Uriah Heep Lady in Black (new)

In 2008, the venerable British hard rock band Uriah Heep released Wake the Sleeper, their first new studio album in ten years. It is not unusual, of course, for a band to play several songs from a new album in concerts around the time of release. Two years later, however, Uriah Heep are heard on this concert recording playing seven of the selections from Wake the Sleeper out of 15 songs in the show. Lead singer Bernie Shaw acknowledges that the set list is "a mixture of the old and the new," after announcing, "We've got 40 years of Uriah Heep music." So they do, even if they don't actually play songs from across the 40 years.

Now, this really is a chunk to bite off and chew. This six-disc overview of the long, winding, and confounding career of Uriah Heep (confounding that Mick Box and Lee Kerslake have managed to keep it afloat for nearly 40 years), is the first box to take into consideration all the permutations this dinosaur juggernaut has been through…

This double-disc collection covers the glory years of Uriah Heep extensively, with all the main cuts by the David Byron/Mick Box/Ken Hensley/Gary Thain/Lee Kerslake version of the group as well as earlier and later material. Chances are that serious Heep fans will have everything here, so this serves as more of an introduction for the new convert. There's plenty here that's aged well from the Bronze label years, such as "July Morning," "Easy Livin'," "The Magician's Birthday," "Look at Yourself," "Stealin'," etc. In fact, about the only thing that's not here, inexplicably, from the early years is the Box slide workout on the classic "Tears in My Eyes." There is also plenty from the later decades of the '80s, '90s, and beyond, when Box took the group to a new and heavier place – somewhat recalling the UH of the Salisbury and Very 'Eavy…Very 'Umble eras. There are 34 tracks in all, with good sound and workmanlike liner notes. For the money, this is a good bang for the buck.

This double-disc collection covers the glory years of Uriah Heep extensively, with all the main cuts by the David Byron/Mick Box/Ken Hensley/Gary Thain/Lee Kerslake version of the group as well as earlier and later material. Chances are that serious Heep fans will have everything here, so this serves as more of an introduction for the new convert. There's plenty here that's aged well from the Bronze label years, such as "July Morning," "Easy Livin'," "The Magician's Birthday," "Look at Yourself," "Stealin'," etc. In fact, about the only thing that's not here, inexplicably, from the early years is the Box slide workout on the classic "Tears in My Eyes." There is also plenty from the later decades of the '80s, '90s, and beyond, when Box took the group to a new and heavier place – somewhat recalling the UH of the Salisbury and Very 'Eavy…Very 'Umble eras. There are 34 tracks in all, with good sound and workmanlike liner notes. For the money, this is a good bang for the buck.

This double-disc collection covers the glory years of Uriah Heep extensively, with all the main cuts by the David Byron/Mick Box/Ken Hensley/Gary Thain/Lee Kerslake version of the group as well as earlier and later material. Chances are that serious Heep fans will have everything here, so this serves as more of an introduction for the new convert. There's plenty here that's aged well from the Bronze label years, such as "July Morning," "Easy Livin'," "The Magician's Birthday," "Look at Yourself," "Stealin'," etc. In fact, about the only thing that's not here, inexplicably, from the early years is the Box slide workout on the classic "Tears in My Eyes." There is also plenty from the later decades of the '80s, '90s, and beyond, when Box took the group to a new and heavier place – somewhat recalling the UH of the Salisbury and Very 'Eavy…Very 'Umble eras. There are 34 tracks in all, with good sound and workmanlike liner notes. For the money, this is a good bang for the buck.