Unknown Soldier

The wizard came and drank my wine.

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Overview
After their breakthrough on Look at Yourself, Uriah Heep were at their creative height as a band and on that album they had demonstrated their perfect fusion of hard rock and progressive rock all on the same album, sure it had been done before, but not quite to the same level of excellence. The band now took that creative spark and applied it to their next album Demons and Wizards. This album amongst Uriah Heep afficionados consistently ranks up there along with Look at Yourself as their best ever work. Up until now, the mercurial talents of Dave Byron, Mick Box and Ken Hensley had proved to be the backbone of the band, but in the arrival of New Zealander bassist Gary Thain ex Keef Hartley and Ken Hensley’s drumming buddy Lee Kerslake ex Toe Fat, the band had what would now be seen as their definitive line-up. Demons and Wizards would go on to sell more than 3 million copies worldwide and launch Uriah Heep upto the second level of strata in the heavy world, behind the top level which had the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. One of the most interesting things though about Demons and Wizards, was its overtly progressive rock style album cover which was originally presented as a gatefold design for its vinyl release. By using the talents of then very popular artist Roger Dean, who at the time was best known for designing album covers for Yes and later Asia, here was an artist that was well known for his exotic outwardly designs. This album cover certainly demonstrated the band’s interest in both medieval mythology and futuristic themes (a requisite of 50% of prog bands at the time) the album cover also denotes, that the band were also having fun with these themes, as opposed to the more over-serious posture set out by the likes of Yes. Just five months after the release of this album, the band would release their fifth studio album The Magician’s Birthday (reviewed below) and producer Gerry Bron would be on hand to produce both albums.

David Byron- Vocals
Mick Box- Guitar,
Gary Thain- Bass
Ken Hensley- Keyboards/Organ
Lee Kerslake- Drums

Production- Gerry Bron

Album
The Wizard- Starts off with an acoustic guitar before picking up the pace and playing out as a heavy rocker, it’s basically a song about a wandering wizard. Traveller in Time- Opens up with some delightful high-pitched subdued vocals, before again moving into harder territory and featuring some groovy wah-wah style guitar, also great accompanying work by Ken Hensley as always. Easy Livin- The obvious single from the album, it has a galloping pace and swirling organ accompaniment, very much a typical Heep track from this era and along with “The Wizard” were both released as singles. Poet’s Justice- Probably my favourite track on the album and at times reminds me of “Shadows of Grief” the killer track from Look at Yourself, but this is a great song in its own right and shoots around the place for a full 4 minutes. Circle of Hands- A heavy sounding ballad and with a strong gospel feel about it, it’s heavily organ dominated and it’s no surprise that is was solely written by keyboardist Ken Hensley. Rainbow Demon- probably one of the heaviest songs on the album and they're really touching into Deep Purple territory here. All My Life- Almost starts off sounding like a typical Wishbone Ash song, before moving into recognizable Heep territory, it’s a nifty 2 minute plus track. Paradise/The Spell- The longest track on the album (originally presented as two separate tracks, but reviewed here as one long song) as the two tracks work well as a medley finale. The first part starts off like the album opener with an acoustic guitar, before adding more layers and the “Paradise” part of the song ends with some superb singing. The song then enters into the punchier sounding “The Spell” the later part of the medley and after the first few minutes, enters into a more deliberate and well executed section, before the whole song ends up in finishing with that punchy medley feel. On some versions of the album there is the following bonus track “Why” this was originally a b-side and it’s a great example of how b-sides from this era were just as good as their better known a-sides.

