Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Uriah Heep
Label: Uriah Heep Records
Release: 2015
Rating: 4/5
The veterans of world rock’n’roll, the »immortal« Uriah Heep, celebrated 45 years in the game last year. After putting out the new live album »Live At Koko«, taken from the tour promoting their current studio record »Outsider« (2014) – which, let’s be honest, can’t boast any special creative freshness – the guys came up with the idea of tossing an old compilation, “Remasters: The Official Anthology”, back into the CD player to spruce up its sound. It first came out in 2001, when Uriah Heep spent a few short years under the wing of the obscure label Classic Rock Legends. (Maybe this very kind of trip back in time even helps them find some creative freshness for the next studio album.)
Considering that the releases the band put out via Classic Rock Legends vanished from record store shelves around the world pretty fast, the move makes total sense, since this »lost« compilation is now available again to music lovers who care about the band. It’s worth adding that in its short lifespan the same label managed to release some seriously interesting live documents by Uriah Heep, such as »Acoustically Driven«, »Electrically Driven«, »Future Echoes of the Past«, »The Magician’s Birthday Party« and »Live in the USA«. Maybe the band will manage to reissue those live documents too, now via their recently founded label that they own themselves. One more thing. Mick Box says the band decided to record 27 songs as groundwork for the »Acoustically Driven« and »Electrically Driven« projects. So it can’t be taken as a »best of« selection, and that’s a good thing. But that’s not all. In 2004, one of Europe’s low-budget labels released the very same compilation without the band’s knowledge, under the title »Uriah Heep’s Gold: Looking Back 1970-2001«. Talk about a mess.
If this compilation weren’t special, reissuing it would be pretty pointless, since there are a trillion other compilations by the band in the shops. So for Uriah Heep to uncover these curiosities for the public again, they had to go back to 2001. At that time Uriah Heep had landed in a creative rut. They were plagued by a lack of fresh songwriting ideas. In their fans’ ears, though, their then-current album »Sonic Origami« (1998) was still ringing out nicely. So the lineup back then still featured the famous Lee Kerslake and Trevor Bolder, two musicians who left an indelible mark in the seventies on some of the most representative albums of the band’s golden era.
On this compilation the band played the old seventies songs in line with their musical direction of the time, so it’s no surprise to hear the influence of the »Sonic Origami« production and extra synthesizers woven into the soundscape of some of the classics, which in their raw, original versions have only the chunky, compact Hammond organ sound of the legendary Ken Hensley. Today Uriah Heep play the seventies classics in a far more retro-sounding way than they did at the start of the new millennium, when this compilation was recorded. The vocal harmonies work differently than they do now, too, thanks to the backing vocals from Bolder and Kerslake. They sound much closer to the originals than the harmonies Uriah Heep create today. That’s only logical. Bernie Shaw also sounds way fresher and more potent on vocals than on the latest studio record or on stage over the past three years. Time just slips by quietly.
These observations sting the ear all the more given how the 2001 recording sounded, because the revamped sound of 2015 has put an exceptionally polished soundscape on the disc, one where you can hear a pin drop. The contrasts are ironed out to the max, including the multi-part vocal harmonies and the eternal interplay of that recognizable dialogue between keys and guitar, which has always built the band’s distinctive sound, the backbone of their musical identity. At the same time, the warm, living, organic glow is kept intact. The refreshed sound is genuinely excellent compared to the original sound of the 2001 compilation.
A nice document marking the first 45 years, for sure, with a somewhat different song selection than you’d expect. The second disc especially flirts with the band’s newer output, or with numbers Uriah Heep haven’t included in their live repertoire for a long time. Let’s hope for two things above all. First, that this move gets Uriah Heep to freshen up their live setlists too. Second, that they maybe get a hint of how to bring creative freshness back to their new original material. Especially when it comes to sonic punch, which, to put it mildly, is literally holding the band back in its evolution thanks to the constant yearning to recap the seventies sound. Then again, you could also conclude that after 45 years Uriah Heep don’t need any evolution at all. But if David Bowie evolved all the way through, and Rush and a few others from Uriah Heep’s generation of contemporaries keep evolving, there’s no excuse for Uriah Heep to stay stuck at a creative dead end.
Line-up
Bernie Shaw – vocals
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, backing vocals
Mick Box – guitar, backing vocals
Trevor Bolder – bass guitar, backing vocals
Lee Kerslake – drums, backing vocals
Production
Pip Williams
Track list
CD1.:
1. Gypsy
2. Traveller In Time
3. Bird Of Prey
4. Sunrise
5. Rain
6. Come Away Melinda
7. Return To Fantasy
8. Look At Youself
9. Come Back To Me
10. The Easy Road
11. Sweet Freedom
12. Why Did You Go?
13. July Morning
14. Easy Livin’
CD2.:
1. Between Two Worlds
2. Only The Young
3. Different World
4. Love In Silence
5. Blind Eye
6. Wonderworld
7. Stealin’
8. Time Of revelation
9. Cross That Line
10. More Fool You
11. Universal Wheels
12. The Golden Palace
13. Lady In Black
