![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan5.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice.jpg)
In good company
In this interview with Classic Album Review Roger tells the war stories on soon to be reissued Made in Japan, bootlegs, drum solos, writing Black Night, alleged rivalry with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Vincent Price, and many other things. Some of those stories you may heave heard before, others not necessarily. Enjoy!
Thanks to Mike Whiteley for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
A terrific interview that hit on a lot of different topics.
July 25th, 2025 at 02:13Thanks for the Roger Glover interview. Testing his memory there a fair bit, I think he did well in the end. Cheers.
July 25th, 2025 at 02:36Uriah Sheep … 😈😈😈
Realschul-Deep Purple we called them. 🤗
July 25th, 2025 at 05:23#3 “We called her Realschul-Deep Purple”
ok, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time, I’m laughing my head off…but I also like Uriah Heep a little bit…
UH are like Saxon compared to Iron Maiden, in comparison to Deep Purple… because I actually like Saxon a little, too and Maiden a lot an Purple a whole lotta lot, or wholest lotta lot – and ah Led Zeppelin , Sabbath, Hendrix, i forgot-lot….
July 25th, 2025 at 10:48I watch all Barrys (Classic albums review) programs on You tube, I especially like the ones with topics like
“Ten albums I really hate” or “ten bands I really hate” LOL!!!
Cheers!!
July 25th, 2025 at 12:44Budokan is an iconic hall but from all I have heard its billowing acoustics can be tricky. It was built for Sumo wrestling contests not music. Cheap Trick had real issues getting a decent sound there for their Live At Budokan album (which has dreadful echo-o-o-o all over) which nevertheless finally broke them as a band. But then Cheap Trick, from the few times I have seen them, always tend to sound messy live. The IGB live recordings from Budokan sound excellent, especially for such complex music in a live environment, but I guess that is a testament to the abilities of that band so shamefully ignored on these pages. One listen to the immaculate sound quality of IGB’s Live At Budokan and the sonic mess of the Double Trouble live side should make everyone think.
July 25th, 2025 at 13:03@3
Why? ☺️
July 25th, 2025 at 13:58The mathematical equation to decrease DP to UH of course is:
Deep Purple
MINUS virtuoso guitar solos,
MINUS any meaningful Hammond solos, but
PLUS catchy chorus parts with shrieky stacked backing vocals (see also —> Sweet + —> Van Halen) that do stick in your head
_________________________________
= Uriah H
deepurple !!! 😎https://youtu.be/75tvdg-GpkM
Deep Purple für Mädchen … 😈
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/AAM7PT/girl-records-turntable-record-player-stereo-bedroom-albums-1970-1970s-AAM7PT.jpg
July 25th, 2025 at 15:37We’re waiting for Roger’s biography to read many anecdotes like the one about the Uriah sheep who played in their same rehearsal room!
when the journalist asked him about concept albums, he could have made a digression about his solo albums, after all, Roger knows very well what it means to make a concept album!
July 25th, 2025 at 21:39I thought the interviewer was possibly leading to The Butterfly Ball album. From progressive to concept and all. Roger didn’t appear interested in certain topics, fair enough. How many interviewers ask the same or similar questions all the time. One thing is certain though, that DP rhythm section no like the dirge of heavy metal. I get that too, it is rather limiting and a tad same-ish. and too thrashy. Me thinks most of the Purps don’t like that, except for you know who, that guy we dare not mention who had that long hair etc. Led Zeppelin do ok though with the DP members recognition and respect, much to some peoples chagrin, he he he. I like it! Not sure about the Uriah Heep comparison though that some people waffle on about. Totally different songwriting, not to mention Uwe’s favourite lyrics too. At least once Ken Hensley exerted his songwriting skills 1971 era. Ken was also a heavier gothic Hammond player, much like Vincent Crane from Atomic Rooster. Not classical influenced. Jon Lord was much more ‘pastoral’, for want of a better description. Richard Wright was also that way inclined and Tony Banks and Rick Wakeman too. Not Keith Emerson though, he was a heavier and more aggressive Hammond player. UH played acoustic guitars etc, Purple didn’t. So many differences. Cheers.
July 26th, 2025 at 00:24Karin, Germany has a highly diversified system of schools:
– Hauptschule: finishes after ninth grade, in theory then followed by an apprenticeship for a practical/manual job,
– Realschule: finishes after tenth grade, leads in theory to an apprenticeship for an office job,
– Gymnasium/Oberstufe: finishes after 13th (or 12th for a time) grade, in theory followed by a university education.
– Gesamtschule: all three groups of pupils are schooled together, some stay for the full 13 years, others hop off earlier.
The saying used to be: The Hauptschüler mans the machine, the Realschüler services it and the Gymnasiast designs it.
You can see where this is going, it’s a school system that institutionalizes and reinforces class segregation and we have culture wars about it in Germany with the Gesamtschule approach being favored by lefties like me (I can hear Max’ sniggering catcalls already!) while conservatives deem it as the end of education as we know it if the dreigegliederte Schulsystem was discarded on the garbage heap of history (where it belongs). Internationally, it has to be said that the German school system is perceived as notably rigid as well as archaic and while lateral changes of a pupil between the different tiers of schools are possible in theory they happen rarely which leads international education analysts to deem the German system a huge waste of potential talent.
It follows that some bands were perceived Gymnasium (like all the Proggies: Genesis, ELP, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, YES, Supertramp, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Gentle Giant, Eloy, Frank Zappa – DP were just barely still Gymnasium-worthy) while others were Realschule (Uriah Heep, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Sweet, Barclay James Harvest, Status Quo, AC/DC, UFO, Nazareth, German Krautrockers Jane, Scorpions etc). Black Sabbath were pretty much seen as Realschule too, Led Zeppelin were securely Gymnasium, but never that popular in Germany in the first place.
Although an Oberstufenschüler myself, my music tastes always leaned towards Realschulrock, I got a lot of stick for it! It probably had to do with the fact that most of my buddies were Realschüler (via playing hard rock in bands), I didn’t mingle much with my Gymnasium classmates. I even was nicknamed “Hartrock Uwe” by them, but I wore that tag proudly!
Anyway, I like Uriah Heep, but of course they owe an obvious conceptual debt to DP, especially in their Byron era (David Byron was also a lot closer in singing style to Ian Gillan than to either Robert Plant or Ozzy Osbourne). Musically, UH shares more with DP than, say, Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin do. In Germany, they were always perceived as a lesser Deep Purple, but one with more presence in the singles market. And I’m admittedly a sucker for this song here …
https://youtu.be/KVpU0I994MY
Credit where credit’s due: Free Me probably has more chord changes in one song than contained on all of Mk II’s album output in the 70s put together! 🤣 UH/Ken Hensley always had more harmonic pop sensibilities than Mk II who rather than change a chord would use their default mode and enter into another Ritchie or Jon solo … 😎
July 26th, 2025 at 01:24@11
Uwe! First you link me to a (very nice – I have to say!) song with Slade, and I have never wanted to listen to them! But now I do….
