Uriah Heep in Israel - the only concert

Uriah Heep created their own, original... Read all

Uriah Heep (Uriah Heep) is one of the most successful rock bands of England of the 70s era, formed in 1969 in London, borrowing the name from the character in the novel by Charles Dickens “David Copperfield”. The band's first line-up was formed when producer Gerry Bron invited keyboardist Ken Hensley (formerly of The Gods and Toe Fat) to join the members of Spice.

Uriah Heep created their own original version of hard rock, saturating it with elements of prog, art, and jazz rock. The trademark of their style (in the "golden years") were spectacular backing vocals with complex multi-part harmonies and dramatic vocals by David Byron. Uriah Heep's stylistic experiments were essential to the development of rock music; the group, in particular, largely anticipated similar experiments by Queen. One way or another, their music falls into such stylistic movements as progressive rock, hard rock, early heavy metal and sometimes even country.

Twelve of the group's albums entered the UK Albums Chart; greatest success had Return to Fantasy (#1, 1975) here. In the USA, 15 albums were in the top ten of the Billboard 200. In addition, four Uriah Heep singles were included in the Billboard Hot 100. The group had significant success in the mid-1970s in Europe, Japan, and the USA, where the single “Lady in Black” became a hit. Albums released from 1971 to 1973 are considered undeniable rock classics. Between 1970 and 1980, the group sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. The line-up of Uriah Heep has changed several times; In total, the group consisted of 22 people, but the quintet is considered “classic”: Mick Box, David Byron, Ken Hensley, Gary Thain and Lee Kerslake.

It is unfair that the team is underestimated by listeners, critics and fans heavy music. This problem is a kind of fruit of the group’s complex “life path”, which involves such harmful factors as: the death of some members, drugs, alcohol and disagreements in the team, from which the group literally started all over again for some time.

Current members

Russell Gilbrook - drummer, vocalist (2007 - present)
Bernie Shaw - main vocalist (1986 - present)
Phil Lanzon - keyboardist, vocalist (1986 - present)
Dave Rimmer - bass guitarist (2013 - present)

Classic composition
Mick Box - guitarist, vocalist (1969 - present day)
Ken Hensley - keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist (1969-1980)
David Byron - main vocalist (1969-1976)
Lee Kerslake - drummer, vocalist (1972-2007)
Geri Thain - bass guitarist, vocalist (1972-1975)

Former members
Ken Hensley - keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist
David Byron † – main vocalist
Paul Newton - bass guitarist, vocalist
John Wetton - bass guitarist, vocalist
John Lawton - lead vocalist
Peter Golby - lead vocalist
Olli Olsson - drummer, percussionist
Ian Clarke - drummer
Keith Baker - drummer
Geri Thain † – bass guitarist
John Sloman - main vocalist
Chris Slade - drummer, percussionist
Bob Daisley - bass guitarist
John Sinclair - keyboardist
Lee Kerslake - drummer
Trevor Bolder † – bass guitarist, vocalist

Studio albums
Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble - 1970
Salisbury - 1971
Look At Yourself - 1971
Demons & Wizards - 1972
The Magician's Birthday - 1972
Sweet Freedom - 1973
Wonderworld - 1974
Return To Fantasy - 1975
High & Mighty - 1976
Firefly - 1977
Innocent Victim - 1977
Fallen Angel - 1978
Conquest - 1980
Abominog - 1982
Head First - 1983
Equator - 1985
Raging Silence - 1989
Different World - 1991
Sea Of Light - 1995
Sonic Origami - 1998
Wake The Sleeper - 2008
Into The Wild - 2011

Live albums
Uriah Heep Live - 1973
Live at Shepperton '74 - recorded 1974, released 1986
Live in Europe 1979 - recorded 1979, released 1986
Live in Moscow - 1988
Spellbinder Live - 1996
King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents In Concert - recorded 1974, released 1997
Future Echoes Of The Past - 2000
Acoustically Driven - 2001
Electrically Driven - 2001
The Magician's Birthday Party - 2002
Live in the USA - 2003
Magic Night - 2004
Live in Armenia - 2011

Collections
Anthology - 1986
The Lansdowne Tapes (a collection of recordings by Spice and first three albums "Uriah Heep") - recorded 1968-1971, released 1994
Lady In Black - 1994
A Time of Revelation (four-disc anthology featuring previously unreleased material) recorded 1968-1995, released 1996
Celebration- (a compilation of the group’s hits, played and recorded in a new way) recorded in 2009.