Verdict
So how does this album compare to Look at Yourself? Look at Yourself had basically been the band’s crowning achievement, where all the aspects of their unique sound all came together on one album, it had also been a high-energy workout, full of swirling organ which all meshed the band’s hard rock and progressive elements in perfect unison. Demons and Wizards on the other hand is an even more balanced album pace wise, it has the high energy workouts from Look at Yourself with its galloping guitars and swirling organs, but overall the band have gone for creative slower tracks, which are just as progressive in feel and style as the faster tempo material and this time they are even more confidently executed, and on some occasions all these styles meet in one song. Dave Byron’s vocals, also show greater diversity and range and are perfectly cemented into place by both Mick Box and Ken Hensley on guitar and keyboards. The album mixes itself between short rockers such as “The Wizard” and “Easy Livin” and lengthier progressive tracks like “Circle of Hands” and “Paradise/The Spell”. On a song like “Traveller in Time” the band showed that they were masters of condensing the more complex progressive style tracks, down into just three minutes and certainly giving birth to the future pomp-rock sub-genre that would emerge in the 1970s and would be demonstrated by bands such as Queen and Styx. But also contemporary Progressive acts of the time such as Yes were heavily influencing the band, just check out “Circle of Hands” which has a Yes “Starship Trooper” feel to it throughout! Again the stand-out instrument on the album are Ken Hensley’s keyboards which dominate yet again. At times on this album, Uriah Heep touch into territory normally occupied by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Yes. But the beauty of Uriah Heep, is just when they cross the line of sounding like these bands, they quickly deliver us a unique Heep bridge or chorus, just to remind us that this band is Uriah Heep and nobody else. Anybody looking to pick up just a couple of Uriah Heep albums from their prime early to mid 1970s period, should look no further than than Demons and Wizards and their previous release Look at Yourself.

The day of darkness comes to every man.

David Byron- Vocals
Mick Box- Guitar,
Gary Thain- Bass
Ken Hensley- Keyboards/Organ
Lee Kerslake- Drums

Production- Gerry Bron

Album
Sunrise- A power ballad where Mick Box and Ken Hensley alternate their guitar and keyboard to great effect, an ideal album opener. Spider Woman- A song with an infectious chorus and one of the album’s punchy rockers. Blind Eye- A mid-tempo song, clearly written by a band that were churning out quality songs and the whole song if firmly anchored by Gary Thain’s bass. Echoes in the Dark- The most accomplished track on the album, has a superb eerie feel and a great guitar lead is laid down by Mick Box. Rain- A superb piano led ballad, which features some of Dave Byron’s most effective singing ever. Sweet Lorraine- One of the band’s best known songs, highlighted by Ken Hensley using his synthesizer to great effect. Tales- When hearing this song the first thing that comes to mind is just how accomplished it sounds and it's a perfect example of the mid-tempo pace that was being laid down by the band. The Magicians Birthday- A really epic finale track, that starts off as a light-hearted ‘happy birthday’ song, before it kicks into zanier space rock territory and the band put out some stunning guitar jamming and drumming over this progressive 10 plus minutes album closer. The bonus tracks from this album feature numerous outtakes and the real highlight here is "Crystal Ball"

Verdict
The Magician’s Birthday follows straight-on from Demons and Wizards and in many ways the two albums could’ve been a double album release. In fact had it been a double album, it would’ve been one of the best of the decade! The Magician’s Birthday whilst not being as cohesive and solid as Demons and Wizards, still continues strongly with the medieval and futuristic themes that were dominating the band at this time and again the album benefits from Roger Dean’s artwork. The Magician’s Birthday literally follows the creative format of Demons and Wizards, but as said above the songs song for song aren’t as dynamic as on that album, but on the other hand, they are definitely as accomplished as anything on Demons and Wizards! The Magician’s Birthday largely lends itself over to more reflective slower sounding tracks, with typical ballads, power ballads and mid tempo tracks all dominating here, this is certainly in contrast to the higher energy workouts of the previous two albums. Therefore it’s no surprise to find that the best tracks on the album, are largely the slower tracks and on songs like “Blind Eye” “Echoes in the Dark” “Rain” and “Tales” Heep show that they're very much masters of their craft. The distinctive Uriah Heep high-energy sound is found far more fleetingly on this album, but can be easily noted on a song like “Spider Woman” and in “Sweet Lorraine” the band had an obvious single in that song. I would also say, that this album might possibly be Dave Byron’s greatest vocal display song for song on any Uriah Heep album, his vocals are just so good. The Magician’s Birthday ranks as one of the best Heep releases from this their vintage period and in many ways it’s one of those progressive hard rock albums from that period, that lends itself over to being a pre-cursor to the future AOR style that would take the US by storm from the mid-1970s onwards. If Look at Yourself and Demons and Wizards are the best two Uriah Heep albums, then The Magician’s Birthday is the hidden gem that should be sought out, after listening to those two albums.

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