- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- The Best of Uriah Heep, their American overview, is a good summary of the band’s early period. “Easy Livin’ ” is my favorite song by Uriah Heep.
Uriah Heep – The Best of Uriah Heep (1976): Like Grand Funk Railroad, Uriah Heep – named for a character in the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield (1850) – hasn’t gotten much respect from rock critics, even though they are one of the leading British arena rock bands of the 1970’s. Reportedly, the inept heavy metal band Spinal Tap in Rob Reiner’s debut film, the satirical mockumentary This is Spinal Tap (1984) is based on Uriah Heep. Initially known as Spice, the band was founded in 1969 by David Byron (lead vocals) and Mick Box (guitar), who then added Ken Hensley (keyboards, guitar, and vocals), Paul Newton (bass), and Nigel Olsson (drums), who had been in Elton John’s band and would shortly return there.
This line-up released Uriah Heep’s debut album . . . Very ’Eavy . . . Very ’Umble (1970) – “very ’umble” is one of the Dickens’ character Uriah Heep’s favorite phrases – with the album called simply Uriah Heep in the U.S. The album was panned by the critics, particularly in the U.S. – in the review of Uriah Heep in Rolling Stone magazine, Melissa Mills infamously promised to commit suicide “if this band makes it”. The album is now regarded as an early heavy metal classic, and Uriah Heep’s music has basically steered its way between the heavy metal and progressive rock genres ever since. Almost 40 bandmembers have rotated in and out of Uriah Heep over the years; Mick Box, David Byron, and Ken Hensley were the core of the band in their early years, and only Box is still in the line-up. Their fourth album, Demons and Wizards (1972) is their commercial breakthrough, reaching #20 in the U.K. album charts and #23 in the Billboard album charts; that is Uriah Heep’s peak in the U.S., though Uriah Heep’s eighth album Return to Fantasy (1975) would reach #7 in the U.K. The Best of Uriah Heep, their American overview, is a good summary of the band’s early and most successful period. “Easy Livin’ ” is my favorite song by Uriah Heep; it is the only Top 40 hit by the band in the U.S., reaching #39 in September 1972. I have never seen it discussed, but “Easy Livin’ ” seems to have a Christian theme: “This is a thing I’ve never known before / It’s called easy livin’ / This is a place I’ve never seen before / And I’ve been forgiven / Easy livin’ and I’ve been forgiven / Since you’ve taken your place in my heart”. Other highlights by the band are also collected in The Best of Uriah Heep, such as “Sunrise”, “Sweet Lorraine”, “Lady in Black”, “July Morning”, and “The Wizard”. In 1987, Uriah Heep was the first Western rock band to appear in concert in the Soviet Union.