Uriah Heep is one of those bands, that, like The Rolling Stones and other bands, have been around for so long, you almost can’t remember when you first heard them. This once again shows that in the days these bands were founded, it was their steadfast determination and their quality as musicians that made them famous. Oh, and a bit of luck also of course. In comparison a lot of present day bands are massively hyped by their record companies, score one or two hits, and fade away into oblivion after a few years. While bands like Uriah Heep, without massive merchandising, keep on churning out album after album, and yes, only the die-hard fans or some old geezers like me will buy their album, but at least they have a determined fan base.
Now to the reality again, ‘Outsider’, their 24th studio album, since they debuted in 1970 with the release of ‘Very ‘eavy… Very ‘Umble’. And despite their career spanning over 40 years, they keep on touring the world. Many personnel changes have been made over those years,meaning that only one original member remains in the person of Mick Box.
I remember the first Heep album I ever listened to ‘Look At Yourself’, and that I was blown away by one particular song ‘July Morning’, a song that I still like this many years later.
When I listened to this album, the feeling that hit me was that it seemed as if Uriah Heep had gone back to it’s roots, but with a more modern sound and production. As a matter of fact this album will frequently find it’s way to my CD player again, it’s that good. It’s very hard to pick out a particular track as my personal favorite, since they are all very good. And Bernie Shaw’s vocals, despite the fact that the man is almost a sexagenarian is as good as ever.
An album that fans of classic hard rock should definitely buy.