Native Londoner and guitarist Mick Box (8/6/1947) suffered greatly from the lack of success of his band THE STALKERS. And this despite the fact that such an experienced vocalist as David Byron (January 29, 1947) sang in the group - he took part in the recording of anonymous cover albums, i.e. performed other people's hits under the false name Garrick (not Sukachev) and received money for food. This continued from 1964 to 1966, until THE STALKERS transformed into SPICE (sorry, not GIRLS...). Boxing invited a couple of new people - drummer Alex Napier and bassist-vocalist Paul Newton. This is where the difficulties started, be careful - Newton came from the group THE GODS, in which a bunch of future superstars came together: two future “hips” Ken Hensley and Lee Kerslake, future THE ROLLING STONES guitarist Mick Taylor and bassist-vocalist Greg Lake, who replaced Newton and later performed with KING CRIMSON and ELP. Well, is it a bit complicated? But great! SPICE released their only single, “What About The Music/In Love,” in December 1968, and the group was noticed by manager Jerry Bron, who insisted on changing the name.

During the recording of URIAH HEEP's first album, the drummer left and was quickly replaced by Nigel "Ollie" Ollson, ex-THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP. Well, the record was called with a claim - “Very`Eavy, Very`Umble”, i.e. "Very loud - very quiet." “Very`Umble” is a favorite saying of Dickens's Uriah Geep. On the cover there is a creepy face covered in cobwebs. The work is mature, diverse, presenting the classic sound of URIAH HEEP: vocal polyphony, the wah of Box’s guitar, romantic lyrics... An all-time hit is the powerful hard rock “Gypsy”, the only thing from the first disc in the current “live” repertoire of “hips” . The leaders of hard music - LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE and BLACK SABBATH - got nervous. Despite some borrowings, the “hips” managed to quickly develop own style hard-n-art, where there was free space for hard riffs, and for organ solos, and for romantic piano, and for “twisted” compositions. If Plant suffered sexually in his blues, Gillan frantically screamed “Child In Time”, and Ozzy raged like a wounded animal, then David Byron could let into his voice such romance, such reverent chivalry that you wanted to drop everything, jump on a horse and, crushing the unwary passers-by, rush through the night to the Lady of the Heart. Early reviews from the music press panned the album; Melissa Mills from Rolling Stone she even promised to commit suicide if “... this band becomes famous,” calling the album’s music “watered down Jethro Tull.” Later critics recognized it as an original combination of diverse musical ideas and influences, as well as its undeniable significance for the development of hard rock and heavy metal. Martin Popoff, author of The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal, puts Very 'eavy... Very 'umble on par with In Rock and Paranoid, specifying: "Uriah Heep's debut album is the weakest link in this trio of 70s metal albums that, in my opinion, laid the foundation for the genre... Weakest , - because it is not so overwhelmingly heavy; but is included in the top three because it is in no way inferior in terms of innovation, full of... fire-breathing guitar parts and an eerie gothic mood, which ultimately took aggressive rock away from blues and psychedelia into a completely new area.”

With Salisbury (1971), the band (according to Allmusic) abandoned the experimental side of Very 'eavy... Very 'umble and began refining their own style, which combined the power of heavy metal and the complexities of progressive rock. The central piece of the record was the art-rock suite of the same name, which took up the entire second side, recorded with symphony orchestra of 24 participants. “Lady in Black”, one of the most popular songs of all, was also noted by critics. concert repertoire group, in which the vocal part was performed by its author Ken Hensley.

The album “Look At Yourself” turned out to be uneven - against the background of such great songs as “Look Af Yourself” and “Tears In My Eyes”, “Shadows Of Grief”, “Love Machine” and “What Should Be Done” seem weak. The album's centerpiece, the epic "July Morning", was (according to Ken Hensley) symbolic of the direction in which the band was beginning to move at that moment. Although, he later said that he wrote this song a year before the album was released: “I wrote this song in 70. That is, it was during the tour, in the middle of the tour in England, I was sitting on the bus, waiting for the others, they were running around everywhere, and I sat on the bus for a very long time, waiting. What was left to do? I took the guitar, began to play, and gradually the song came. And it really was a July morning, moreover, it was 3 o’clock in the morning...”

A year later, Demons and Wizards was released, recorded in the spring at Lansdowne Studios in London. The songs “The Wizard” and “Easy Livin'” were released as singles from the album: the second of them rose to number 39 in the US, became a hit in Germany and New Zealand and, as Jerry Bron said, “helped the group to make itself known internationally for the first time.” stage." The album cover was prepared by artist and designer Roger Dean. In October 1972, the album was certified gold in Britain (where it rose to number 20 and stayed on the list for 11 weeks), later becoming platinum in the United States (No. 23 Billboard 200). The album was also a hit in Norway (No. 5), Finland (No. 1, 14 weeks) and Holland (No. 5). A significant part of the album's lyrics ("Rainbow Demon", "The Wizard", "Traveller In Time", "Poet's Justice") are related to the fantasy genre, but Kirk Blows, the author of the band's biography, noted that it is not conceptual; Each track here has its own significance. Ken Hensley emphasized the same thing in the comments to the album on the cover: “this is... just a collection of our songs that we recorded with great pleasure.” Hensley later called Demons and Wizards his favorite Uriah Heep album: “It was recorded in one go. These were better times a close-knit team and powerful music."

