Uriah Heep - Look at Yourself
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Free Music Notes for Look at Yourself
Free Music Review: Exelent Heep
Hit: 5 Stars
Just purchased this item to replace my '70's record.
Would recomend it to any would be Heep fan.
Great 70's music if you can dig it !
Free Music Review: Angry Heep!
Hit: 4 Stars
A fierce, Heep comes out on this album! Anger and aggression seem to dominate the songwriting, here, and it makes for a compelling piece of music. Good stuff!Free Music Review: One of the two great Uriah Heep albums to own
Hit: 5 Stars
Not as consistent and cohesive in my opinion as "Demons and Wizards" but definitively one of the two must own Uriah Heep albums, unless you don't like their heavy rock sound and the unique voice of David Byron (after he left, Uriah Heep became a rather pedestrian heavy metal band). Their craft reaches its height on "July Morning" which brings together a greater subtlety in rhythm and timing, tremendous riffs and that voice.Free Music Review: EXTREME CLASSIC ROCKER
Hit: 5 Stars
THIS IS ONE OF THOSE ALBUMS THAT EVERY REAL ROCKER SHOULD OWN! VERY WELL STRUCTERED ALL AROUND WITH AMAZING DOUBLE LEAD GUITARS ,PRICELESS HARMONIES ,THOSE SPECTACULAR DAVID BYRON VOCALS AND LARGELY WRITTEN BY THE WIZARD HIMSELF KEN HENSLEY . INCLUDES "SHADOWS OF GREIF" WICH GETS PLAY TIME ON THE BETTER ROCK RADIO STATIONS ,"LOVE MACHINE" WHICH IS FULL FLIGHT HEEP AT THEIR BEST AND IN SPITE OF THE TITLE AN UPLIFTING TUNE "TEARS IN MY EYES" THAT YEILDS ONE OF THE BEST,IF NOT THE BEST LEAD GUITARS BY BOTH MICK BOX AND HENSLEY! THESE IN ADDITION TO THE MORE POPULAR SONGS "JULY MORNING" AND "LOOK AT YOURSELF" . I WANT TO BE FREE IS/WAS A GREAT TUNE THAT SUFFERS ONLY FROM BEING TRAPPED IN IT'S TIME PERIOD,HOWEVER MOST FIND IT QUITE ENJOYABLE(ESPECIALLY THE THE OPENER).THIS LEAVES ONE GOOD SONG ,NOT A GREAT SONG TITLED "WHAT SHOULD BE DONE".IF MEMORY SERVES THE BAND LAID THIS TRACK DOWN,WITHIN 3 HOURS OF IT BEING AN IDEA IN KEN HENSLEY'S MIND. IN SPITE OF THAT IT STANDS ON THE VOCALS AND A FEW INTERESTING BITS OF WAH-WAH GUITAR,SYNTHESIZER. THIS COLLECTION IS VERY PLAYABLE ALL THE WAY THROUGH ...AND THERE ARE PASSAGES OF BOTH VOCAL ,INSTURMENTAL THAT MAY GIVE YOU THE SHIVER OF LISTENING TO SOMETHING STELLAR. YES I DO SELL THIS.AS IS THE CASE WITH MOST OF WHAT I SELL,I STRONGLY BELIEVE IN IT . Free Music Review: Look At Mott
Hit: 5 Stars
There has been a band going under the 'Uriah Heep' banner now since 1969, and no one can take away their influence on hard rock music, only Mick Box survives from the original line up. But combining his undeniable popularity, with musical skill on his chosen musical weapon the modern electric guitar, a great vision of what the customer wants, and an incredible faith in his ability to succeed within the band, he has kept the band going through all the sticks and arrows that have been thrown at them. (A certain journalist from America's prestigious rock magazine 'Rolling Stone' said she would commit suicide if the band made it, when she reviewed their debut album. Fortunately for her after millions of album sales later including 19 studio albums and countless live albums and compilations, playing concerts to thousands of adoring fans all over the world, the band has not held her to her word).
The line up of the band today, Mick Box on lead guitar, Trevor Boulder(ex-David Bowie's Spiders from Mars, and Wishbone Ash) on bass guitar, Phil Lanson on keyboards, Bernie Shaw on lead vocals and Lee Kerslake on drums (Lee has been with the band since the fourth album only missing one along the way after a spat with keyboardist Ken Hensley, but when he left the band it left an easy way for Lee to come back as he had just been evicted from 'Ozzy Osborne's Blizzard of Oz')Have now been together for over twenty five years but it certainly was not like that at the beginning.
In their early days 'Uriah Heep' were one of the main bands who gave the inspiration to the 'Rockumentary' Spinal Tap, one of the finest comedies ever made about rock culture, with it's self combusting drummers, revolving stages, and dramatic band break ups.
