Who Likes Uriah Heep?

I'm seeing Uriah Heep this summer. They are playing a little amphitheater across the street from my house and tickets are just five bucks.

I've never seen them before and I don't know much about them really, but I'm glad to add another band to my "I've seen 'em live" list. Plus, they are English and that is cool. I love accents.

So, have you seen Uriah Heep? What are your opinions?

Comments

[JT]

$5? Seriously? "Wake The Sleeper" was a pretty decent record, and you can't deny the awesomeness of "Easy Livin'."

Unfortunately I'm working that weekend, and the Heep aren't high enough on my list to warrant a vacation day.

[Metalboy!]

Phew!

Puleez!

I saw Uriah Heep open for Blue Oyster Cult in 1976 (off the Agents of Fortune Tour!).

As JT mentions, "Easy Livin'" is easily, hands down, their most notable song and the only thing that can really get me the slightest bit excited about 'em.

And what gets me just a little bit more excited about "Easy Livin'" is the great cover of that song by none other than W.A.S.P. from "Inside The Electric Circus".

Other than the fact that one of my best friend's cousin was in the original line-up or their cool band name or the W.A.S.P. cover of their sole hit, I really see no need for Uriah Heep to exist.

These things are just about the only reasons I can find to keep from completely dismissing Uriah Heep as nothing more but a footnote in The History of Rock and Roll.

[Nelbass]

You 2 are fools for your comments about one of the greatest R&R bands ever. I had the pleasure of seeing the original band in 75& that was one of the greatest shows ever. Mick Box was & still is one of the greatest guitarist ever. Ken hensley was an awesome keyboardist/songwriter & David Byron had a voice of gold. Unfortunately DB died in the late 70's & KH is no longer the keyboard player. Just to see Mick Box play guitar is well worth $5. Allyson, you should go just to see him play guitar & here a lot of the old songs. Easy livin wasn't the only great song UH had. Obviously the 2 of you who wrote this comments were still in diapers back in the 70's when all the great bands were around. It's a shame now that all we have is Nickleback type shit for rock bands. These punks don't have a clue what R&R is. None of them know what a guitar solo is & all they do is scream in the songs. I wish we could bring back the 70's when R&R was still ROCK!!!! Allyson, spend the $5, you will enjoy the show.

[Nelbass]

Allyson, If you have access, go back & listen to Look At Yourself, Demons & Wizards, The Magician's birthday & Sweet Freedom albums. These are all classic Heep albums. I know they will play a few tunes off of these albums. I didn't mean to be so harsh on these other 2 guys posts but it just pisses me off when people put down the great bands of the 70's because there's very little music today that can hold a candle to any of the older bands. Believe me I have lived R&R since the 60's. I know UH isn't the same band as MB is the only orignal member of the band last I heard but I would love to see them just for the memories. I think you will enjoy the show.

[Cols]

Sounds like a deal. I saw them warm up for Rush in Cincinati Ohio back in the early 80s. The Fraze is a great place for concerts. Saw Billy Idol there last year and the atmosphere was great!

[GNR]

Take me across the water, 'cause I need a place to hide.
I done the rancher's daughter, and it sure did hurt his pride.

...

Stealin' when I should of been buying


LOVE< LOVE< LOVE< that tune. Tesla does an awesome remake on Real to Reel btw...

[Sleaze Rocker]

Great band they have a killer keyboard/organ sound like Deep Purple. They are a classic you cant go wrong $5 and across the street. You should go for sure!!

[Bob]

I'm a huge Uriah Heep fan. Back in the 70s, they were unfairly referred to as "the poor man's Deep Purple", but they are way better than that. Wake The Sleeper was a great album. even though they're down to one original member, the current lineup does the classic sound quite nicely. Yeah, Easy Livin' is their most recognizeable song, but judging them by that song is like judging Thin Lizzy based on The Boys are Back in Town. Go back and listen to the epic brilliance of July Morning, or Gypsy...Phenomenal stuff.

[M.]

I've never been able to get into Uriah Heep. Too many albums to try to delve into for such a middling '70's classic-rock band, and their two defining hits -- "Stealin'" and "Easy Livin'", I just don't like enough.

On the other hand, for a bit of an eye-opener, try their late-80's entry "Raging Silence", to see how a 70's blues/prog-rock band attempted to ape the glam/hair metal/rock that ruled at the time. "Blood Red Roses" is a passable 80's rock track, and their remake of "Hold Your Head Up", while bringing nothing terribly new to the tune, is arguably better than the original anyway.

