He had so much charisma, so much ability,” admitted Hensley many years later. It was the first album to feature that line-up and there was a magic in that combination of people that created so much energy and enthusiasm.” so said Hensley at some point somewhere “David was the communication point, the focal point of the whole group’s stage presentation. We all wanted the same thing, were all willing to make the same sacrifices to achieve it and we were all very committed. “”The band was really focused at that time. And don’t be fooled by those Roger Dean album covers either, this is serious hard rock, proto heavy metal, heavy as flip, the Heep seriously rock! And look at those strides there, you’ve got to be a cool as flip band to pull off those jeans and shoes! You either love Uriah Heep or you think all ridiculous bombastic excessive hard rock nonsense, me? I love bombastic excessive hard rock nonsense, I’ve worn out my old vinyl copies of these classic proper albums. Actually London’s finest have never stopped making good albums, these early ones from the start of the 70’s are where the real treasure is to be found though, if you don’t know Uriah Heep Look at Yourself or The Magician’s Birthday pr Demons and Wizards is where you really need to start, that chemistry of Mick Box, Ken Hensley and David Byron, the tightly knit nucleus of the band who really were on top of everything on those three classic albums. There isn’t much that sounds cooler that those classic early 70’s Uriah Heep albums and the gloriously bombastic over-the-top-ness of it all, the screaming organs, the even more screaming vocals, the demons, the wizards, the sky full of eyes and today being nothing more than yesterday’s tomorrow.
I expect there’s a million special this and limited that being released for this Saturday’s Record Store day, it surely doesn’t get any cooler than this though does it? Where to start? The horse of the rainbow demon? It has to be straight in with the mighty wizard, no messing, straight in there fire up The Wizard! Straight in there with some traveling in time, follow it up with Easy Livin! You see there’s nothing quite like the full-on hard rock of the Heep, all those overdriven over-the-top Hammonds and the warm smell of that Lesley that comes out of your speakers along with those guitar and organ duels and that classic hard rock sound of the mighty Heep.