In the fall of the same year, The Magician’s Birthday was released - fairy tale story about the struggle between good and evil - was (as stated in the comments on the album cover) written based on a story by Ken Hensley. The first part tells about the journey to the Wizard's Castle. The second (“Orchestra of Orchids”) is unusual version"Happy Birthday To You" (where melodic counterpoint is provided by Lee Kerslake, kazoo). The third (instrumental) section illustrates the struggle between the forces of light and darkness: here we hear Mick's longest studio solo and Lee's furious drumming. In the fourth part, David's vocal part (he is assigned the role of a sorcerer) begins to convince us that evil is winning. But the part of Ken (playing the role of the main character), which opens the finale, marks the triumph of love and its victory over evil. - Brief History of Uriah Heep. The Magician's Birthday. The album entered the charts in Norway, Australia (#10), UK (#28), USA (#31) and Finland (#1, two weeks). On January 22, 1973, the album received gold status in the United States.

By 1973, the group was trying to get out of the “fairytale” jungle, the songs became simpler, more down-to-earth. The album “Sweet Freedom” (September 1973) is a perfect example of this.
The disc rose to 18th place in the UK, 33rd in the US, and 2nd in Norway. On March 5, 1974, the album received gold status in the United States. The main single from the album was “Stealin’” (#91 Billboard Hot 100; “Dreamer” and “One Day” were also released in the US and Japan).

Wonderworld, released in June 1974, was the last album recorded by the classic line-up. “We were becoming selfish,” Box recalls of that time. - They stopped being a happy band, and this affected the albums. Everything started to fall apart: David was drunk all the time, Ken became tearful and mannered. It was a bad time. There was no joy at all." Things became very sad in the group after Gary Thain was electrocuted at a concert. They pumped him out, but had to give up working with the hips. Thane began to intensively suppress the pain - both physical and mental - with white powder and on December 8, 1975, he ordered him to live long.

Resourceful manager Jerry Bron brought in bassist John Wetton, who had previously played bass in FAMILY, KING KRIMSON and ROXY MUSIC, to URIAH HEEP for a certain sum. The "classic period" of the 70s ended with the album "Return To Fantasy" (June 1975). It turned out to be the most successful commercially - 7th place in the English hit parade (in the States, hips' discs were placed within the Top 50). Wetton gave his new colleagues a couple of good ideas, and the result was confident and smooth work.

The next disc, “High And Mighty,” was released in 1976, according to Box, it was “too experimental” and the balance between hard rock and ballads was not maintained. Wetton's influence grew every day, which Ken Hensley did not like. Meanwhile, David Byron was just slowly becoming an alcoholic and losing his voice. “He needed to rest - talk in a whisper for six months,” Wetton recalled. - But the group did not let him relax. The thirst for money drove them to the studio and on tour.” The apotheosis was an incident in Philadelphia in 1976, when a drunken Byron shouted to roaring fans: “If you don’t like the show, you can get out of here.” In June, David was unanimously removed from the group.

Byron almost became a replacement... David Coverdale from the timely collapsed DEEP PURPLE. But he didn’t want to get involved with the group that was going downhill; moreover, he himself wanted to lure Box and Kerslake into the future WHITESNAKE. No one moved anywhere, and the new vocalist of the hips was John Lawton from the German group LUCIFER`S FRIEND. The album “Firefly”, like the previous ones, was almost entirely written by Ken Hensley (February 1977), and a new bassist, Trevor “Bross” Bolder, who had previously played for David Bowie, took part in the work on it. Since “Firefly,” URIAH HEEP have been hard at handing their fans a pretty wrapper without the candy inside. And although all the concerts were still a great success, the group had long given preference to material from 1970-73, and performed one or two songs from the latest albums. The new vocalist diligently imitated Byron, although he himself had a luxurious and assertive hard rock voice.

The following works - “Innocent Victim” (November 1977) and “Fallen Angel” (September 1978) turned out a little weaker than the previous one. The group came to commercial hard 'n' heavy music. Composition, due to scandalous reasons, was renewed by two-thirds again - Laughton was replaced by John Sloman from LONE STAR, and Kerslake quarreled with the manager and went to Ozzy Osbourne to work on “Blizzard Of Ozz”. Chris Slade from Manfred Mann's band took over the drums. These changes almost came at a loss to the team: the album “Conquest” (February 1980) no longer resembles the early creations of hips, unlike the previous 3 albums, and in general did not contain more than one hit. Since Hensley's imagination had finally run out of steam, Trevor Bolder also took up songwriting and wrote the song "Fools". Self-critical. For almost a year, the hips toured without Hensley (he was replaced by Greg Dechert from PULSAR), and in April 1981, Mick Box was left in splendid isolation - Bolder moved to WISHBONE ASH, Slade to Gary Numan, and Sloman to another Gary, Muru. The story, alas, is typical for many old bands: the same thing happened with BLACK SABBATH and DEEP PURPLE (however, with some bands founded later than the 70th year, for example with SCORPIONS, AC/DC or KISS, the situation was different). It seemed that the fairy tale called URIAH HEEP had come to an end.

