Uriah Heep Wonderworld

Wonderworld continues in the vein of Sweet Freedom, trying to bring Uriah Heep's appeal to a wider level while still retaining the grandiose trademark elements (the organ-guitar attack, David Byron's operatic shriek) that got them noticed…

Wonderworld continues in the vein of Sweet Freedom, trying to bring Uriah Heep's appeal to a wider level while still retaining the grandiose trademark elements (the organ-guitar attack, David Byron's operatic shriek) that got them noticed. The result is an album that is solid but not as inspired as Look at Yourself or Demons and Wizards. The hard rock quotient is a little stronger on this album than it was on Sweet Freedom: "Something or Nothing" is a galloping stomp-rocker in the vein of past classics like "Love Machine" and "Suicidal Man" is an organ-fortified speed-rocker that is one of the band's finest hard rock tunes.

To irritate snobbish rock critics in the 1970s, all a band had to do was play heavy metal or progressive rock. Imagine their horror when Uriah Heep came along and consciously fused both styles. Uriah Heep was the subject of one vicious critic's infamous quote, "If this group makes it, I'll have to commit suicide." …

A Time of Revelation is a four-disc box set spanning Uriah Heep's entire career. The bulk of the set draws from the Heep's '70s heyday, including album tracks, live cuts, and previously unavailable-on-disc rarities. For the die-hard collector, the set is a must-have for its obscure items. While the set may be too much for casual fans, it does a good job of rounding up the highlights, so any casual listener wanting a comprehensive collection should turn here.

Ballads? What ballads? They don't need no stinkin' ballads. Actually, most of these aren't true ballads, which are defined as either romantic/sentimental songs ("Rainbow Demon" darlin'?) or songs that repeat the same melody from stanza to stanza (think of that guy playing the acoustic guitar in Animal House). Uriah Heep did eventually write honest-to-goodness ballads, some of which are featured here: "Your Turn to Remember," "Free Me," and "Come Back to Me."…

Taking their name from the scheming, parasitic lawyer in Charles Dickens' 1850 novel David Copperfield, Uriah Heep are a progressive rock institution who, alongside bands like Deep Purple, Queen, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin, helped lay the foundation for the hard rock/heavy metal scene." The band maintains a significant following and performs at arena-sized venues in the Balkans, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia and Scandinavia. They have sold over 40 million albums worldwide with over 4 million sales in the U.S, where its best-known songs include "Easy Livin'", "The Wizard", "Sweet Lorraine", and "Stealin".

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.

Blending plain old hard rock with prog rock tendencies and a clear ear for a good radio-ready pop hook, Uriah Heep never exactly wowed the critics, perhaps because their lyrical fascination with wizards and demons could make them seem as addled as Spinal Tap in that band's famous Stonehenge concert scene. But critics don't make rock memories, and Uriah Heep, despite countless lineup changes, remained a steady band that played at being outlaws on the run and produced at least a couple of enduring rock radio classics in the early '70s, most notably their fun versions of "Stealin'" and "Easy Livin'," both of which present the band at its best. This set has both of those songs, plus other bare-bone essentials like "Lady in Black" and "The Wizard," and for most casual fans, it'll fill the bill.

After two albums that downplayed their penchant for gothic sounds and mystical lyrics, Uriah Heep brought these elements back to the fore on 1975's Return to Fantasy. The resulting album retains the musical experimentation that marked Sweet Freedom and Wonderworld, but has an overall harder-rocking feel that makes it more consistent than either one of those albums…