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Rating: For unknown reasons, the Uriah Heep, a band that once wrote some of the most beautiful pages of British hard rock, never managed to break into the hearts of enthusiasts as much as other sacred monsters, namely the usual Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath. Authors of gems like "Demons and Wizards" and "The Magician's Birthday", they managed, during their most interesting phase, to combine the impetuosity of hard rock with the progressive layers of Ken Hensley's keyboards, all accompanied by the charismatic voice of David Byron.
Always led by the indestructible Mick Box, a guitarist with a great taste for melody, the group has traversed, over more than four decades, an innumerable number of lineup changes, sometimes managed excellently, other times much less so. In the mid-Seventies, having lost Byron, who by then was more devoted to the bottle than the microphone and having put an end to their most popular incarnation, Ken Hensley and company brought on board John Lawton, giving life to a brief but fruitful partnership. Less flamboyant than his predecessor but evidently more reliable, Lawton would prove to be the right choice that allowed the group to continue for a few more years without major lineup upheavals.
The new era would see the London quintet move increasingly away from those hard/progressive coordinates, which had decreed their fortune, to enter territories close to AOR. Therefore, the long tracks that characterized their early albums disappear, moving toward a more melodic and impactful offering, very similar to what their fellow countrymen Rainbow would soon become protagonists of in their "American" version. The musical direction of the group, credit in hand, remains in the hands of the excellent Hensley, who finds in Lawton's vocal cords the perfect instrument to provide a worthy follow-up to the masterpieces of bygone times.
"Firefly" launches the new adventure in '77, quickly followed by "Innocent Victim". The change in direction is evident and seems to displease some, but on the other hand, refreshing their repertoire with fresher, modern tracks must have seemed vital at the time. Convinced of the stylistic shift made, Uriah Heep emerges the following year with this "Fallen Angel", which would unfortunately also turn out to be the last of this version of the group.
The lineup that had already worked on the two previous albums is fully confirmed, and the coordinates on which the album moves do not show any particular changes from the recent past. "Woman of the Night" kicks things off with an engaging track, supported by Lawton's excellent performance, while "Falling in Love" and "One More Night" fully represent the new Uriah Heep, proponents of a melodic rock of good quality. "Come Back to Me" is surely the peak of the album: Lawton's heartfelt interpretation proves to be an added advantage of an exciting and engaging track, a ballad of significant sophistication and class. The second part of the record seems to show some signs of slowing down: while "Whad'ya Say" has a good rhythm and showcases musicians in great shape, tracks like "Save It" or "Love or Nothing" do not add much to what was already proposed by the early pieces, almost giving the impression that Box and company had wisely placed the best compositions on the A-side of the vinyl. "I'm Alive" is the classic sting in the tail, a sturdy piece still featured in the band's setlists today. The eponymous track closes the album and another phase in the long history of the Heep, which seems to suffer, like much of side B, from a certain lack of ideas.
In conclusion, "Fallen Angel" is surely a good album, although, objectively, uneven, with some noteworthy tracks still performed on tour today, and others that seem to be pure fillers, uninspired and boring. Having lost a talent like Byron and with punk on the horizon, the Uriah Heep found themselves in the difficult situation of having to carry on the group within a music scene now in turmoil. The change of skin, with the shift from hard progressive to AOR, worked and would define a decade of the Londoners' production: the nostalgic criticized but stubbornly proposing a sound that had already passed its time would have been vain. After "Fallen Angel", another lineup was set up, which would last for a very short time and yield only "Conquest", in 1980, cited by many as the lowest point in the long discography of the English. The fiasco even caused a hard nut like Ken Hensley, until then the backbone of the group, to throw in the towel. The difficult task of getting Uriah Heep up and running from scratch would fall to Mick Box, by then the only survivor of the original lineup, but that's another story.