However, Box still had some powder in his flasks. Singer Peter Golby from TPAPEZE, keyboardist John Sinclair from HEAVY METAL KIDS, bassist Bob Daisley from Ozzy Osbourne's band and... Lee Kerslake from the same place were called under the banner. The revival of the group caused a surge of interest in it, the album “Abominog” (March 1982) took 34th place in the hit parade. Again, as on the debut disc, the cover of the record featured a face, this time of a devil with a terrifying toothy mouth. Things seemed to be going well, Bolder returned to the team, and two more albums were created with this lineup, “Head First” (May 1983) and “Equator” (March 1985), which did not add anything good to the discography. By this time, URIAH HEEP had already lost contacts with major recording companies, were interrupted by tours in Indonesia, China and the USSR, sang “Easy Livin`” to the nostalgic British once a year and became addicted to publishing “concert albums”. Due to the futility of such a rock and roll life, Goldby and Sinclair left the group in the fall of 1985. Phil Lenzon, who had previously played in GRAND PRIX and even managed to work with SWEET, was hired as the keyboard player, and Steff Fontaine tried to become the singer, with whom the “hips” never recorded anything.

In the end, Mick Box invited Canadian Bernie Shaw to audition - small, blond and very active. Shaw moved to Britain in 1979, where he joined GRAND PRIX, and two years later joined former IRON MAIDEN drummer Clive Barr's group PRAYING MANTIS (later renamed STRATUS). This team released an album in Japan and disbanded. When URIAH HEEP started performing “Stealin`” at the audition, all the musicians had one piece of paper with the lyrics of the song, and everyone took turns looking at it. And Bernie Shaw pointedly turned away from the text and sang from memory. It turns out that in his homeland, Bernie performed in a group that performed only cover versions, among them, of course, were all the Eurohip classics. All the “hips” were pleasantly surprised, and the always gloomy Bolder smiled and said: “You suit us, boy.”

Thus, in September 1986, the lineup stabilized... The “fresh blood” poured into URIAH HEEP for the thousandth time finally worked. Firstly, the musicians have not parted for over 20 years, and the 15th line-up in the history of the group turned out to be the most durable and strong. Secondly, the albums Paging Silence (April 1989), Different World (February 1991) and Sea Of Light (May 1995) are head and shoulders above what the hips were doing during the last 15 years. The band's style can be called "modern progressive hard rock" - without a hint of nostalgia for their own past and without much regard for musical fashion. Of course, this is not mainstream, because such music sells poorly today, but the more respect you have for the “hips” who confidently do what they consider necessary. “Sea Of Light”, designed more in the style of the YES group (by the way, in the early seventies, the cover sleeves of both groups were designed by the same artist, Roger Dean), indicates that the “hips” have found a second wind, repeating old finds.
Then the equally strong album Sonic Origami (1998) was released, and again acquired a large number of listeners, and the hit Between Two Worlds was comparable to classic hits"those times". This whole “this” continued until 2007. The team goes through “a lot of greenery” with the old and best material.

In 2008, the album Wake The Sleeper was recorded, in the spirit of Uriah Heep of the Byron period, with a new drummer Russell Gilbrook (Lee Kerslake left the group for health reasons). And in 2009, in honor of their 40th anniversary, the “hips” decided to re-record their best mega-hits; this collection was called Celebration.

After quite successful albums and tours, the fact of “burying” the group was considered from the outside - it would seem that everything would be enough, as long as possible. But giving up before the expected and desired time is not for Uriah Heep, and by 2010, to the delight of the fans, the group is preparing to record an album. The album Into The Wild comes out in 2011, and this is not the end of the HARD ROCK story...

/ / / Negative characters in Charles Dickens's novel "David Copperfield"

Many events in the novel “David Copperfield” echo events in the life of the writer himself. This is a novel-memoir, where the first impressions and judgments of a child are carefully conveyed to us by an adult, a writer who has managed to preserve in his soul the purity of childhood perception.

The first evil that little David encountered, growing up in an atmosphere of love with an affectionate mother and devoted nanny Pegotty, was the Murdstone brother and sister.

Children must obey adults. Lessons must be learned by heart, and the student must be punished for every mistake. This harsh method soon led to the fact that an inquisitive and capable child, who studied easily and willingly, under their unkind glances began to look like a hunted idiot and received heavy slaps on the head as punishment. The chapter that talks about this is called “I am falling from grace.” The stepfather managed to convince David's mother that the children needed to be spanked. Unable to bear the humiliation, the child bit Murdstone’s finger, and the question of sending him to a boarding school was finally decided.

