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With Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep were the purveyors of the
"dark" subgenre of hard-rock at its inception.
They were technically incompetent and stylistically irrelevant, but
nonetheless managed to last forever.
Very 'eavy Very 'umble (vertigo, 1970), with Gypsy, and
Salisbury (Vertigo, 1971) were albums of conventional hard-rock and
progressive-rock,
repeating what countless bands had already done. The latter contains the
extended suite of Salisbury, a concerto for rock orchestra and
philarmonic orchestra.
Look At Yourself (Bronze, 1971) coined their melodic style, that
triumphed with
Demons and Wizards (Bronze, 1972), featuring their best known singalong,
Easy Livin', and Wizard.
The line-up kept changing, but rarely improved the quality of the albums:
The Magician's Birthday (Bronze, 1972),
Sweet Freedom (Bronze, 1973), with Stealin',
Wonderworld (Bronze, 1974,
Return to Fantasy (Bronze, 1975),
High and Mighty (Bronze, 1976),
Innocent Victim (Bronze, 1977),
Firefly (Bronze, 1977),
Fallen Angel (Bronze, 1978),
Wonderful (Bronze, 1980),
Conquest (Bronze, 1980).
A new, new, new line-up resurfaced in the 1980s.
Abominog (Bronze, 1982), Head First (Bronze, 1983) and
Equator (Bronze, 1985) are actually better played than anything Uriah
Heep did when they were famous.
Vocalist David Byron died of an overdose in 1985.
The band did not give up and released Raging Silence (Legacy, 1989),
yet another return, followed by Different World (Legacy, 1991) and
countless reunions.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Claudio Vespignani)
Insieme ai Black Sabbath, gli Uriah Heep furono gli artefici del sottogenere "Dark" dell'hard rock ai suoi inizi. Furono
tecnicamente incompetenti e stilisticamente irrilevanti, ma tuttavia sono riusciti a durare per sempre.
Very `eavy very `umble (Vertigo 1970), con Gypsy, e Salisbury (Vertigo 1971) erano dischi di hard e prog-rock
convenzionale, che ripetevano ci• che un'infinit… di gruppi avevano gi… fatto. Quest'ultimo contiene la suite estesa di
Salisbury, per orchestra filarmonica e complesso rock. Look at yourself (Bronze 1971) coni• il loro stile melodico, che
trionf• con Demons and wizards (Bronze 1972), che contiene il loro pezzo pi— celebre, Easy livin' e Wizard. La formazione
continuava a cambiare ma raramente la qualit… dei dischi migliorava: The maigician's birthday (Bronze 1972), Sweet freedom
(Bronze 1973), con Stealin', Wonderworld (Bronze 1974), Return to fantasy (Bronze 1975), High and mighty (Bronze 1976),
Innocent victim (Bronze 1977), Firefly (Bronze 1977), Fallen angel (Bronze 1978), Wonderful (Bronze 1980), Conquest
(Bronze 1980).
Una formazione nuovissima si affacci• sugli anni '80. Abominog (Bronze 1982), Head first (Bronze 1983) e Equator (Bronze
1985) sono realmente suonati meglio di qualsiasi cosa fatto dagli Uriah Heep ai tempi della notoriet…. Il cantante David
Byron mor¨ di overdose nel 1985. Il gruppo non si arrese e fece uscire Raging silence (Legacy 1989), seguito da Different
world (Legacy 1991) e altre innumerevoli riunioni.
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