"Fallen Angel":
- Woman of the Night
- Falling in Love
- One More Night
- Put Your Lovin' on Me
- Come Back to Me
- Whad'ya Say
- Save It
- Love or Nothing
- I'm Alive
- Fallen Angel
- John Lawton, vocals
- Mick Box, guitars
- Trevor Bolder, bass
- Lee Kerslake, drums
- Ken Hensley, keyboards and guitars
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Put Your Lovin' on Me (04:08)
Lady oh lady you're
Driving me crazy
You brought out the devil in me
You turned on my fire
With words of desire
You sure put the lovin'
Sure put the lovin' on me
You're sending me reeling
With love that you're giving
Spinning my poor heart around
The feelings that should be
Have finally saved me
You sure put the lovin'
Sure put the lovin' on me
Ain't no use in trying
I never would deny that
I love you love you
Ain't no doubt about it
I just can't live without it
I love you love you
Yes I love you, I really love you
Don't know what it is
That you're putting down
I only know it ain't no game
I only know what you're doing to me
And baby you're the one to blame
Lady oh lady you're
Driving me crazy
You're flying me high
With your eyes
There's no use in trying
Ain't no use denying
You sure put the lovin'
Sure put the lovin' on me
Yes, you did
Sure put your lovin'
Sure put your lovin' on me
Put your lovin', put your lovin' on me
05 Come Back to Me (04:22)
Alone again, I feel so alone again
With this emptiness I just can't hide
Picture me with a broken heart
See the tears run down my face
Everything I had has gone
Everything is gone
Loneliness still lingering on
Everything I thought was mine
Come back to me
Can't we try it one more time
Come back to me
I know I'll find another love in time
But you'll always be there
In the back of my mind
The power of love
Can bring such pain
I still love you, I just love you
Alone again, I'm so alone again
With nothing but you on my mind
Can't you see
What you've done to my life
What can I do to
Win you back again
06 Whad'ya Say (03:40)
Whad'ya say ...
Lady you're tyin' me down
Turning my heart to stone
And I can't help feeling
I'd be better off
Back out in the streets alone
Baby you're hurtin' me
Deserting me again
I looked for your loyalty
And found a fickle friend
We could try to get back
On the right track baby
Or leave it, just throw it away
We could pick it up, pack it up
Make up or break up
Let's try it again
Faced with this situation
There's two things we can do
A lot of it is up to us
But most of it's down to you
You know we
Shouldn't play with love
It's a dangerous thing to do
So let's not get agony
And ecstasy confused
07 Save It (03:33)
Save it, save it, save it all for me ...
Save it, save it
You've gotta save it all for me
Gonna take my heart and my soul
And lay it onto someone's daughter
Gonna give out all that I got
To the woman who sits by the water
Gonna spend the rest of my time
With the woman by the winding river
Gonna let her know
That I'll give her all
That I got forever and ever
She knows what I like
She knows what I need
And babe let me tell you
She'll give it all to me
09 I'm Alive (04:17)
How strange when
You know the feeling
That something ain't right
You're fooled by the need of being
You're blind to the light
Don't ask where
The stranger leads you
He'll show you the way
Just go out and make your conquest
You've something to say
I'm alive, I'm alive and I'm me
I've just got to be free
I'm alive to the world
There's been so much
Bad time wasted
Just look and you'll see
We've got so much going for us
It's not just a dream
Let's look and we'll find the answers
To questions I've made
We'll reach out for new beginnings
Let love show the way
Let's leave our past behind
The love can make us blind
But now we know
That we're alive
10 Fallen Angel (04:51)
Fallen angel ...
Everyone I see reminds me of you
I keep turnin' round
Expectin' you to be there
I keep seein' our past
Through my looking glass
But fallen angel
Where are you now
After all these years
I remember the tears
When we parted you said
Don't forget me
You were ridin' so high
Now they're passin' you by
Girl I've never forgot you
Please come and get me
Livin' without you is
Hard enough anyway
But knowin' you're hurtin'
Makes it so much worse every day
I just wanna love you
Any way that I can
And watching you cry wasn't
Part of my plan
Tell me how did it feel
In your promised land
That you chose as
Your pain and your pleasure
A temporary sanctuary
Oh fallen angel
I'm your real treasure
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