The school was commanded by the cruel and ignorant Mr. Creakle, who constantly punished and humiliated the students. On the first day, David was fitted with a board on his back that said, “Caution! It bites!”, and this was the beginning of his school torment. Arriving home for the holidays, the boy had to sit motionless in his room for hours under the supervision of Miss Murdstone. Walking and reading were forbidden to him, just as everything that could please a child was generally forbidden. Even returning to Krikla's kingdom seemed almost like a holiday to him. But he didn't stay here long. After the death of his mother, the Murdstones decided that a ten-year-old boy was quite capable of earning his own bread. From morning until night, the boy had to wash bottles, while living in poverty and constantly hungry.

In the house of Mr. Wickfield and his daughter Agnes, David met Uriah Heap, who became evil genius many characters in the novel. Then he was an unpleasant red-haired teenager with round, lidless eyes and palms sticky with sweat. His appearance was disgusting.

Uriah Heep tried to learn as many nasty things about people as possible, so that he could use it skillfully. He passed long haul, learning to lie and be a hypocrite during his school years. His mother skillfully helped him. Taking advantage of Mr. Wickfield's addiction to wine, Uriah confused all the affairs of his clients, wanting to take over the law office and get Agnes as his wife. He was not shy about the straightforward and trusting David, partly revealing his plans to him. When Uriah was exposed, he finally threw off the mask of ostentatious humility. Then everyone saw that a seasoned wolf was hiding under the skin of the lamb. For the first time, Uriah spoke openly about his hatred of others, especially David.

If the Murdstones and Heap seem frankly unpleasant from the first meeting and their actions bring evil to people, then David Steerforth's school friend evokes more complicated feelings. He is a brilliant young man, handsome and talented, belonging to London society. From his first steps at Creakle's school, Copperfield enjoys his almost disinterested patronage. Steerforth himself is in a special position at school due to his nobility and wealth.

Proud of this affection, David introduces him to his friends - Nanny Pegotty's brother, an old fisherman, and his adopted children, Ham and Emily. Steerforth becomes infatuated with the beautiful Emily, seduces her, takes her abroad, and when he tires of her like a broken doll, invites her to marry his footman.

Steerforth cares neither about his own mother, with whom he breaks off relations and leaves, nor about Rose Dartle, who loves him frantically, whose life he also ruined. But David remembers him, especially after his death during a shipwreck, with bitterness and sympathy: Steerforth was smart, capable of good deeds, and in his own way attached to Copperfield.

Remembering it, we understand that good and evil are ambiguous, often mixed in the actions and souls of people. Dickens, through the lips of his hero, teaches us to peer closely into the world around us in order not only to see bad people and to resist them, but also to notice glimpses of decency in those who, at first glance, do not deserve leniency.

The history of the glorious team is terribly complicated, however, if you sit for a couple of nights over old tomes, everything falls into place. It was a saying, but here are the facts.

Native Londoner and guitarist Mick Box (8/6/1947) suffered greatly from the lack of success of his band THE STALKERS. And this despite the fact that such an experienced vocalist as David Byron (January 29, 1947) sang in the group - he took part in the recording of anonymous cover albums, i.e. performed other people's hits under the false name Garrick (not Sukachev) and received money for food. This continued from 1964 to 1966, until THE STALKERS transformed into SPICE (too bad it wasn't GIRLS...). Boxing invited a couple of new people - drummer Alex Napier and bassist-vocalist Paul Newton. This is where the difficulties started, be careful - Newton came from the group THE GODS, in which a bunch of future superstars came together: two future "hips" Ken Hensley and Lee Kerslake, future THE ROLLING STONES guitarist Mick Taylor and bassist-vocalist Greg Lake, who replaced Newton and later performed with KING CRIMSON and ELP. Well, is it a bit complicated? But great! SPICE released their only single, "What About The Music/In Love", in December 1968, and the group was noticed by manager Jerry Bron, who insisted on changing the name.