And now this with Uriah Heep! I have avoided them like the plague, but no no, of course you have to make me listen to them too….. (is the vocalist the guy from Les Humphries Singers?) (dig his make up, I tried to wear similarly when I was out and about as a teenager ) (nooo I wasn’t, my mum would rather have me institutionalised than let me look like that 😂)
Ok, I almost understand your intriguing school system!
Thanks for the in depth explanation 🙏🏼
As you may know from your adorable wife, the school system in Denmark has it’s similarities with the German, but is also quite different, because in Denmark everybody is equal (even almost men and women!😉)
In Denmark all kids are allowed to pursue an education but not all are bright enough to do it!
For a few years ago some (not right-wing) politicians made this suggestion that the gymnasium and the schools like that, are in need of an entrance exam (and of course some people were not happy with this suggestion!) but as those rather quite intelligent politicians explained: it’s a pity for those pupils who cannot keep up their level, and for those pupils who actually can, it’s also a pity, because their education is suffering because of those kids who need so much extra help, and it all ends with the lesser qualified pupils will stop, so why not save them that defeat!
So, music in Denmark is not divided like in your splendid country.
In the good old days, only the snooty ones (so sorry, I mean of course ‘the upper class’) listened to classical music, and people like, well, me, listened to rock!
But today, in the holy name of equality, even a mature lady (sorry Max, I’m almost done now 😂) like me can rock on, and include Beethoven and Tchaikovsky like it pleases me!
I have never heard though that certain ensembles weren’t suited for all kids!
BTW: the young man introducing UH, who is (was?) he?
I have seen him introduce a lot of bands at German television.
This one, f.i.:
https://youtu.be/ZyBFxjmJPqk?si=Sbk16DZLhmh_ritb
Which is a very nice song, should any young girl need some tricks to win over the man of her choice 😄
July 26th, 2025 at 10:22@ 11 – Uwe, more genres we have to deal with. Now when I talk progressive rock, it is ‘Gymnasium’ rock. It sounds like Van Halen would be in there with DLR and all his antics on stage. I cannot imagine Pink Floyd being in there, they just stand there and don’t move at all. I am now confused, thanks for adding more categories to our already over loaded system. Realschule sounds like a sort of ‘common’ rock genre. The three chord wonders or something along those lines. At least you placed Led Zeppelin in the correct category. Percy and all his strutting is pretty physical. By the way, can we all call you ‘Hartrock’ now? Cheers
July 26th, 2025 at 12:35While the resident Tasmanian Uriah Heep publicist and spin doctor genius might give his valiant best to defend UH’s evident stylistic magpie’ism, I will simply let the music speak:
https://youtu.be/XlyyJS_iNsQ
https://youtu.be/UuMHFlls6lE
Yes there are differences, but not like between DP and BS or DP and LZ or UH and BS or UH and LZ. And the similarities where it really counts (general groove, sonic onslaught, organ dominance, rhythm section approach, dramatic vocals, guitar and organ interplay) are blatant.
The differences Herr MacGregor has studiously picked out all exist, but they constitute embellishments not core structures. And it is also true that both bands moved away from each other in their further development. They were closest in the early 70s while Mk III still existed – with Mk III already becoming quite removed from Byron era Heep by 1973.
Though I have also heard the argument that John Lawton with his blacker voice replacing David Byron in 1976 only echoed what DP had done with DC and GH replacing IG a few years before. Never forget that John Lawton was on DP’s list as a potential vocalist too and that they invited him via Roger for a “session” in London while IG was still in Mk II . (John Lawton perhaps foolishly refused that “session” invitation because he had a gig with Les Humphries Singers in Germany lined up and was unaware that DP/Ritchie wanted to seriously check him out because at that point in time IG’s resignation was not yet in the public domain.)
July 26th, 2025 at 14:53Not all students have the same capabilities, but if classes are small enough a good teacher will be able to handle that. The German system is merciless in its Darwinist Auslese and it often means that dumb kids of smart parents (they happen!) just about make it through on the Gymnasium track while a bright kid of immigrants who (through no fault of their own) can themselves barely read and write needs the luck of being “discovered” by a teacher and be put under her/his wing to go anywhere. Even if you believe that meritocracy is a great thing, that cannot sit right with you.
Even as a student in the “privileged arm” of the system that always rubbed me the wrong way. Parents are nowhere more selfish than in ensuring their own kids a significant head start over others.
Ilja Richter was the anchorman of ZDF disco you asked about – we always made fun of him because he looked so square, took an old -fashioned theater bow at the end of every show (“Euer Ilja!”) and his intermission comedy sketches were horrible. Little did we know that he was Jewish and the son of a Holocaust surviving Jewish mom who was hidden in Berlin during the war (some people – too few – had real guts back then and risked their lives to do that).
A subsequent TV career as a Saturday Night Showmaster eluded him after disco was dropped in 1982 after more than a ten-year-run, maybe he preferred playing theater and acting in TV and movies as he did. He was inseparable with his mom (rumors about him being gay always persisted until at the age of 60 he came out with the quip “I know I look it, I act like it and my life contains all the ingredients of a gay one, but for some reason I’m not and prefer women.”. Here he is today in his early 70s, I think those pics are from his actors’ set card:
https://media.castforward.de/foto/2257237.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJjZmV0IiwiYXVkIjoiY2ZldCIsImlhdCI6MTc0MzgzODQ2MSwiZXhwIjoxNzQzODQ1NjYxLCJkYXRhIjp7ImNkbl9zY29wZSI6ImZvdG8iLCJjZG5faWQiOjIyNTcyMzcsInVzZXJfcHJvZmlsZUlkIjowfX0.0kNXCVAFufjpXj9svRtqHiDXTGi1n4ePQUzfn1qZaq4
July 26th, 2025 at 22:17Oops, make that “while Mk II still existed” in the penultimate para of #14, sorry, stupid spell check, where’s AI when you need it?!
July 26th, 2025 at 22:23Chinn/Chapman only dared write a risqué double entendre title like “Wig-Wam Bam” for Sweet after David Bowie had used the cordial “Wham bam, thank you M’am!” as a code for a one-night-stand in his hit song Suffragette City a few months before and got away with it – @02:28 (he sure had a lot of girls in the audience!):
https://youtu.be/EaVm93q95fc
And the bassist in David’s backing band aka The Spiders of Mars in that live vid is no one else but Trevor Bolder who would join Uriah Heep in 1976 and become their (excellent) mainstay bassist for ages until his lamentable death due to pancreatic cancer, same illness as Jon Lord. So now you’ve learned something again, Karin! It’s all connected.
