Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Uriah Heep
Label: Castle Communications
Released: 1988
“Live In Moscow” is a document that marked a turning point for both Uriah Heep and rock music as a movement. Uriah Heep were the first “Western” band with the guts to tour the Soviet Union (and survive it).
It’s also a hugely important document that helped the band get through yet another rough patch, brought on by the constant lineup instability of the first half of the eighties and a run of radical changes in musical direction. After the “Equator” (1985) fiasco, Uriah Heep landed back on the hard ground of reality and finally accepted that their days of writing and chasing multi-million-seller hits had died long ago, back in the seventies. “Equator” was an album badly bent out of shape by the hunt for profit, and the last attempt of its kind, forced through to a large extent by their then label Sony BMG Records. So after the sorry results “Equator” delivered, singer Pete Goalby and keyboardist John Sinclair left the band. Once again the band was skating on thin ice. They held new auditions and brought in keyboardist Phil Lanzon (ex-The Sweet, Grand Prix) first, followed by Canadian Bernie Shaw (ex-Stratus, Grand Prix), who filled the gap as the new singer. As it turned out later, the lineup of Mick Box (guitar), Trevor Bolder (bass), Lee Kerslake (drums), Phil Lanzon (keyboards) and Bernie Shaw (vocals) finally found the stability it needed and stuck together until January 2007 (almost 20 years!!!), when Lee Kerslake left because of health problems.
But let’s go back to the start of 1988, when Uriah Heep, in that lineup, headed off to the Soviet Union and played to a combined 180,000 crazed fans at the Moscow shows alone. The band put together a set list of classics and added songs from “Equator”. Most important of all, though, was that they presented the crowd with a completely new sound. This is one of the heaviest and loudest live Uriah Heep releases, and it also pointed the way to the band’s future musical and sonic vision when it came to writing studio material.
“Live In Moscow” is a captured moment of the band’s rebirth, though it isn’t the most objective picture, because “Live In Moscow” confirmed that Uriah Heep had finally settled accounts with their golden classic days. The classics Bird Of Prey, The Wizard, Stealin’, July Monrnig and Easy Livin’ get a venomously cranked-up riff sound under the new lineup, with the riffs carrying most of the melody up front, decisively dominant even over the keyboards, which until then had always been equal partners. As a counterweight to the riffs, Kerslake’s drums thunder away with deliberately noisy intensity. Bernie Shaw’s vocals boast incredible variability and a real knack for coloring a line. Shaw makes it clear what big-league singing caliber and potential he brought to the band. He’s superb on July Morning, with a delicate, subtle touch, yet he can also explode with full intensity in the AOR/hard rock threads of the eighties, like Too Scared To Run, Corina or Pacific Highway, which he masterfully lends a melodic quality that, say, David Byron never had. Of course, times had changed completely. The new Uriah Heep lineup played far more the power card than the mood card. The moments of psychedelic spaced-out drift that Hensley once took care of with his Hammond sound are totally gone. But Uriah Heep held on to one of their most recognizable trademarks: the polish of their multi-part vocal harmonies, which top-notch dress every single song on this live recording.
“Live In Moscow” shows the new members bonding as they got to know each other in the school of the stage, and it makes an excellent launchpad for all the band’s later studio work, which was confirmed the very next year by their excellent fresh studio release “Raging Silence” (1989).
Uriah Heep recorded several concerts during the tour. From the recorded material, only ten songs were picked. On the newly released remastered Castle Communications (1998) version, “Live In Moscow” gets Gypsy, Rockarama and Heartache City added on top. That gives the listener a somewhat more realistic glimpse of the atmosphere on the recording itself. Still, a few tracks are missing from this document. For example, Look At Yourself, which came out as a bonus track on some versions of the studio album “Raging Silence” (1989). Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll get a full concert night from this legendary Uriah Heep tour (as a double CD). Until then, we can ease the pain with the twin brother of “Live In Moscow”, “Still ‘Eavy, Still Proud” (1990), which has some of the Moscow performances that there was no room for on “Live In Moscow”.
Like I said, “Live In Moscow” isn’t the best pick for casual curiosity seekers, or for anyone just starting to get to know the band’s vast repertoire, when it comes to representing the group. But at the same time it’s a live album with a unique stage atmosphere and a unique “Equator” set list, one of the few without Lady in Black, and that’s exactly why it belongs in every real fan’s collection. On their visit to Mikhail Gorbachev’s country, the band floored the gas pedal and served up a razor-sharp sound that even later live Uriah Heep releases, like “Spellbinder” (1996), have a hard time topping.
Lineup
Bernie Shaw – vocals
Phil Lanzon – keyboards
Mick Box – guitar
Trevor Bolder – bass
Lee “The Bear” Kerslake – drums
Track list
1. Bird Of Prey
2. Stealin’
3. Too Scared To Run
4. Corina
5. Mister Majestic
6. WizaWizard
7. July Morning
8. Easy Livin’
9. That’s The Way That It Is
10. Pacific Highway
Running time: 48:56
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 1998 REMASTERED EDITION:
11. Gypsy
12. Rockarama
13. Heartache City