In 1970, two centenary anniversaries were celebrated at once - the birthday of Lenin and the death of Dickens; It is clear to everyone which of these dates is more important for the British. There were posters of Dickens all around, films based on his books were shown in cinemas. Bron took his children to see “David Copperfield” and was delighted with one of the characters - the small, cunning and vile Uriah Heep (as his name is traditionally translated into Russian, actually the correct pronunciation is “Uriah Heep”). After the session, Bron found his charges as quickly as possible and joyfully announced from the doorway: “From now on you are URIAH HEEP!” "Never!" - the musicians barked in unison. They were wrong. In December 1969, the ranks of our heroes were replenished with a keyboard player. It was Ken Hensley (August 24, 1945) - a nice man, in addition to the synthesizer and piano, he also knew how to play the guitar and the microphone. From THE GODS he moved to the CLIFF BENNETT GROUP, which in July 1969 changed its name to TOE FAT (the leader of this group was one of the first white soulmen, Cliff Bennett). During the recording of URIAH HEEP's first album, the drummer left and was quickly replaced by Nigel "Ollie" Ollson, ex-THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP. Well, the record was called with a claim - “Very`Eavy, Very`Umble”, i.e. "Very loud - very quiet." "Very`Umble" is a favorite saying of Dickens's Uriah Geep. On the cover there is a creepy face covered in cobwebs. The work is mature, diverse, presenting the classic URIAH HEEP sound: vocal polyphony, Box's wah guitar, romantic lyrics... An all-time hit is the powerful hard rock "Gypsy", the only thing from the first disc in the current "live" repertoire." hips." In 1971, URIAH HEEP released two albums - "Salisbury" (released in January) and "Look At Yourself" (released in November, number 39 on the charts). The leaders of hard music - LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE and BLACK SABBATH - got nervous. Despite some borrowings, the “hips” were able to quickly develop their own hard-n-art style, where there was free space for hard riffs, and for organ solos, and for romantic piano, and for “twisted” compositions. If Plant suffered sexually in his blues, Gillan frantically screamed "Child In Time", and Ozzy raged like a wounded animal, then David Byron could let into his voice such romance, such reverent chivalry that you wanted to drop everything, jump on a horse and, crushing the unwary passers-by, rush through the night to the Lady of the Heart. On "Salisbury" all the songs are classics: the hard, almost metallic "Bird Of Prey", and the soulful "The Park", where birds sing and children play in the background of the bass line, and "Lady In Black", which is so pleasant to sing, hugging and tapping beer mugs (by the way, jokes aside, this is the most popular thing among “hips” and Germany). Not everyone can stand the 16-minute symphonic rock poem "Salisbury" to the end - good test for the love of URIAH HEEP. The album "Look At Yourself" turned out to be uneven - against the background of such great songs as "Look Af Yourself" and "Tears In My Eyes", "Shadows Of Grief", "Love Machine" and "What Should Be Done" seem weak. “July Morning” is a separate conversation. This is the band's calling card, a very long but melodic and accessible composition with an endless improvisational code, where Box's guitar, Hensley's Hammond and guest keyboardist Manfred Mann's Moog compete in skill. Well, Byron also sang, as they say, with all his might. “July Morning” is the quintessence of all hips’ creativity, a fusion of mysterious beautiful lyrics with harsh drama.

For some time there was a slight leapfrog with drummers in the group - Ollson was replaced by Keith Baker (February-October 1970), then there were Ian Clarke (October 1970 - November 1971) and Lee Kerslake (from November 1971). Fat and good-natured Kerslake, nicknamed “Bear”, became the main drummer of the team. There is also a mess with the bassists: simultaneously with the arrival of Bear, Paul Newton escaped from HEEP, who was replaced by Mark Clark, ex-COLOSSEUM, and in February 1972, Gary Thain, ex-KEEF HARTLEY BAND. With Tan and Kerslake, in the golden lineup, the albums “Demons And Wizards” (May 1972, 20th place) and “The Magician`s Birthday” (November 1972, 28th place) were recorded - both discs became peak (or rather, peaks) of the creativity of URIAH HEEP. Hensley finally took the group to the land of storytellers, wizards and evil rainbow demons. Characterizing these albums is like pouring selected diamonds from palm to palm. Listen, listen and listen again! What else can be said... But after the golden series of 1972, a not very cheerful chronicle of slow decline begins. The group is trying to get out of the “fairytale” jungle, the songs become simpler, more down-to-earth. The albums "Sweet Freedom" (September 1973) and "Wonderworld" (June 1974), to be honest, are neither one nor the other. “We were becoming selfish,” Box recalls of that time. “We stopped being a happy band, and it affected the albums. Everything started to fall apart: David was drunk all the time, Ken became tearful and mannered. It was not a good time. There was no joy at all.” Things became very sad in the group after Gary Thain was electrocuted at a concert. They pumped him out, but he had to give up working with the hips. Thane began to intensively suppress the pain - both physical and mental - with white powder and on December 8, 1975, he ordered him to live long. Resourceful manager Jerry Bron brought in bassist John Wetton, who had previously played bass in FAMILY, KING KRIMSON and ROXY MUSIC, to URIAH HEEP for a certain sum. The "classic period" of the 70s ended with the album "Return To Fantasy" (June 1975). It turned out to be the most successful commercially - 7th place in the English hit parade (in the States, hips' discs were placed within the Top 50). Wetton gave his new colleagues a couple of good ideas, and the result was confident and smooth work. The next disc, "High And Mighty", according to Box, came out "too experimental", the balance between hard rock and ballads was not maintained. Wetton's influence grew every day, which Ken Hensley did not like. Meanwhile, David Byron was just slowly becoming an alcoholic and losing his voice. “He needed to rest - to talk in a whisper for six months,” Wetton recalled. “But the group did not let him relax. The thirst for money drove them to the studio and on tour.” The apotheosis was an incident in Philadelphia in 1976, when a drunken Byron shouted to roaring fans: “If you don’t like the show, you can get out of here.” In June, David was unanimously removed from the group. Byron was almost replaced by... David Coverdale from the timely collapsed DEEP PURPLE. But he didn’t want to get involved with the group that was going downhill; moreover, he himself wanted to lure Box and Kerslake into the future WHITESNAKE. No one moved anywhere, and the new vocalist of the hips was John Lawton from the German group LUCIFER`S FRIEND. The album "Firefly", like the previous ones, was almost entirely written by Ken Hensley (February 1977), and a new bassist, Trevor "Bross" Bolder, who had previously played for David Bowie, took part in the work on it. Since "Firefly", URIAH HEEP have been hard at handing their fans a pretty wrapper without the candy inside. And although all the concerts were still a great success, the group had long given preference to material from 1970-73, and performed one or two songs from the latest albums. The new vocalist diligently imitated Byron, although he himself had a luxurious and assertive hard rock voice.