Trevor playing together with Ian Paice on a Ken Hensley solo song that cries “Uriah Heep!!!” all over …
https://youtu.be/CoLkFmQUQJ4
July 26th, 2025 at 22:49Well all I can say Uwe is that I have NEVER thought, ‘gee Uriah Heep do owe a little gratitude to DP for what they have done’. Never thought that both bands have similarities worth nit picking about and I never will. I certainly would never put them down as journalist did with the comment ‘a poor man’s DP’ drivel. I am taking about the Byron era, particularly the earlier to mid 70’s. As I stated, once Ken Hensley asserted his compositional skills and also his guitar influence too, (Look at Yourself album through to Wonderworld). I don’t hear eff all similarities in their music. Many Hammond players were around at that time, all hailing from the mid to late 60’s. Hensley was self taught as we know. Byron was his own man in many respects. How many of those sort of English vocalists were influenced by Arthur Brown. Mick Box is a much more rhythmic guitarist than Ritchie could ever be, Gary Thain was much more explorative than Roger Glover. Lee Kerslake is very different to Ian Paice, we could go on, we hear what we hear. If they or anyone else were like DP I wouldn’t listen to them. I like to hear individuality and a fair bit of originality in rock bands, any artist in fact. Each to their own. As we know DP picked up so many influences from certain artists, it happens. Regarding the Heep I am talking about, Demons and Wizards, Magicians Birthday and Sweet Freedom to boot. In their own realm they were. A Wonderworld of sorts. It didn’t last long though, same as DP. The DP In Rock album did influence the debut Heep album in places no doubt. As it also did with Atomic Rooster’s Death Walks Behind You album. Now there is some sort of similarity between a couple of British bands at that time. Cheers.
July 27th, 2025 at 00:20#10 MacGregor:
I agree, they always ask poor Roger the same questions, for example never anything referring to the splendid Elements and The Mask!
I didn’t quite understand what you meant by the talk about rhythm sections and Zep…
I’m ready to be shot, but I consider Heep and Sweet to be the bands closest to Purple, even if they are still distant at the same time.
Atomic Rooster, a seminal band, was very underrated and didn’t have the success they deserved (just like Heep, who were a step above, didn’t have the success they deserved).
July 27th, 2025 at 00:22@14
Sorry MacGregor, but Uwe you really don’t need to let anyone but Purple speak here 😄
I will forever be grateful that John Lawton didn’t take that part in Purple that so obviously was meant to be Ian’s. And Ian’s alone!
@16
“where’s AI when you need it?!”
– I certainly don’t need AI! Try put your own name in there, and see how mistreated it becomes!
@17
“Chinn/Chapman only dared write a risqué double entendre title like “Wig-Wam Bam” for Sweet”
– 😁🤣 well Uwe, I guess Für die Reinen sind alle Dinge rein!
I have never, well almost never, thought of that spiteful sentence while listening to Sweet and their native-American inspired song! I merely look at Mick Tucker and wonder…. (Oh to clear up any misunderstandings before some in here thinks the worst of me) – I wonder how he makes those drums sound like tribal drums 😊☺️
“So now you’ve learned something again, Karin! It’s all connected.”
July 27th, 2025 at 11:48– oh yes! It is all connected… so now you just need to put Ian Gillan in Les Humphries Singers and then I will walk out into the dark forest for never to be heard of again! 🧐🤨
Sweet sometimes aspired to be DP with their hard rock B-Sides they released – Brian and Mick had already been fans of the Mk I line-up and Andy Scott of course thought that Ritchie’s anus is the center of our solar system. 😎
In Germany, where for a time Uriah Heep outsold both Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin (if not DP), UH + DP were often lumped together as a specific type of organ driven early 70s heavy rock with suitably dramatic tenor vocals. You’d never find a UH fan who really disliked Purple (he or she would perhaps say that UH write better songs and have nicer backing vocals) just like I never met a fellow DP fan who thought UH utter crap (he or she would perhaps point out that DP had the stronger soloists and did not cater to the singles market and write as many ballads).
I think the similarities between Ian Gillan’s and David Byron’s voices are pretty evident, they are both relatively “unblack” – at least compared to DC, GH and John Lawton – British tenor voices with comparable ranges . Gillan with his screams was the more animalistic singer and David Byron via Ken Hensley’s instructions and songwriting the more theatrical one. Have you heard this, Herr MacGregor, from Byron’s session singer days churning out cheapo versions of then current hits for PYE Records?
https://youtu.be/POTxQQxpUqw
I believe that Ian – perhaps in Episode Six days – would have approached that Neil Diamond-penned and Hollies-established track quite similarly if perhaps in a bit higher key. There are evident Gillan mannerisms to be heard, especially as the song progresses.
July 27th, 2025 at 15:11The Uriah Heep thing sure is a chip on Roger’s shoulder/a pet grievance of his 😂, he has mentioned it in numerous interviews now that Heep appropriating (parts of) DP’s sound rubbed him the wrong way back then. The fact that Mk II shared the same rehearsal rent location with DP for a time thus hearing what DP were doing around the In Rock sessions and vice versa certainly must have supported his misgivings. And of course bands rip each other off in joint rehearsal spaces, there is a lot of cross-fertilization, I have both done and been a victim to it myself (it’s actually a little flattering if people copy your ideas, it tells you that you are doing something right after all).
I’m not sure whether it was always one way with DP und UH either: In my ears Rainbow’s 16th Century Greensleeves’ bludgeoning + primal quarter note riff (which Blackmore already played around with in the early 70s according to Roger) is a blatant and direct rip-0ff from Uriah Heep’s classic headbanger Gypsy (which was on Heep’s debut so DP likely heard them rehearsing it):
https://youtu.be/tIai58859M0
(Listen to the riff @01:04!)
And then there is of course always this here:
https://youtu.be/wMgyAt4X-2Y
Whether DP ever sold one album or ticket less due to UH’s parallel existence is another matter though, I think Roger took it a bit too hard! 😂
July 27th, 2025 at 16:39@ 19 – Fla76, the rhythm section jest was that a while ago Ian Paice said he wasn’t ever interested in Black Sabbath, which didn’t surprise me at all. I often wonder what other musicians from that era think of them, being heavy, dirge and doom etc. So now that Roger has said similar, that is what I meant regarding the rhythm section of DP. I couldn’t imagine Ritchie and Jon would be into them either, so that leaves the leather lunged screamer as the only BS aficionado. Typical Ian Gillan, he goes in all guns blazing as he usually does and why not. I have to be really careful here, there are a few rather ‘touchy’ IG aficionados here, don’t want to upset them too much, do we? Fancy Ian lowering his colours like that and joining BS, despicable behaviour. Regarding Atomic Rooster, I only like that one album Death Walks Behind You. Nice and heavy and melodic and dark too. It was a one off indeed for them, that lineup at that time. Their other music is too soul and blues influenced for my liking. That organ and guitar approach with that album, I have often thought that In Rock may have been an influence there, the busy drumming too. The Led Zeppelin comment was in regard to some of the Purple guys that have often said positive things about them over the years. That interviewer chap is rather annoying for me, asking Roger silly or predictable questions and it seems he is looking for little predictable media fodder at times. Not to worry, Roger did well in the end. Cheers.