[Rocko]

I've seen Uriah Heep several times back in the day and they were incredible. I was standing right in front of Mick Box, and couldn't hear out of my left ear for two days. I think that's when my tinnitus started.Saw a recent concert they did at Sweden Rock Fest, and they still brought it. Five bucks? Nice at twice the price.

[Gary]

Ally, Listen For a song called Circle Of Hands,and also The Wizard (I'm about positive they'll do The Wizard, but Circle Of Hands I'm not to sure of). And of course, as was stated by GNR, Stealin is one of my all time favorite songs, period. I'm willing to lay odds you will come away from the show smiling'as they have an awful lot of good stuff.....

[Metalboy!]

Message to self -- "Stealin'" is one other notable track.

Notice, I said, "Notable", not "Great".

"Easy Livin'" is "Great"!

So, now I've got another track by Uriah Heep, "Stealin'", to add to my iTunes playlists of Classic Rock.

And to Nelbass, Cols, G'n'R, Sleazerocker, Bob, Rocko, Gary, there's no denying you are among a legion of Classic Rockers who have a deep appreciation of Uriah Heep and I respect that.

But I've got a philosophy I'm sure you all adhere to, as well...

It's about the notion of "To Each His Own"...

If I put the needle on the record and it sounds good, I leave it on, whether it's Miles Davis, Barry Manilow, Robin Trower, Ratt or Bad City...

I'm sure there are those of you who disagree with some of those random selections of acts that I like and I'm sure you all have bands and performers you like that I could do without...

Like Uriah Heep.

Special note to Nelbass: When I saw Uriah Heep from the 6th Row at CapCentre in Largo, MD in '76 opening for seminal Classic Rock Legends, Blue Oyster Cult, I was indeed out of diapers, tho just barely, and believe me, I wanted to like 'em! I loved and still love "Easy Livin'", but I gotta tell ya, there just wasn't anything else there nearly as catchy played during that show, except maybe, "Stealin'", which I do vaguely remember. It was one big borefest other than those encores and after that the joint just absolutely blasted off into Intergalactic Overdrive from the first note of Blue Oyster Cult to the last. And, yes, that's just my humble opinion, but I know almost all there is to know about Classic Rock thru and thru, yet I never stop striving to learn more and more every day about the genre. My friend, having seen tons of bands (from AC/DC to Dave Brubeck to Burt Bacharach to Led Zeppelin to Frank Zappa) and owning thousands of CDs and hundreds of albums by those bands from the 60's thru the 80's, I celebrate my love for Rock'n'Roll every moment I can. Many of those bands in my collection you may know well and some I doubt you've ever even heard of, but I'm sorry, Uriah Heep is not among them.

[Metalboy!]

Oh, and just gotta add, I didn't check out the Uriah Heep vid Al posted here until now, because of what I suspected it would be.

Horrible!

Nevertheless, it is Killarious!

This almost tops Spinal Tap! And the true beauty of it is, these guys don't realize how stupid and cheezie it is! Hahaha!!!

And that goes for the throwaway wholly unoriginal and uninteresting track, too!

Man, this video, along with most of their catalog, is a HEEP of something else I can't really say here! Ouch!

[Hans]

Today it's not the "real" Heep anymore, it sure and still is a good band but they had their glory-days in the seventies, with Ken Hensley and the greatest David Byron.

But, go to the concert and listen to the old songs, enjoy !

Kind regards from Amsterdam,
Hans

[Roy]

I love the HEEP!!! I met them in Syracuse on the Abominog tour. Mick Box is one of those great 70's guitar players..One of the first songs that I knew how to play 'drop D' when I was a kid, was the song from the DEMONS AND WIZARDS album, called The Wizard. GREAT STUFF!!!

[Bob]

Hey Metalboy, I'm sure you know from our back-and-forth comment fests on here that I'm not trying to talk you into liking Uriah Heep. When it comes to music, if I can steal a latin phrase, de gustibus non est disputandum. Like you, my musical tastes are all over the place. I'm just as likely to throw on some Coltrane as I am Motley crue. If it hits that unexplainable spot in my soul, that's all I need. If it doesn't hit that spot, i will move on to something that does. for me, Uriah Heep hits that spot -- I understand that Heep doesn't hit that spot for you, and that's perfectly fine in my book man.

[Metalboy!]

Thanks, Bob. Touche!