The following works - "Innocent Victim" (November 1977) and "Fallen Angel" (September 1978) became passable. The group came to overtly commercial hard 'n' heavy music. There are, of course, beautiful and melodic songs ("Free Me", for example), but nothing can be said about them except that they are beautiful and melodic. The lineup was renewed by two-thirds again - Laughton was replaced by John Sloman from LONE STAR, and Kerslake quarreled with the manager and went to Ozzy Osbourne to work on "Blizzard Of Ozz". Chris Slade from Manfred Mann's band took over the drums. These changes benefited the team: the album "Conquest" (February 1980), although no longer similar to the early creations of the hips, is generally good and pleasant. Since Hensley's imagination had finally run out of steam, Trevor Bolder also took up songwriting and wrote the excellent composition "Fools". Self-critical. For almost a year, the hips toured without Hensley (he was replaced by Greg Dechert from PULSAR), and in April 1981, Mick Box was left in splendid isolation - Bolder moved to WISHBONE ASH, Slade to Gary Numan, and Sloman to another Gary, Muru. The situation, alas, is typical for many old bands: the same thing happened with BLACK SABBATH. It seemed that the fairy tale called URIAH HEEP had come to an end.

However, Box still had some powder in his flasks. Singer Pete Goldby from TPAPEZE, keyboardist John Sinclair from HEAVY METAL KIDS, bassist Bob Daisley from the Ozzy Osbourne band and... Lee Kerslake from the same place were called under the banner. The revival of the group caused a surge of interest in it; the album "Abominog" (March 1982) took 34th place in the charts. Again, as on the debut disc, the cover of the record featured a face, this time of a devil with a terrifying toothy mouth. Things seemed to be going well, Bolder returned to the team, and two more albums were created with this lineup, “Head First” (May 1983) and “Equator” (March 1985), which did not add anything good to the discography. By this time, URIAH HEEP had already lost contacts with major recording companies, were interrupted by tours in Indonesia, China and the USSR, sang “Easy Livin`” to the nostalgic British once a year and became addicted to publishing “concert albums”. Due to the futility of such a rock and roll life, Goldby and Sinclair left the group in the fall of 1985. Phil Lenzon, who had previously played in GRAND PRIX and even managed to work with SWEET, was hired as the keyboard player, and Steff Fontaine tried to become the singer, with whom the hips never recorded anything.

So in September 1986 the line-up stabilized... The “new blood” poured into URIAH HEEP for the thousandth time finally worked. Firstly, the musicians have not parted for over ten years, and the 15th line-up in the history of the group turned out to be the most durable and strong. Secondly, the albums "Paging Silence" (April 1989), "Different World" (February 1991) and "Sea Of Light" (May 1995) are head and shoulders above what the hips were doing during the last 15 years. The band's style can be called "modern progressive hard rock" - without a hint of nostalgia for their own past and without much regard for musical fashion. Of course, this is not mainstream, because such music sells poorly today, but you have all the more respect for the “hips” who confidently do what they consider necessary. "Sea Of Light", designed more in the style of the YES group (by the way, in the early seventies, the cover sleeves of both groups were designed by the same artist, Roger Dean), indicates that the hips have found a second wind, without repeating old finds.

Uriah Heep in Dickens's work is one of the negative characters that the main character of the work, David Copperfield, had to meet in his life. Talking about Dickens' Uriah Heep and making a hero, I would like to say that he, like the rest of the negative heroes of the work, is a real egoist, heartless, Cruel person who is spoiled by his upbringing.