July 27th, 2025 at 22:46@21 – thanks Uwe for the David Byron cover of He Ain’t Heavy, a haunting song if ever there was one. I have heard a few others Byron covered a few years ago. You or someone else here posted links here, from my memory. A very dramatic vocalist as you stated, a wonderful singer he was. Yes no doubt Ian Gillan would have done a wonderful job singing that song and also many others. Good comments all-round regarding Heep and Purple. I have to admit to being a little taken aback with Rogers comment on Heep. He appeared to be a little annoyed, possibly. Anyway as we all know, Purple cannot really talk about others lifting ideas, surely not? Pot, kettle, black. He did say he eventually liked them a little later on. We know Ritchie does for a song or two, it’s all good. You would be aware of Byron’s last recorded vocals. I probably came across this here also, could have been from you. Cheers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDR9YX1mXeA
July 28th, 2025 at 07:34I had no idea who composed He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother. The two chaps who composed it in 1969 and one of them, the lyricist, was dying from cancer. It is based on a traditional Scottish story apparently. No wonder it has such emotional lyrics and such a haunting melody. The original version by Kelly Gordon is a slower tempo and has the same melody, arrangement and poignant drama as The Hollies version. Cheers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Ain't_Heavy,_He's_My_Brother
https://medium.com/the-riff/the-history-of-he-aint-heavy-he-s-my-brother-e5f9b38f4c6e
July 28th, 2025 at 12:30Those late Byron tracks, Herr MacGregor, show his strengths as a singer, but also that he was stylistically kind of lost by then, his attempts to escape his heavy rock legacy were valiant (bit like what DC and GH attempted after Mk IV’s demise), but also desperate. He really should have taken up the offer to return to Heep which Mick Box made him.
I’m a great fan of what David Byron did with Rough Diamond. Really liked that album.
https://youtu.be/dCGKCrlgXao
July 28th, 2025 at 13:31Wow, great thanks, that was enlightening, Tassie drummer boy, I always wrongly assumed it was a Neil Diamond composition and that his version preceded the Hollies one – NOT SO!
Never knew the first release by Kelly Gordon of the song either, not as ear candy’ish as the Hollie’s’ one (and who could do ear candy better than them? 😎), but very dramatic in its dynamics.
https://youtu.be/fq4HYZg9HNc
With Neil Diamond’s songwriter reputation I had somehow assumed he had pretty much written all his hits himself. You live and learn.
Anyway, a beautiful song. Obviously also popular with other people known to have a penchant for Deep Purple:
https://youtu.be/19LOX3ymJPo
https://youtu.be/EhvllhyCOqQ
July 28th, 2025 at 15:22@21
“Brian and Mick had already been fans of the Mk I line-up”
– to quote you German gentlemen: WOT!
But Mk l was so not in any way hard rocking! They were the opposition of what Mk ll became (you know with the right vocalist and bassist!)
“Andy Scott of course thought that Ritchie’s anus is the center of our solar system. 😎”
– ewww, and I liked Andy Scott…
“just like I never met a fellow DP fan who thought UH utter crap“
July 28th, 2025 at 15:31– well, now you have met me! Hello, Uwe Hornung, my name is Karin and I will indeed say that DP outcompetes UH anytime! 😃
@22
Ok, UH’s ‘Gipsy’ is ok-ish. Love the tune 😊
No! No no no and no! I don’t wanna be sucked into the BN’s universe….
July 28th, 2025 at 15:35(Holding fingers in my ears and singing ‘na na na na’ very loud 😄)
#27 Uwe
I know Gotthard’s version of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, I didn’t know Byron’s, they are very similar, and both better than the original.
I think that Gotthard were inspired by Byron’s arrangement, it must have been in the musical background of the great Steve Lee
July 28th, 2025 at 22:20oh no, Uwe, what have we done. Now we are all going to have to put up with Karin dragging poor old David Byron over the hot coals. First it was Ole Coverdale, then Glenn Hughes and now David Byron. Is there NO end to the lady of the north’s brutal analysis of male classic rock vocalists from the 1970’s. Someone needs to cast a really powerful spell and quickly. I know a few Byron vocal performances that could possibly mesmerise Karin, but are we going bother trying to persuade her into some common sense and better judgement? Maybe Byron’s charismatic debonair ways could persuade her? Stranger things have happened. Stay tuned, if anyone can last the distance that is. Cheers.
July 28th, 2025 at 22:49Yes, Karin, apparently Mick Tucker and Brian Connolly were even distraught when Mk I broke up.
You say that early DP wasn’t really hard rock, that’s true, but neither was early Sweet!
https://youtu.be/V9X2unJxoxE
Sweet didn’t begin playing anything even approaching hard rock (and even then only with strong bubblegum components) before May 1972 when they released Little Willy and later Wig-Wam Bam – that was the year DP ruled the charts with Machine Head and later on MiJ.
That said, Mick Tucker and Ian Gillan even played in the same band for a while in 1965 (after Ian had left The Javelins and before he joined Episode Six): Wainwright’s Gentlemen, you can hear both of them here:
https://youtu.be/rmVIl1mjnGs
And who replaced Ian Gillan in Wainwright’s Gentlemen, Karin? Right, Brian Connolly! With other changes (inter alia Steve Priest joining on bass), the band would eventually morph into proto-Sweet in 1968 with Andy Scott joining last in mid 1970, completing the classic line-up.
July 28th, 2025 at 23:22“well, now you have met me! Hello, Uwe Hornung, my name is Karin and I will indeed say that DP outcompetes UH anytime”
But you’re a woman in the bloom of your youth, Karin (see Max, you can always learn a thing or two from me …), for you to be unreasonable is completely normal, second nature so to say!😎
July 28th, 2025 at 23:44Just for the record, of course UH and DP are these days good buddies. I’ve seen UH open for DP a couple of times over the decades and every time they had a good sound, good lighting and a lengthy opener set (and went down well with the Purple crowd). Let’s not forget how also Don Airey helped them out when Phil Lanzon was grieving for his deceased son and had to skip a few gigs so it’s all good.
Heep are always enjoyable live, here even with two lead singers …
https://youtu.be/qN9mjccJ8z4
When Paul Stanley was asked who he thought the best KISS opener ever was, he didn’t hesitate a second: “Uriah Heep, they were magic every night.” That is a remarkable choice because by the time Heep opened for KISS, the Brits were no longer a household name in the US and KISS has had a lot of excellent opening acts over the decades (Rush, Judas Priest, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Slade, Scorpions …), many of which went on to greater fame.