'Uriah Heep' had five different drummers before their fourth album, to be fair the fifth was Lee Kerslake, who became the fifth and seventh drummer after Chris Slade stepped in for the 'Conquest' album, before going off to 'The Firm' with Paul Rogers and Jimmy Page. Throughout their career 'Uriah Heep' have had five lead singers, four keyboard players, six bass players, but only one lead guitarist good old Mick Box who today looks more and more like one of the wrestlers from the American wrestling series than ever, although he still plays a mean guitar.
'Uriah Heep' were formed in 1969 by taking the four members of the band 'Spice' David Byron on lead vocals, Paul Newton on bass, Alex Napier on drums, Mick Box on lead guitar, and adding Ken Hensley on keyboards to add an extra dimension to the instrumentation and the writing skills of the band. Ken Hensley had been in 'Toe Fat ' with Cliff Bennett and a certain Lee Kerslake.
Their first album 'Very 'Eavy, Very 'Umble' (1969) had a very good cover! It also contained the opening track 'Gypsy' which is still in the live set list today, which does have a certain appeal in it's opening riff, but then rather fades away as an excuse for a long complicated keyboard solo, which to be fair it still is today. After that things rather went downhill with the rest of the album searching for direction and including an ill advised blues work out imaginatively titled 'Lucy Blues' a cover of 'Come Away Mellinda' which would of been better left in the hands of a Tom Jones wannabe, and some other assorted plod rockers. Six months later the band came out with their second album (and third drummer, second drummer Nigel Olsson got an offer from Elton John, which he could hardly turn down) 'Salisbury' (1970) (Even the cover was awful). This started in fine style with a song called 'Bird Of Prey' with it's harmony vocals, excellent soloing from both guitars and keyboards, giving hints as to what the band were capable of. This was then followed by a rock ballad which had a very stop start rhythm, clever but a bit confusing for the new fan, then it was back to hard rock for the flat out 'Time To Live', next was the now classic 'Lady in Black' an acoustic sing-a-long which had wonderful harmonies, and was great for a sing song at concerts, then when you turned the album over (Ah The good old days of vinyl) there was another rocker in 'High Priestess' before a sixteen minute piece which was the title track, it had brass sections, sweeping violins, you name it 'Uriah Heep' added it onto the song, listening to it now it really was a mess. Leaving the record buying public in complete confusion.
Things had to be put right, and ten months later that year they were. `Look At Yourself' (1970) still is to many the ultimate Uriah Heep and hard rock album. The cover is great, it's a mirror, look at yourself! Get it? Opening with the title track it hurtles out of the tracks like some demented heavy metal demon, Hensley and Box thrash out the songs riff before the wonderfully strong voice of David Byron calls his brethren to the cause, the rest of the band harmonizing behind him, then after a rampaging guitar solo, the riff is picked up again to bring the song to a rousing crescendo with the percussionists from 'Osibisa' brought in to add their sound to the climax, this time the session musicians were used to good effect. The pace is not let up by the following song 'I Wanna Be Free' as the chorus is driven along by a pounding beat, but with sympathetic vocals, and fine musical flourishes, with all the guitars in the band standing out. At track three is probably Uriah Heep's most famous song 'July Morning' a song that no version of the band could ever contemplate going on stage and not playing before they leave, it must of also been licensed out to every 'Best of Hard rock albums' ever made. After Ken Hensley's strident organ chords open the song up, Mick Box takes the song to a higher level with some truly rockin' guitar, before the whole thing is brought down to allow the vocals of David Byron to take over, the song is a loving ten minutes long, showing the full range of all the soloist's, building to many crescendo's before reaching a dramatic conclusion with everybody having a go at the solo's and Manfred Mann brought into the studio to add his deft touch on the moog syntherziser, a classic rock song.
The following songs on the album are not an anti-climax 'Tears In My Eyes' is a great little rock 'n' roll song lots of loud guitars, and the harmony vocals would not do shame to any of the great American vocal groups of the Fifties. 'Shadows Of Grief' is another epic song that perhaps never gets the recognition of some of it's peers, maybe this is because there just was not room for it in the live set with all it's twists and turns, but it is like a hidden treasure on the album. It has aged very well even though it still glorifies in the use of stereo with all the instruments and vocals switching from one speaker to the other in dramatic fashion, as if the band had found a new toy to play with. Finally the band drop the pace a little as if needing to catch their breathe, with the beautiful ballad 'What Should Be Done' there is nothing wrong with having one ballad on a rock album as long as they do not dominate proceedings. The album is brought to a rollicking conclusion by 'Love Machine' a number that just rocks, bringing the music to a conclusion as it did Uriah Heep's live set at the time. A job well done, 'Look At Yourself' was the first 'Uriah Heep' album to break into the American Top 100 and the British Top 30. Of course the band would hit pay dirt with the next years 'Demons and Wizards 'album but would it all of been possible with out a good look at yourself?
Over the next thirty years 'Uriah Heep' did make some awful yawn inducing albums (Like 'Fallen Angel' in 1978). But make no mistake 'Look At Yourself' is a diamond hard jewel
Mott The Dog.