Bernie Shaw replaced David Byron who died in 1985

FOLKS! This is HEEP'S new line up in the 90's. So no matter what the people said about Uriah Heep. In fact, Uriah Heep sold out their albums from 1969 until 1996 circa 120 million copies worldwide. The same case like Zeppelin and Deep Purple, Black Sabbath did. The new bloods in the band are not bad, the original keyboarder Ken Hensley has gone to perform his own solo, The original singer David Byron died in the 80's but the legacy is still alive until now.
The songs are excellent - masterpiece! need I say more??

Finally... Uriah Heep truly lives again!!

As a longtime fan of this band's classic line-up, no one has been more critical of their subsequent post-David Byron material than me. (Though I thought some of the John Lawton stuff was pretty good -- particulary Firefly and parts of Innocent Victim.)

The current Heep line-up has been together for 15 years. That in and of itself is startling and surprising. For my money though, 1998's Sonic Origami was the first studio CD this line-up has produced that came close to capturing the essential essence of Uriah Heep.

However, on this two-disc set, the band fully embraces its classic pedigree and rocks the rafters like no one else. Mixing both new material (from the late '80s up through stuff from Sonic Origami) with plenty of classic tunes, this package is the first release in nearly two decades that I believe oldtime fans can really rally behind.

The core of the band reminds intact: the inimitatible Mick Box on guitars, powerhouse Lee Kerslake on drums and the sturdy Trevor Boulder on bass. Phil Lanzon is on keyboards (in the wake of the seemingly irreplacable Ken Hensley) and Canadian Bernie Shaw takes over vocal duties.

Shaw is definitely the band's best singer since David Byron was sacked in 1976. On current material, he sounds a little too much like Steve Perry for my money. That was my main complaint about Sonic Origami -- Shaw lacked the subtlty, panche and etheral charm of Byron. But Shaw is BY FAR the best vocalist they've had who can do justice to the early Byron songs. He treats these tunes with great respect and sings them with passion. It always seemed to me that past Heep singers tried to make these songs their own, thus corrupting the sound that the band originally crafted -- the sound that attracted millions of fans from around the world to start with.

In fact, even the Sonic Origami material sounds better here in concert. The group kicks off "Future Echoes of the Past" with two of Sonic Origami's best tracks: Between Two Worlds (decicated on the studio CD to Byron and late bassist Gary Thain) and I Hear Voices. Both great songs made greater in this live settting. Even the late '80s stuff experiences a renaissance of sorts here -- the blistering "Universal Wheels" being a perfect example.

What will send a tingle up the spines of old time Heep fans, however, will be the reditions of, not just the classics (we expect "Gypsy," "Easy Livin" and "Look at Yourself"), but the cult classics as well. When the band tears into "Sweet Freedom" it feels like 1974 again. When that tune artfully segues into "Rain," and you will gasp. Though Shaw lacks the gentle narrative style of Byron, he does more than justice to this beautiful ballad.

Shaw also offers a wonderful reading of the band's first big hit, dating back to 1969... "Come Away Melinda." This time, if you close your eyes and drift away, you will swear it's Byron back behind the mike.

This is not to say Shaw should try and be a Byron clone. Not at all. What he manages to do here his keep his own identiy and style while treating the older material with reverence and respect, singing those classic songs (Sunrise, Bird of Prey to name a few) like the way they were meant to be sung when they were originally written nearly three decades ago.

I've been hard on the post-'70s Heep and most of the time they deserved it. So, it is with gleeful pleasure I am able to recommend this 2-disc package (with great photos and wonderful liner notes from producer Pip Williams and the band members) and give it five-star rating (which I don't give out very much!)

If you're an oldtime fan of the band, take heed. I guess it's true -- you can't keep a good band down! Uriah Heep has seemed to come full circle and instead of hiding from its past, it is embracing it. And that sure SOUNDS good.

this old band is a good one!

yes this old band is also good as Led Zeppelin, Deep purple or Sabbath in their 70?s hey day. The HEEP songs like bird of prey, sweet lorraine, raibow demons and pacific highway had been performanced in the live set. The result is amazing!
The band?s current singer Bernie Shaw is excellent like the HEEP?s old singer in the seventies Dave byron. Mick Box guitar sound is amazing and Lee Kerslake drums solo is still powerfull!...

Uriah Heep, today and yesterday

Spellbinder was a live Heep cd released a few years ago. It was very impressive and showcased a very confident Uriah Heep playing the past and the present well indeed. Only problem here is that Spellbinder is a bit short of a full concert in length. Well, this cd fixes that and also is recorded very well. In fact the Heep songs on this cd are more dynamic than the studio versions. This recording is very very well done and is highly recommended. Typically I avoid most live recordings because they do not hold a candle to the studio versions. But this is not the case with this band, this is Uriah Heep at their best, an awesome band..period! (buy Sea of Light too, most of the new songs here come from this very good studio cd)