July 29th, 2025 at 00:28@32
Ok, I did know about the unfortunate start of Sweet, but I’ve blocked it out!
(Psst l: isn’t it almost tedious for you to know everything all of the time?!)
(Psst ll: but can you find the serie I asked about, with Peter Egan as the leading role, from the ‘80s? That would indeed be something else ☺️)
July 29th, 2025 at 06:57@33
First my sentiment was: AWWWW
But then I read on after the nicely put cursive, and then the sentiment shifted swiftly from AWWWW to ARRGGHH 😄
(Pssst: Max, if you by chance read this: please don’t listen to Uwe, because he will ruin all your decency towards any female relationships you might obtain!)
Uwe, it’s actually amazing how you can be so insulting and pretend kind in one sentence! You ought to teach me that one day 😃
July 29th, 2025 at 07:05@34
I have NEVER said they weren’t good buddies!
I merely expressed my own opinion regarding UH!
And will you please stop linking to bands I don’t have any interests in!
Please link to interesting bands with Ian Gillan, Dan Baird, the Gallagher bros and music like that.
I am way too old to change my taste in music!
This is beautiful btw:
https://youtu.be/nENrB7hvplY?si=CF_yrsKaVQStIkvh
July 29th, 2025 at 07:12@ 34- John Lawton trying to sing Byron’s songs isn’t great. Much similar to RJ Dio having to sing Ozzy era Sabbath and Coverdale trying to sing Ian Gillan DP. Lawton was a wonderful vocalist singing blues rock, He should never have tried the falsetto. I have the Magicians Birthday Party concert DVD from 2001. Ken Hensley joins the band for half of the concert. Lawton guests on a few songs towards the end of the concert. Sympathy, The Magicians Birthday song later on after the guitar and drum solo section and Free ‘n Easy. Notice the three female support vocalists. Heep needed them big time by that stage. Thijs Van Leer guests on flute on the second song. A rather good party all things considered. Lee Kerslake is still there thankfully, so to Trevor Bolder. Hard to believe so many of the old school Heep musicians are gone from this world. A fantastic setlist on this special one off concert. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuAvg-kKJU&t=2176s
https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=5924
July 29th, 2025 at 08:14#29 Karin
Miss Karin,
July 29th, 2025 at 12:08Gipsy is one of the most famous hard rock songs ever, I think you should accustom your ears to Heep’s songs and make them your own before making a hasty judgment, you would discover many small masterpieces in their discography too.
Yes, Bernie Shaw can do Byron better than Lawton who once mentioned in an interview that on H
his first album with Heep especially (Firefly), Hensley pushed him to match Byron’s higher range which wasn’t all that much to John’s liking.
I always thought of Byron’s voice having essentially the same characteristics as Hensley’s vocals, but with a higher top end added. I guess that is why he was such a perfect foil for singing Hensley’s songs.
Karin, I never said that you said that Heep and Purple weren’t good buddies, I just made mention of it so that on the basis of Roger’s somewhat derisory remarks about his initial feelings on them this thread would not be seen as just slagging them off.
July 29th, 2025 at 12:19I remember checking out Amazon all those years ago for the first time. After I had browesed the DP offerings I got the message from the site ‘you.might also like Uriah Heep’.
I am upset to this day.
They never even came close to the class DP stands for. I wouldn’t want to be seen at a gig. Yes, I got some of their albums when I was 14 to 16… cringe covers, kitsch lyrics (Dio is Shakespeare compared to that Wise Wizard Firefly ‘s Circle of Hands nonsense) and don’t get me started on the guitar compared to… nah I won’t say it. And the solo offerings of Ken Hensley I had the misfortune to come across… yeah, kitsch as kitsch can to these ears, eyes and brains.
John Lawton was a very good singer though, pity he didn’t really make it big time.
July 29th, 2025 at 13:05See, Max doesn’t like Realschulrock either! That Amazon algorithm must have shaken him severely in his bourgeois foundations …🤣
In his approach to the instrument, Mick Box is indeed closer to Johnny Ramone or Steve Jones than to Ritchie Blackmore, but otoh his buzzsaw rhythm guitar is a trademark element of the Uriah Heep sound. With Heep, the good solos usually came from the bassists, i.e. Gary Thain, John Wetton, Bob Daisley and Trevor Bolder.
July 29th, 2025 at 13:36“Miss Karin,
Gipsy is one of the most famous hard rock songs ever …”
Fla76, Max, in a cruel lapse of judgement, has of course learned the hard way that Karin is kinda sensitive re her biological age, but does avoidance of certain subjects now apply to her marital status too and do we really have to address her as “Miss” going forward rather than – let’s be politically correct, something I always strive for – “Ms”? Is poor René now written out of all history? 😱
Sigh, social media brings out the worst in people and is a symbol of our progressing moral decay.
https://media.tenor.com/pGL2UceHOecAAAAM/the-muppets-sam-eagle.gif
July 29th, 2025 at 14:34@41
“I am upset to this day.”
Woah! Max, you are my kind of musical guy!
“I wouldn’t want to be seen at a gig.“
– me neither!
“(Dio is Shakespeare compared to that Wise Wizard Firefly ‘s Circle of Hands nonsense)”
July 29th, 2025 at 15:31– 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 good one!
@39
“Gipsy is one of the most famous hard rock songs ever”
– well Sir, I did say it was ok, didn’t I?
Fla76, listen to me:
At the moment I have vacation from my work,and have a lot more time on my hand than usual. So I have to choose carefully what music I let grace my life.
When I get old (ok, Max, older….☺️😉) and have all the time in the world, I promise to listen to all the bands that have ever existed and give them a thorough listening 😊
Until that moment in time, I prefer Purple, and also Oasis (I have to be honest!) and also Whitesnake (ghm!) and of course all the links I’m getting in here 🤓
July 29th, 2025 at 15:38Ok? Ok!
@40
“Karin, I never said that you said that Heep and Purple weren’t good buddies”
– glad we got that cleared up!
😄
“Roger’s somewhat derisory remarks”
July 29th, 2025 at 15:40– I have never found Roger to be mocking anyone ☺️
@43
🤣🤣🤣
July 29th, 2025 at 15:47Well, I am certainly proud of being 58 (I mean the alternative is so much worse…) and I don’t mind people calling me ‘Miss’ either.
