate work by Thain, as on “Seven Stars” — it is the other songs which prove more satisfactory. As Heep have said themselves, they are not content to rest on their rumps and success. Drummer Lee Kerslake is more purposeful than ever before, apart from some unsubtle bashing on “Pilgrim”. It is an excellent album, to the point of re-emphasising their musical aptitudes. It’s possible they may even become fashionable this year — God forbid.
The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale! Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com The offer should be 20 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage). If you order several papers – contact me for a “special” offer. We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties. If you have a large collection of the following magazines, don`t throw them out, but contact me as I would be very interested in these: Creem, Circus, Hit Parader and Metal Edge.
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One thing is for sure, as Mick Box says in the article: Uriah Heep is definitely a band that goes on and on. They should be proud of the way that they are constantly recording new material and their endless touring around the world. If ever a band deserves accolades, it is this band. Read on!
The Heep home gig kit
By Tony Stewart
FOR ONE SHINING new penny less than three quid you can put a Uriah Heep gig in your home. You receive the official concert programme as a sleeve and get a couple of thousand rowdie, sweaty Brummies thrown in too. Now if that isn’t a good deal, what is? If you missed out on this news earlier, I`ll tell you I’m talking about the “Uriah Heep Live” album, recorded live in Birmingham. And ponder on this little fact. It probably cost the promoter a few hundred times the price of this album to stage the show. Then the Pye Mobile Unit had to be hired, roadies paid… hell, you’re doing just fine paying out £3. Of course, a double set of Heep’s act isn’t quite the same as seeing them in the flesh. But I’ll stick my neck out and say the concept, production and atmosphere they’ve immortalised is the finest I’ve heard. It’s a bargain, rock ‘n` rollers. Mick Box, the Heep’s remarkable guitarist, can hardly contain his delight over this album as we sit in a Leicester Square, London, wine bar gulping quantities of Rosie. In America, he tells everyone — including Ronnie, his Indian bloodbrother — it’s made the charts. And sales figures suggest it’ll be gold in a couple of weeks. “It might sound like I’ve got a big `ead,” says Box, not giving a damn, “but that’s the way it’s going.” However, to start at the beginning, we must go back to Friday, January 26, this year, and Birmingham Town Hall. “Birmingham’s not our strongest place in Britain,” Mick points out, “but it was the gig where we got the best sound. “Yet on the way from London to the gig I was sick as a dog. I caught the flu and everything, and on stage that night I was really ill, and I felt ill. Apart from all that, the stage was relatively small to what we usually have. But for some freak reason it just seemed to work nicely for us.” Box claims, however, that they were equally good elsewhere. At Newcastle, for instance. But although they recorded five gigs, and the response was phenomenal, they were in the early stages of taping and the best sound quality wasn’t achieved. There were two main reasons for recording this set. Firstly, it rounds off an era. Secondly — and what seems more important to Box — it’ll hopefully gather more devotees. “Maybe,” he muses, “people who haven’t seen us, heard us, and don’t know anything about us, will pick up on the live album and take it home with them. And they’ll dig it and come to see us. “The album’s going to show them what we’re like on stage. And it’s just high-energy, burning exciting music. “But apart from all that, it just felt right to do it. A lot of people had asked us for a live album – people who come to gigs and were hanging round the dressing rooms. “So we tried it, and said ‘If it doesn’t work we`ll stick out another studio album’. But it worked out very well as far as we’re concerned.” So well that Box believes it’s a really true representation of their act – right down to the ad libs of David Byron.
The first side hits you full in the teeth. Then they simmer with four long pieces. And finally they rock ‘n’ roll out the encores. “We’ve always been an impact band,” Mick asserts. “We go out,” and he smashes a clenched fist into his palm, “impact. That’s always been our way. “We stick in some mellower type things – if you can call them that – or things with light and shade, like David’s vocal or Kenny Hensley’s organ, or my guitar solo. “And from then on we just build, build, build, until we reach the pitch; and that’s it. It’s the end of the gig.” Getting back to Box’s first reason for the set – to round off an era — doesn’t it seem rather premature to be clearing out the stage act and incorporating new pieces? Their last studio set, “Magicians Birthday”, saw Heep ridding themselves of recognisable influences and developing their own music – and surely this could have been taken further, on stage? Box replied convincingly: “It’s as simple as this — we’re a band who’ll move on and on and on. “Okay, ‘Demons And Wizards’ and `Magicians Birthday’ have been successful for us — gold albums all round the world. We’re very pleased, happy and proud. And we could just hang on to that thing and take it to its limit. “But to me, the bands who stay alive are those who say, ‘OK, we’ve been very successful there, but let’s move on and find another degree’. That’s what we’re trying to do. And we’ll do it — there’s no two ways about it. “I hate bands who hang on to their successful thing `til they kill the bloody thing off. In the end, it strangles them. “If you keep moving all the time you’re giving people who really dig you new things to listen to. I think that’s very important. “We’ve got a lot more to say and we want to say it in the best possible way. And that’ll come out on the album after the live set.” These are Uriah Heep’s sentiments, and it seems as though they have sufficient determination to do it. Just read on, and imagine Mick Box spilling wine as his hand shakes with intensity. “We’re a band who’re going to stay together for years,” he declares. “And I think we’re proving it by doing what we’re doing. We’ve got the fight, the drive, the material, and we’ve got the talent. “The greatest satisfaction is to hit on something, then find something else.”
The original music paper this article came from (pictured at the top) is for sale! Send me an e-mail if you are interested. Send it to: geirmykl@gmail.com The offer should be 20 $ (US Dollars) to be considered. (This includes postage). We conduct the transaction through my verified Paypal account for the safety of both parties. If you have a large collection of the following magazines, don`t throw them out, but contact me as I would be very interested in these: Creem, Circus, Hit Parader and Metal Edge.
If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!
My Things - Music history for those who are able to read. 