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The sacred triumvirate of hard rock Zeppelin/Purple/Sabbath, which dominated the musical fantasies of a good swath of young and very young boomers in the early '70s, didn’t seem as restricted and exclusive at the time as history has etched it. There were indeed important outsiders who, for many, deserved to be the fourth piece of the mosaic, and among these, the name most commonly on fans’ lips was Uriah Heep.
The thematic contribution to the cause of hard rock by this London quintet can be identified both in the peculiar, lush rendering of the choruses and in the superb effectiveness in the use of the Hammond organ, thanks to a lush tone and simple, essential, and for this very reason memorable, solemn, and characteristic performances. The style of the singer, then, with his frequently operatic and pompous demeanor, paved the way for many frontmen not so much taken by blues phrasing but rather by other contaminations, one above all, Freddie Mercury.
Uriah Heep soon made mistakes, the gravest of which was releasing too many records, one after the other, and consequently not very interesting, full of fillers. The first four or five albums are thankfully in rock history, the other twenty (!) are not, although a couple of them definitely deserve to be in their top five, in my opinion. Like that “Sea of Light” from '95, really packed with great tracks.
Subsequent generations of hard rock admirers have not been kind to Heep, unable/unwilling to extract the good seeds from the ample chaff spread by the band over the years, starting already in '75. The quintet has thus found itself in the narrow format of a cult band, with limited horizons, but still sufficient to keep going. Also thanks to that wondrous character they have in their ranks, namely the guitarist Mick Box, a man of rare and commendable positivity, stubbornness, humility, and courage, qualities that have allowed him to keep the group afloat amidst a thousand artistic, managerial, and relational vicissitudes: maximum respect and admiration for Box, a “normal” musician but a man with guts, cheerful and constructive.
This interminable work, spread over two discs in its expanded 2002 edition, subsequently to the original release on a single support which came out in 1993, collects a series of demos, alternative recordings, and unreleased tracks dating back to the earliest days of the formation. More precisely, the era of the first three albums, namely “Very ‘Eavy Very ‘Umble,” “Salisbury,” and “Look at Yourself.” There is also something from the times when they were still called Spice, dating back even to 1968. The aforementioned three albums, whose snippets and trimmings play the lead role here, date back respectively, the first two to 1970 and the third to 1971.
This album is therefore aimed at the band’s fans, those who still somewhat like them and are curious, those who simply enjoy taking a listen to the “work in progress” of fairly well-known tracks.
Lansdowne is the name of the recording studio, spread over three floors of a historic building in central London, on the street of the same name near Holland Park, where the group recorded its first albums. It lasted until 2006, then it became a luxury apartment. However, Uriah Heep still endure today, indestructible. Box (78 years old) announced last year a farewell tour, but also added that it will last a few years...
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