And yes, you are indeed politically correct all the time Uwe, (ohh sorry have to get the flying pig out of my livingroom!) so I thank you for keeping a high moral standard in here…😆
“I wouldn’t want to be seen at a gig!“
Now that is unfair, Heep in their prime were something live:
https://youtu.be/qVobQTaoV7s
https://youtu.be/IsXTqjGkzLk
https://youtu.be/ynC1UcHmYt8
Credit where credit’s due, there was a reason for their early 70s popularity in Germany. They reached #5 with Demons & Wizards there and, most notably, also #7 in the famous and culturally influential Danish charts, incidentally a position GILLAN never even saw on the horizon there. And GILLAN, according to some sources that need to be trusted, were HUGE in Denmark, which means that Heep were mega-huge. 🤗
July 29th, 2025 at 22:33Max @ 41 – woe betide. Uriah Heep are up there with all those bands from the early 70’s, wonderful song composition and melodies, very good musicians too. Many bands would give an arm and a leg to have a songwriter of the Ken Hensley calibre. A multi instrumentalist too. Wonderful songs on Demons and Wizards, Magicians Birthday and Sweet Freedom too, not to forget Look at Yourself and the song Gypsy. Even a few albums after those have a few gems on them. I get why some people don’t like them, just like I understand why people don’t like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and the list could go on forever. Each to their own. I am just glad
July 29th, 2025 at 22:35I appreciate UH songs from that era, very good songwriting. Each to their own. By the way, don’t tell me you have sidled up to Uwe, regarding your disdain for fantasy lyrics, dungeons and dragons and all things mythical and mystical. I am appalled. Cheers.
The other thing that some folk don’t get is that there is a job suited for certain musicians. Mick Box was the right fit for those songs and that band. Blackmore would have destroyed many of those songs, with his playing and attitude. Mick and Ken Hensley also played wonderful acoustic guitar and Ken was a rather good slide guitarist. The slide solos in UH are his, not Mick’s. It is all about painting a picture that works, some like it some don’t, but to compare with guitarists from other bands in a dismissive way, that is pointless. Regarding the lead vocalists, David Byron, like any class lead singer, knows how to deliver the timing, nuance and phrasing. He was much more a proper singer than Ken was. Ken had a reasonable voice, but he delivered his songs a lot more dead pan or straight ahead than Byron did. This is why a class lead vocalist from the original songs CANNOT be replaced. it is a natural thing in this world. Some get it, many don’t. I haven’t even mentioned you know who from Deep Purple yet, oh why bother. A silly thought has just occurred to me, what if we could get AI to remove all the Elvis influence from big Ian’s voice. I wonder what he would sound like, all those songs. Just a thought. Cheers.
July 29th, 2025 at 22:56@ 47 – “🤣🤣🤣
July 30th, 2025 at 07:01Well, I am certainly proud of being 58 (I mean the alternative is so much worse…)” What, 59, he he he. Just joking Karin. You are correct in that Uwe has sort of corrupted me. Not fully though, I have to maintain some sense of sanity at times. Cheers.
@48
“And GILLAN, according to some sources that need to be trusted, were HUGE in Denmark, which means that Heep were mega-huge. 🤗”
– well!
July 30th, 2025 at 12:21Since I am the one claiming that the band Gillan was HUGE in Denmark, (and indeed they were, you better believe it!) and since I hadn’t heard about UH before I entered these halls of all that is good and decent in this world, I do have to correct you oh Lawyer Su-over-preme! UH didn’t exist in people’s minds at all in le Royaume de Danemarca!
@48-51
Now listen to me gentlemen! And listen carefully!
I do very well see what you are trying to do here.
You have to some degree corrupted my good senses and taste, and now you try the same with Max.
That I will not tolerate, at all! 😄🤣🤣
We do live in the semi-free part of the world, and as long as we live here and can breathe and breed freely, we need to let each other have decency towards each others taste!
July 30th, 2025 at 12:30For me it is too late, but Max is the proud father of a considerable number of children, and in my book parents are sacred when it comes to what and how they will educate their offspring!
👆🏼
Karin @52 : UH didn’t exist in people’s minds at all in le Royaume de Danemarca!
Tsk, tsk, tsk, Karin, a word of forensic advice: Never make claims that can be all to easily refuted in public …
“Uriah Heep Scandinavian Tour 1973:
Oct 24 – Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden (w/ J�ttetall)
Oct 25 – K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark (w/ Tucky Buzzard)
Oct 26 – Vejlby-Risskov Hallen, Aarhus, Denmark (w/ Tucky Buzzard)
Oct 27 – Tinghallen, Viborg, Denmark (w/ Tucky Buzzard)
Oct 28 – Aalborghallen, Aalborg, Denmark (w/ Tucky Buzzard)”
All sold out. Not bad for a band that “didn’t exist in people’s minds”, but according to my calculations you were still a small girl back then, childhood memories can be deceiving.
But now, all grown up (if not mature, I hasten to clarify!), I am waiting for you to point me to four consecutive sold out gigs of GILLAN in venues as large and all located in Denmark. They must be easy to find given that band’s seismic status there. 😎
Lawyers are a despicable bunch, I know. 😈
July 30th, 2025 at 16:43Fair enough and well put, Mr. MacGregor and I hear you. But I still have to disagree in some points. No, I didn’t team up with those who can’t stand a bit of fantasy, romantic and poetic escapism or the occasional plastic dragon -but even not being a native speaker I tend to find Hensley’s lyrics leave a lot to be desired. The Gypsy and Easy Living always sounded pretty dumb to me musically too.
And Uwe… I know all those songs in the links and got tired of them 45.years ago. Stealing has a nice bass though, Thain was the guy I liked the most in their fold. But those lyrics! And their Bee Gees for Bikers-style harmony vocals… gimme a break.
July 30th, 2025 at 16:57#50 MacGregor:
Your reflection on the fact that each band essentially created that kind of characteristic sound and another musician would have distorted that sound (or it would not have made sense for that kind of sound) is very interesting, and should be the basis of any kind of listening and understanding of the dynamics of each individual band.
It is also true that Deep Purple could create their sound only and exclusively with themselves.
as much as Uriah Heep!
this thought is crazy in fact of the magical alchemy of hard rock bands!
#45 Karin:
I respect your musical taste, and the fact that you put Purple & Oasis in the same sentence shows that your ears have a variety of listening styles.
That said, I may be a purist, but for me, Purple and Uriah Heep can absolutely fit in the same sentence, but not the mediocre pop band Gallagher.
Oasis dream at night of the elegance, technique and compositional class of Heep.
I recommend you start with a Heep best of album to understand what a great band they were.
July 30th, 2025 at 22:07The English series with Peter Egan you asked about, Karin?
Your wish is – once again – my command:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Decreasing_Circles
Only available for streaming currently on NOW Movies though.
Unless you want to watch it on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL152bjytsMC7ar8AFRM6EyNUzQLfIgQYc&si=SD0xeg2SzZDABk_2
Now repeat after me: I was a spiteful girl and have been hasty and unjust in my judgement on both ELVIS and DAVID BYRON. I will have to atone for my sins.
https://youtu.be/ixbcvKCl4Jc
https://youtu.be/Cv7YDmccwus
July 30th, 2025 at 22:37“Bee Gees for Bikers-style harmony vocals”
😂😆🤣
UH + Sweet + Queen + Van Halen = Mickey Mouse should have sued them!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mickey-Mouse.png
UH were first though to do that kind of a combination with heavier music.
