Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Uriah Heep
Label: Classic Rock Productions
Release: 2003
Rating: 3.5/5
Uriah Heep decided to release a live recording from an event called the “US Classic Rock Festival,” which took place in the town of Trenton (New Jersey, USA) on the fifth and sixth of October, anno Domini 2002. At that festival Uriah Heep headlined both nights, with two quite different repertoires. The first night they played plugged in, and the next day they left the “Tesla phenomenon” completely untouched and strummed out a concert of bare strings. The CD is a single disc, and Uriah Heep picked only the best of the repertoire from both nights. So someone might figure the Heep are serving up some kind of cross between “Electrically Driven” (2001) and “Acoustically Driven” (2001).
But it’s not that simple. For one, the repertoire differs a lot from those two live albums, and the second and perhaps far more important fact is the sound, which, given that Uriah Heep played under the open sky, is of course a whole new story again.
Ah, how lovely to find The Wizard and Rainbow Demon back on record after almost ten years since the release of “Spellbinder” (1994). Of the ten songs, seven are acoustic, while Easy Livin’ and Return To Fantasy, as proper rock moments, and the wonderful adventure that is The Magician’s Birthday, are shoved all the way through distortion. In them the guitar doesn’t gobble up the keyboards’ space for even a moment. Mick’s trademark wah-wah riffing sounds red-hot and alive, you can feel its metallic stance, yet in the production it never covers the keyboards. It’s kept at a distance and within limits in which it neatly builds the mosaic of the band’s whole sound and stage magic. The keyboards grandly fill the background and, together with the guitar riffing, fill the whole sonic space as equals. As a contrasting counterweight you get the intense bursts of Lee’s drums and the nonstop melodic weaving of quick-fingered Trevor Bolder on bass. The multi-colored use of backing vocals sounds majestic this time too (Easy Livin’, The Wizard, Return To Fantasy and the fairy-tale world of orchids, Tales).
Of course, the biggest pleasure of chewing on Mick’s riffing comes with the closing 12-minute masterpiece The Magician’s Birthday. Of course with the indispensable Lee, who toots into that thingamajig the English call a “kazoo” (“Bye-bye Slovenian, almighty Toporišič S.O.S!”) and a fully immersed Bernie with superbly delivered closing heavenly verses (in the original those are sung by Ken Hensley). Unlike the last verse of the original, “…love will find love, will find love,…” Bernie sings “…love goes on love, goes on love,…” this time. Of course, the main thing in the song is the crossfire between Lee and Mick, who push each other hard and happily stretch out their solo “jamming,” so that it runs twice as long as the original.
On the acoustic songs Mick delivers a real, honest-to-goodness steel acoustic sound, and it’s not hard to notice how intensely he scrapes the pick across the guitar, as if he wanted to rip all the strings off it. Here Phil on organ naturally gets the lead role in holding the melody within the songs. Especially in The Other Side Of Midnight, Heartless Land and That’s The Way That It Is. It’s hard to decide which acoustic arrangement turned out better on stage, but Blind Eye undoubtedly stands out, where Lee’s drums, with their power and expressive rhythm, inadvertently end up squarely in the center, creating the special mood of a mystical song, peaking right at the end when a flute solo joins in. On top of that, Lee added fantastic “back vocals” that fit contrastingly and tastefully alongside Bernie’s.
Uriah Heep just know how to do it. Not only the repertoire, but also how the set list is put together. First they put a spell on us with the dreamy Rainbow Demon, then they hit us with Easy Livin’, carry us off into the clouds again with The Wizard, tweak our ears with Return To Fantasy, then five acoustic beauties roll by, and just when you’re getting hungry for distortion and some rock ‘n’ roll thrashing, they serve up the Heep at full tilt with The Magician’s Birthday. “Live In The USA” is without a doubt a different kind of “live” Uriah Heep album.
The only thing that bugs me in all this is basically the fact already mentioned, that the tracks laid down here on one little disc were picked from two “full set lists” (the first day from the unplugged show and the second from the “electric” one). So the release is first and foremost interesting for real fans of the band. It’s basically a kind of “best of” documentation of the live event in Trenton. Those of you who already have “Acoustically Driven” (2001) at home won’t discover anything new.
Lineup
Bernie Shaw – vocals
Mick Box – guitar, backing vocals
Lee Kerslake – drums, backing vocals
Trevor Bolder – bass guitar, backing vocals
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, backing vocals
Track list
1. Rainbow Demon (3:55)
2. Easy Livin’ (3:07)
3. The Wizard (4:16)
4. Return To Fantasy (4:52)
5. Tales (4:45)
6. Heartless Land (4:57)
7. Blind Eye (3:52)
8. The Other Side Of Midnight (4:17)
9. That’s The Way It Is (4:08)
10. The Magician’s Birthday (12:43)
Trajanje albuma: 50:52
