Not Typical Uriah Heep, But Decent 80's Pop

I usually like to search out albums that have been roundly trashed by fans. The more bad things I hear about an album, the more I want to hear it to see how bad it could be. Much of the time the bad ratings are justified; but many times a bad takes a new direction to change with the times. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't.

In this case it was 1984-1985 and Uriah Heep had just come off two pretty successful albums ("Abominog" and "Head First") that breathed new life into a then uncertain future. "Equator" may not have been the most logical step for the band, as it takes a big step away from their traditionally guitar driven sound fans came to expect and introduced heavy pop keyboards and some fairly cheesy lyrics. In all honesty, it's not all that bad of an album. Yes, they do occasionally stumble on this album ("Party Time" and "Skool's Burnin'"), but there's some really good material here ("Night of the Wolf" and "Poor Little Rich Girl" comes to mind).

Should you rush out and buy "Equator"? Only if you're looking for some good mid-80's pop or you want to round out your Uriah Heep Collection. I really don't think it's representative of Uriah Heep, but then again, I think the band has put out albums of similar quality ("Raging Silence" and "Different World") that many fans rank above this album.

So does "Equator" deserve its bad reputation? In my opinion, no. While it's by no means definitive Uriah Heep music, it is a good three star album.

Trying to redeem myself.

Some time ago I gave "Equator" a less than favourable review. I regret that now. In the year or so since I decided that it was the worst piece of work in the entire long and bloody history of my all-time favourite band, Uriah Heep, I've revisited it several times (each of these times a couple of months apart, the most recent of them being last week), and my mind has been changed. "Equator" is in fact a highly enjoyable album that's just been given a very bad image. I've always enjoyed the first and last tracks on the album, "Rockarama" and "Night of the Wolf", but it's my great pleasure to confirm that the songs that fill the space in between are not the [stuff] I thought they were. Even "Party Time" which I once called Uriah Heep's most awkward moment, has become a fun song that I like quite a bit (the backing vocals, which once really did it for me, are no less embarrassing than the backing vocals on "Woman of the World" from Heep's 1976 album, "High and Mighty", which I always thought were very cool, if a bit unusual.

In"Equator" gets four stars from me. It's no waste of time and is tremendous fun to listen to, but it's still not up to the standards Heep set earlier with 1974's "Demons and Wizards", 1977`s "Firefly", or later with 1998's "Sonic Origami". If you're new to Heep, try those... if you've already been initiated, you won't lose with "Equator". Besides, if you're already initiated, "Equator" is likely the only one you don't already have in your collection anyway.

Carry on carry on,

MN

By far their worst album

I have to start off by saying that I'm a *huge* Heep fan; I have pretty much everything they've done from 1970 to the present (and I think the current line-up is the best since the "Demons and Wizards" era). That said, this album is absolutely awful: the mid-80s lineup trying to pander to then-current commercial musical trends, and falling flat on their faces. This album was only recently made available on CD; one listen will reveal why. Cheezy synths, "Hair-metal" vocals, and bad attempts at MTV-friendly songwriting abound. Save your money, or better still, buy some Heep from 1970-77 or 1995-present.