July 31st, 2025 at 18:17My only concern with Uriah Heep’s harmony vocals is that they couldn’t replicate that effectively live in concert. Not from the live material that I have heard online from different concerts back then. The ‘Live’ album from 1973 leaves me thinking and I sincerely hope I am wrong, that it has been ‘doctored’ so to speak. However in a recent Mick Box interview I read he stated that that album is as raw as they come, straight from the desk. It is an album I use to play a lot, not so much side four though with the ‘rock ‘n roll’ medley. Anyway, I also can understand why people don’t like that sort of vocal delivery, it can be over done too easily at times with any ensemble, so it can become a little annoying. Horses for courses again. Cheers.
July 31st, 2025 at 23:39As far as Heep and Purple. I was lucky enough to see Heep twice with Bernie Shaw. I only have two of the Shaw era albums- Sea of Light and Sonic Origami, I have the Byron era albums but not the others. Songs like Gypsy, Look at Yourself, Easy Livin, Return to Fantasy just to name a few are definitely Purple influenced in my opinion. But Heep did ballads as well like Come Away Melinda, Lady in Black the Wizard as well which shows an entirely different side of the band. I think they are very underrated, I’ve always thought of them as England’s Blue Oyster Cult a very good band, but I think like BOC they didn’t have anyone that really stood out although I think Mick Box and Buck Dharma are really good guitarists and Ken Hensley isn’t a Lord, Emerson or Wakeman but still a fine keyboardist and songwriter.
August 1st, 2025 at 00:07@57
“Now repeat after me: I was a spiteful girl and have been hasty and unjust in my judgement on both ELVIS and DAVID BYRON. I will have to atone for my sins.”
– ohhh there is almost nothing I rather would do than that!🤣
Unfortunately it’s not the right series you found.
Thank you for trying 😊
But listen here:
It is not a sitcom, it’s a more dark series.
Peter Egan plays this guy who is in love with a woman, who is in love with another man.
Peter Egan’s character can change his appearance, his face and also body and voice so he can convince the woman that she is with her loved one.
I remember one scene where the woman is hugging, who she believe is her loved one, but then we see the face of the man, and slowly it turns to be the face of Peter Egan!
It’s not a terror series, but it is certain not a sitcom either. Actually I didn’t smile or giggle once!
Another thing I remember is that it took place on an island a lot like Capri, but I’m not sure it was Capri though…..
If you find the right series, well, then I indeed will say that very funny sentence 😄😄
August 1st, 2025 at 05:08#60 sidroman
la tua definizione “Blue Oyster Cult inglesi” è perfetta, o viceversa i BOC potrebbero essere gli Heep americani!
For some unconscious reason I’ve always put these two bands on the same level, one or two steps below the rock triumvirate.
(unfortunately for UWE, Judas are in another room with Kiss, Van Halen, Scorpions and some other mid-70s acts)
Lady in Black was the first Heep song I ever heard, an absolute masterpiece of simplicity and harmony, it can’t be missing from a best of 70s collection!
August 1st, 2025 at 12:10BÖC tends to use a lot of chords, similar to Heep, and they have harmony vocals, but that is where the comparison pretty much ends, BÖC are much more college dorm cerebral than the Demon & Wizards Realschüler.
Incidentally, the BÖC guys mostly adored Deep Purple, hence their choice to be produced by Martin Birch at one time and even citing SOTW in their song The Marshall Plan>/i>, albeit sadly only on the album version (@02:32), not on the video:
https://youtu.be/FfhaW07YiJM
https://youtu.be/UHhvf1ERI5E
That is Eric Bloom shaved btw as the protagonist!
I’m fine with lumping Priest together with Scorpions or VH (which were likely more influential than Priest. KK Downing names the VH debut as one of his desert island records).
August 1st, 2025 at 15:53@54
“Lawyers are a despicable bunch, I know. 😈”
– noooo you’re not! You are just, as we say in Denmark: miljøskadede 😂
(environmentally damaged??)
“but according to my calculations you were still a small girl back then, childhood memories can be deceiving.“
– 🤣🤣🤣 one day I will do this: 😝 in your face!
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Karin, a word of forensic advice: Never make claims that can be all to easily refuted in public …”
– well, well, well, noted! Maybe I ought to concentrate on making this beautiful coffee I am almost world famous for! (This you will probably also defy with all your might, but for that I only have one word to you: bite…. Well for that I have only two words to you: bite me! )
“But now, all grown up (if not mature, I hasten to clarify!), I am waiting for you to point me to four consecutive sold out gigs of GILLAN in venues as large and all located in Denmark.”
– no I will certainly do not! You are so clever, so you figure it out yourself 😂😂
“They must be easy to find given that band’s seismic status there.”
August 1st, 2025 at 18:18– 🤣 they certainly are! But that is for me to know and you not to find out …
@56
“I respect your musical taste, and the fact that you put Purple & Oasis in the same sentence shows that your ears have a variety of listening styles.”
– thanks.., I guess ☺️
“That said, I may be a purist, but for me, Purple and Uriah Heep can absolutely fit in the same sentence, but not the mediocre pop band Gallagher.”
– well, purists are welcome everywhere!
I do, for the record, don’t think of Oasis as a mediocre pop band! But that is a matter of taste. And as our in house lawyer probably will deduce over a few hundreds of hours, taste is individual and cannot be discussed!
“I recommend you start with a Heep best of album to understand what a great band they were.”
– oohhhh really! Do I have to?
Well, listen to me: my vacation is almost over, so from Monday I again have almost 1 hour pr day to dive into music to relax and what not, so if it’s ok to you, I wait until I retire, which will happen the day where people around me are all in good health!
But thank you for your thoughts 😊
August 1st, 2025 at 18:28Buck Dharma might have always looked like an accountant, but he can play circles blindfolded around Mick Box on solo guitar:
https://youtu.be/d7U3Ye5BpaU
Mick is a great guy and fine rhythm guitarist (and great thanks for always enabling the Heep bassists to shine, leaving them enough room!), but for hard rock standards he is in the lower tier as a soloist, not just compared to greats like Blackmore, Page, Schenker, May, Nugent, Gallagher (I mean Rory, not Noel, Karin! 😂), but also to people like Tony Iommi, Manny Charlton or Mark Farner. That extended guitar solo on The Magician’s Birthday is laughable and just a bag of tricks glued to another in makeshift fashion.
But I’m not denying Ken Hensley’s abilities as a tunesmith. I love this song for instance (and the lyrics are not fantasy crap either!):
https://youtu.be/7XoX33n-5pw
August 1st, 2025 at 23:55#63 Uwe
Cultosaurus is one of those records that are gathering dust in my house, I’m guilty of this and the SOTW quote went down in history, but I didn’t remember that Birch had been the producer of BOC (Roger was if I remember correctly) and for this reason our lawyer still connects the threads of the stories, or of the rock fairy tales that make us dream so much!
