Uriah Heep (Official Thread)

[Ar-Pharazon]

Good point @Ar-Pharazon. Some of the tracks that have been released in final form do sound a little better. The tracks that made it to Conquest (Fools and Feelings), are in my opinion, much weaker than the bootleg version.
Having given the album another listen. it sounds much better than I remember it. John Lawton's singing is top notch and the arrangements are adequate, but not the Uriah Heep that I love. There are a couple of songs that could fit on Innocent Victim or Firefly albums. But overall for me the album is about in the same league as Fallen Angel which I hardly ever listen to.
Maybe Conquest would have been a much better album if John Lawton had sung on it instead of John Sloman.

If we're being honest, Sloman was considered a mismatch for Heep and I agree with that. A good singer, but too far away from Byron & Lawton in style. A shame that led (in any way) to Hensley's departure.

And again, a shame the original Five/Ten Miles sessions were never mastered and put out as an album. I thought one or two of the tracks got put on compilations:

Been Hurt is on Easy Livin': Singles A's & B's. Not sure how much they cleaned it up.
Too many compilation albums don't have listings on Wiki, but there may be one or two more.

 

[recgord27]

If we're being honest, Sloman was considered a mismatch for Heep and I agree with that. A good singer, but too far away from Byron & Lawton in style. A shame that led (in any way) to Hensley's departure.

And again, a shame the original Five/Ten Miles sessions were never mastered and put out as an album. I thought one or two of the tracks got put on compilations:

Been Hurt is on Easy Livin': Singles A's & B's. Not sure how much they cleaned it up.
Too many compilation albums don't have listings on Wiki, but there may be one or two more.

From the cd's and compilations I have, the following tracks from Ten Miles High appeared on the following:

Let it ride - Chapter and Verse & Time of Revelation - John Lawton
Life is a dream -
Feelings - Conquest -John Sloman; Chapter and Verse - John Lawton;
You and I -
That's how I am -
I'll never forget -
Your love - Time of Revelation - John Lawton
Tonight -
Fools - Conquest - John Sloman
I Won't Change - Chapter and Verse - Ken Hensley ?
Been Hurt -Rarities from the Bronze Age - singer unknown?
I Always Knew -
Dance, Dance, Dance -
Put Your Music -
A Far Better way - Time of Revelation - singer unknown?

Hope this info is correct. There may be more on the new remasters extras or other compilations

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

From the cd's and compilations I have, the following tracks from Ten Miles High appeared on the following:

Let it ride - Chapter and Verse & Time of Revelation - John Lawton
Life is a dream -
Feelings - Conquest -John Sloman; Chapter and Verse - John Lawton;
You and I -
That's how I am -
I'll never forget -
Your love - Time of Revelation - John Lawton
Tonight -
Fools - Conquest - John Sloman
I Won't Change - Chapter and Verse - Ken Hensley ?
Been Hurt -Rarities from the Bronze Age - singer unknown?
I Always Knew -
Dance, Dance, Dance -
Put Your Music -
A Far Better way - Time of Revelation - singer unknown?

Hope this info is correct. There may be more on the new remasters extras or other compilations

That's How I Am was always my favorite of the bunch. It was on some website pre-2000 along with Lucifer's Friend-One Night Sensation.

Right now I'm on The Hanging Tree, the first Lawton UH track on the first album with him. Certainly more energetic than the previous couple Byron era albums. That quintessential lineup was probably pretty worn out by 1976.

 

[Nai Noswad]

With Heep I try to detach what went on before, the Bernie Shaw introduction I liked and Byron and Bronze I hold dearly... but differently.
From Head First-

 

[Nai Noswad]

As a very young kid, I became a Heep fan.. from hearing them on my Brothers battered Dansette...

 

[recgord27]

My introduction to Heep was the ice rink. Loved the song Look At Yourself but nobody knew who it was. Then one day while travelling with a neighbour they played the whole album in the car. After that I went and got UH Live 1973 for Xmas and my obsession with them really took hold. Didn't listen to anything not Heep-related for a long while. The David Byron era was the absolute best for me.

 

[Nai Noswad]

Great recollection recgord, I like the fact that we were as kids, sponges in those days... apart from TV and Radio pop we were able to appreciate other music. I was influenced by my bigger Brothers, I recall loving that Vertigo swirl on the turntable, for 40p I blew all my pocket money on a tatty copy of Salisbury... but it was mine!
Maybe I'm generalising but Uriah Heep are definitely an important cog in music as a whole. As you say the Live Album was great ( think the album type set lettering was Andy Warhols design?)

 

[recgord27]

Uriah Heep were definitely an important cog in the evolution of rock. I'm sure that if they had had better management and a sounder production on the first three albums, they would have been spoken of in the same reverence and awe as say Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Especially because of Ken Hensley's Hammond organ work. Also the idiot media of the day didn't help their cause.
I don't know if Andy Warhol did the lettering for Live 1973, but it's the best logo they ever had imo.

 

[Nai Noswad]

What I liked about this album ( and others of this time.) was the tuning up of guitars in between songs - which allowed for banter with the audience... Jagger being a case in point, "I've burst a button on my trousers", whilst Keith twiddle.
Well polished crouching guitar techs handing a perfectly tuned axe.. ain't rock n roll.
This and Live & Dangerous are my faithful friends.

Sunrise.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Uriah Heep were definitely an important cog in the evolution of rock. I'm sure that if they had had better management and a sounder production on the first three albums, they would have been spoken of in the same reverence and awe as say Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Especially because of Ken Hensley's Hammond organ work. Also the idiot media of the day didn't help their cause.
I don't know if Andy Warhol did the lettering for Live 1973, but it's the best logo they ever had imo.

The first 3 DP albums weren't really groundbreaking the way the next few would be. UH definitely had management issues with Bronze, especially when it came to getting a foothold in the US. I mean, I remember hearing some of their stuff on the radio here at the time, but they weren't being pushed as much as Deep Purple (by then) or Zeppelin.