Uriah Heep is perhaps the most sinister figure in Dickens's work. Just the acquaintance with Dickens's Uriah Heep and his description is terrifying, and yet, thanks to the created portrait of the hero, his ugliness, the author wants to evoke disgust towards him. Just listen: Hip's face resembles that of a dead man, who had no eyelashes and eyebrows. Hip's eyes themselves were brown, but with some kind of red tint.

He is a bony man with long arms that resemble the hands of a skeleton. To reinforce our negative perception of the hero, Dickens compares Heep to nasty animals. So he says that his sticky hand is like a sticky fish, and whoever shakes it feels like he is touching a toad or a snake. Hip's body wriggles like a snake or an eel. The author compares Hip Uriah with a raven, with a fox, with a monkey.

This hypocrite has a deep-seated inferiority complex. Uriah often says that he is an insignificant, humble person, hoping to hide his vile real essence, and yet this essence was revealed. When Uriah was exposed, he threw off his lamb mask, and we all saw that a real wolf was hiding here.

Characteristics of characters based on Dickens's work "David Copperfield", Uriah Heap

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Characteristics of heroes based on Shakespeare's work "King Lear" - Lear Characteristics of characters based on Shakespeare's work "HAMLET"

If good manners allowed, then a dozen more exclamation marks should be added to the title. They are the same legendary, famous, amazing and influential, the most fatal fatal Englishmen again coming to Israel for the sixth time and giving a single concert on January 28 at the Tel Aviv Center performing arts.

The creativity of Uriah Heep is rock! Rock is heavy, metal, progressive, art and jazz rock, already mythological acoustic folk rock. From the realm of myths and groups such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. But they are no longer there, and Uriah Heep is one of best groups British hard rock is a myth that still persists despite a stage career spanning more than four decades. Their music, their lyrics, stylistic experiments, ballads, their performances - what can I describe when you can still hear them live.

23 studio albums, which have become classics of hard rock, 12 discs - concert recordings, 13 collections - this is only the tip of the iceberg of Uriah Heep's popularity. In the 1970s alone, the “golden” time for rock music, the group, whose debut album was released in 1970, sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, making it one of the most successful rock groups. Back in the distant 70s, the covers of their discs with fabulous names were familiar to millions of rock fans. On the early recordings, the undisputed leader was Ken Hensley, who is the author of most of the group's hits. By the way, he is a famous English poet. David Byron's voice was unique. There have never been vocalists of this caliber in the history of rock.

The history of this group is complicated - the lineup and vocalists changed many times - but each time it demonstrated a new, yet unknown side of its creativity. In general, they do not lower the bar that they themselves have set. Having formed in 1969, the musicians did not expect that, even forty years later, it would be difficult to get to their concerts and that they would become the object of research: four books about this group were published in Russian alone.

Their hits are so popular that their names become household names. So, for example, the most famous song“July Morning” became the name of the summer music festival In Bulgaria. Already in the first lineup of the group, five vocalists met, which became its trademark, which is still maintained, the sign of their music - epic, dynamic, bright and varied. Uriah Heep had their ups and downs, but they managed to survive all the troubles and retain a loyal following. In 1986, the “new blood” poured into Uriah Heep for the thousandth time finally worked. The musicians have not parted for over twenty-five years, and the 15th line-up in the history of the group turned out to be the most durable and strong. Magic characters their songs (sages, witches, “rainbow” demons) and the general mystical atmosphere of the compositions created Uriah Heep the image of a “fairytale” group, and many of their songs were included in the classic rock anthology, as examples of rock of the 70s and 80s, and among them not only “July Morning”, but also “Lady in Black”, “Look at Yourself”, “Easy Living” - songs that the audience always sings along to.

Where did the self-name Uriah Heep come from? Well, what can serve as a source of inspiration for the British? Of course, Dickens. And, of course, one of his least likeable characters is Uriah Gip (in Russian translation) from the novel “David Copperfield”. Everyone was talking about Dickens at Christmas 1969 in London - the hundredth anniversary of his death was celebrated. Apparently, the character of Uriah Heep, Uriah Heap, could not have been better suited at first to the mood of the young rockers, who over the course of 43 years managed to acquire clubs of fans all over the world, young and old fans who performed in the most prestigious halls and stadiums, who changed the composition of the group more than once, but today loved, popular and in demand.

At a concert in Israel on January 28 at the Tel Aviv Center for the Performing Arts, all the hits of the group and their songs will be performed last album"Into the Wild"
Mick Box – vocals, guitar
Trevor Bolder – vocals, bass
Bernie Shaw - vocals
Phil Lanzon – vocals, keyboards
Russell Gilbrook - vocals, drums

Tickets at – Internet ticket offices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhAdZDk61UI

Photos provided by the tour organizer - Hafakot Megovanot & Meyohadot, Ltd.