I’ve always considered Mick to be a guitarist with the right level of technical skill, meticulous, 100% in control of what he was doing, he never wanted to overdo it, and yet he always sounded perfect for BOC’s songs. I can even imagine that he never got on stage drunk, unlike many other more exaggerated guitarists.
He wasn’t as flashy as some of the greats, but he had great taste, you never found two of his solos the same, and he was one of the few Yankees with British influences, which is very commendable.
#65 Karin:
I think you really should, because you would miss out on a kaleidoscope of sounds that only Heep could create (halfway between Rainbow and ELP, let’s say)
August 2nd, 2025 at 11:56@ 66 – those lyrics are terrible, better off hearing fantasy etc. I cannot believe that would be Hensley writing that, although he did start writing silly cliched love song type lyrics at that time. Trying to change direction. Regarding Mick Box, sure he isn’t known for his outstanding guitar solos, but he did play some beauties here and there. You took an unusual ‘solo’ along with the drums, that is not a typical cliched guitar solo. It is a segment in the story of that song The Magicians Birthday, the battle scene apparently. Mick and Lee Kerslake were trying to represent that with that duel, so to speak. Like many things in life, it is open to one’s own interpretation. You obviously don’t know your Heep very well Uwe. I do seriously think that when you hear fantasy etc lyrics, that you shut it all out and the music and songs don’t stand a chance. Same with Dio era Rainbow and Sabbath. Here is one of the only better songs of the post Gary Thain era Heep. Much more mature lyrics too. From the High and Mighty album. Me thinks it is Ken playing the nice lead guitar, something he often did, especially the slide guitar solos on songs like Circle of Hands and Paradise/The Spell, both from Demons and Wizards. There are others too on other albums. Many people think that Ken only played the Hammond and piano. Not so and he always played for the song too, a bit like Mick did at times. Mick did get carried away with the wah wah pedal too much, annoyingly so at times. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nGI4T85f24&list=RD4nGI4T85f24&start_radio=1
August 2nd, 2025 at 12:03The Magician’s Birthday is indeed one of my least liked Heep albums, it was a rush job between Demons & Wizards and Sweet Freedom which I both like better.
As a band, Heep gelled well in their heyday. Ken was to me always more than a keyboard player: acoustic guitarist, 12-string guitarist, slide guitarist, songwriter, vocal arranger of Heep, even their hidden lead vocalist because David Byron was his perfect mouthpiece, he sang those songs like Ken wanted them sung.
I remember Weep In Silence well, it wasn’t a bad ballad.
Not true that I stop listening when I hear fantasy lyrics, a lot of Rob Halford’s lyrics are basically sci-fi/fantasy/horror graphic novel type captions and they always amuse me because he’s at least inventive with the words he uses. A lot less clichés than Dio who could be trite in the repetition of the same words and rhymes. I like horror, sci-fi and supernatural films too, not too crazy about films and literature that basically transplant perceived medieval life on different planets or into parallel worlds, personally I fail to see what was so great about the Middle Ages, it left very little of lasting cultural impact unless castles with bad heating and no real sanitary facilities are your thing. Burning witches also seemed at least rash to me and not really a developed discourse with wimmin.
Heep’s lyrics by and large never much bothered me, I even liked the images Stealin’ conjured and Return to Fantasy (the song) is one of my all time Heep faves.
August 2nd, 2025 at 19:34Fla76, Martin Birch produced BÖC’s Cultösaurus Erectus and Fire Of Unknown Origin, both strong albums in their oeuvre, Roger Glover never produced any of their records though he might not have been a bad choice for them.
August 2nd, 2025 at 19:43The Magician’s Birthday album was indeed rushed and according to Hensley many of those songs he intended for his first solo album. Management was hassling him big time for the ‘next Heep album’, so he reluctantly succumbed and handed over more ‘solo’ songs. I like it very much as it has a stripped back style to it, many of those shorter songs are wonderful to my ears. The title song is the only one that has an attempt to re create what was on the previous album, that progressive extended length etc. As those Heep albums were there in my older cousins record collection at the same time (1972/3) as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath etc, I fell for those and they do have a strong nostalgic feeling about them, just as much as Purple and Sabbath. Plus the album covers were better too, well on two of their best selling albums at least. Regarding lyrics, I know what you mean Uwe, the ‘sci-fi’ element breaks it up better in many ways. I guess I like a good story of some sort of escapism from what is the norm in this world. Certain lyricist banging on about their woes etc has never interested me, too much of that in the real world we live in. I prefer almost any lyric to that ‘blues’ based woe is me stuff. Each to their own. I was pleasantly surprised years ago when you stated that you liked Robert Calvert’s lyrics, nice one. Cheers.
August 3rd, 2025 at 00:07@22 Uwe – yes it is odd that Glover has held a grudge against Heep to the point that he is still mentioning it in 2025.
Remarks like this, and his comments about Steve Morse’s dismissal last year seem to indicate that, at his advanced age, he may be turning into Purple’s resident Keith Richards-type curmudgeon.
@68 MacGregor – would have bet money that was Mick Box playing lead guitar on “Weep In Silence”. Sounding as he usually does sans wah-wah… A very “fat” tone, somewhat similar to that of Mick Ralphs.
But you are correct, Ken takes credit: “This is one of the best songs I ever wrote and some of my best guitar playing, too. Mick couldn´t be bothered and anyway, the chord structure was way too lyrical for his style of playing.”
http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/show_interview.php?id=1152
One of my fave Heep tunes also.
A good thing about their patchier later Byron-era records is that they were front-loaded with the best songs on Side One. Leaving the cheesier stuff concentrated on the second. After the initial play-through to find out which songs were good, one could put the first sides of “Return to Fantasy” and “High and Mighty” into frequent rotation, with little reason to ever revisit the flipsides.
August 3rd, 2025 at 16:46@ 72 – thanks for that Ken Hensley interview Skippy, I have never noticed that one before. Regarding ‘Weep in Silence’. I have only ever thought that it didn’t sound like Mick Box, his usual style and sound. Hensley being the other guitarist occasionally was the obvious next choice. I don’t recognise any other non Mick guitar solos in the classic Heep other than the obvious slide solos of Ken’s. A good scenario it is to have two guitarist at times. As we know there are a few rather good bands with that setup. I agree with your take on patching together a few albums, get the best of both worlds. I could do that with Wonderworld and Sweet Freedom. Some really strong songs on both of those albums. However as stand alone albums, they are a bit of hit and miss for me. Cheers.
August 3rd, 2025 at 23:10Bob Calvert wrote brilliant lyrics and poems!
August 4th, 2025 at 02:00