Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Uriah Heep
Label: Bronze Records
Released: 1983
Rating: 2.5/5
After the successful comeback with “Abominog” (1982), Uriah Heep stuck with the winning formula and released another album, pretty similar to its predecessor, in the same lineup: “Head First”. Other Side Of Midnight, which opens the record, actually gives you an instant look at where Heep were musically at the time. It’s a heavy shot of ultra-melodic hooks and rocker explosiveness packed inside a song with a carelessly catchy, well-crafted chorus and pre-chorus that crawl under your skin right away. This time, too, there was no avoiding covers. The best-known one also came out as a single, Jackson’s Stay On Top. At first the guys wanted Other Side Of Midnight as the single, but the label forced them into Stay On Top. For purely commercial reasons, of course. Lonely Nights (orig. B. Adams) is much better tailored to Uriah Heep in its structure, and of all three covers, the AOR romp Love Is Blind (orig. Carbone) in the Uriah Heep version especially burns down the house.
The “more serious” follow-up to Stay On Top is Sweet Talk, which is again more AOR-minded, with the sound evenly filled out by synths and Box’s guitar. The excellent solo stands out, “hot-footed” and ambitious, Box clearly had tremendous drive and inspiration. As a whole, the album doesn’t lag behind “Abominog” in any way. But it feels like “Head First” is an even more polished rock album, a touch more AOR-filtered in the production, with even sharper contrasts between the instruments. The backing vocal harmonies in particular stand out more in the overall sound than on the predecessor, and the production of all the vocal lines is emphasized a bit more still, which gives the sonic picture even more depth. The record’s closing stretch is played in a great AOR mood with Straight Through The Heart, and it shifts into an even higher gear with the especially “souped-up” Weekend Warriors. If Uriah Heep had gotten themselves teased-up hair and makeup in this period, you could have quickly branded them an early form of glam-makeup rock metal. The production and quite a few of the compositions strongly recall something that became hugely popular and in demand on the market within just two to three years of the release of “Head First”. Bob Daisley bolted back to Ozzy Osbourne at the first opportunity after recording “Head First”. And good old Trevor Bolder returned to Uriah Heep, so he played the entire Head First tour with the band.
Of course, you always have to keep in mind that the new Uriah Heep are really a completely new band, incomparable to their seventies legacy. Daisley and Kerslake, who knew how to handle this stuff from their time with Ozzy, brought in much of the fresh heavy ideas for the sound and style of the revamped band. Uriah Heep had full momentum, since two excellent albums came out in two years. They wrote modern heavy hard rock with a good dose of AOR touches and impressive guitar riffs, and across the songs they delivered great rock voltage and melodies that lit up the listener on first spin. In sound they were an avant-garde, the one that later glam metal bands especially looked to in their production when shaping their own records.
Lineup
Peter Goalby – vocals
John Sinclair – keyboards, backing vocals
Mick Box – guitar, backing vocals
Bob Daisley – bass guitar, backing vocals
Lee Kerslake – drums, backing vocals
Production
Ashley Howe
Track list
1. The Other Side Of Midnight (3:55)
2. Stay On Top (3:35)
3. Lonely Nights (4:07)
4. Sweet Talk (3:51)
5. Love Is Blind (3:38)
6. Roll-Overture (2:18)
7. Red Lights (2:57)
8. Rollin’ The Rock (5:31)
9. Straight Through The Heart (3:39)
10. Weekend Warriors (3:50)
Album length: 37:21
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 1997 REMASTERED EDITION:
1. Playing For Time (4:27) single b-side
2. Searching (3:52) instrumental out-take, previously unreleased
3. The Wizard [live] (4:52) live version 1984, previously unreleased
