So there I was listening to the new Uriah Heep album Wake The Sleeper and it reminded me of what a great band they were, so here my friends is the seventh of my short “Bluffers Guide to …” series!
Once again in a few short paragraphs here is all you need to know to bluff your way through a conversation on Uriah Heep as long as you steer away pretty quickly...
Uriah Heep are an English rock band that were first formed in 1969, when producer Gerry Bron invited key board player Ken Hensley to join a band on his own Bronze record label. They have been cited by many critics as being the forefathers of Progressive Metal music as their fusion of musical styles, melodic songs and multi part harmonising vocals moved the Progressive Rock of the time in a new direction.
The band were named after Uriah Heep who was a character in the Dickens novel David Copperfield, and their first release Very ‘eavy, Very ‘umble was a reference to his favourite saying, very ‘umble.
This first album was a heavy guitar and organ sound with theatrical vocals but it was not until their second album Salisbury that they started to develop the Progressive Metal sound that was to become their signature. It’s 16 minute title track included a 24 piece orchestra and introduced the fantasy orientated lyrical themes that would follow the band through their various formations.
In between their formation in 1969 and 1980 the band changed line up on numerous occasions but consistent in them were Ken Hensley on Keys and Mick Box on Guitar.
For most of this time they also had Gerry Bron on vocals until he was replaced in 1976. The peak of their recording during this period was 1972’s Demons & Wizards and The Magician’s Birthday.
In the late 1970’s and 1980 the releases favoured a more typical hard rock sound of that era and the replacement of vocalist Lawton for the Conquest album was not well received by most of the dedicated fans.
In 1986 the line up settled and the band still record and release some studio albums, Wake The Sleeper being the latest and more regular live albums, the latest being 2005’s Between Two Worlds.
They still regularly tour with the same line up making it now 22 years of gigging and recording and music spanning the last five decades, a very rare achievement for any band!
Although always popular in Europe the band never really made it big in the US but funnily have one of their biggest fan bases there now. Today they are huge in Scandinavia, Holland, Russia where they play stadium sized gigs, as well as in the UK.
For those of you not familiar with the music of Uriah Heep you could do far worse than a copy of the 3 CD set Loud, Proud & Heavy: The Very Best of Uriah Heep available right now from your favourite on line retailer CD WOW!Two years before the formation of Uriah Heep another British rock band were forming that are also still present on the gig circuit today and have sold in excess of 60 million albums worldwide and they are called Jethro Tull, but they will be the subject of another Bluffers Guide…That should get you through those awkward silences....
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