I always felt they laid the groundwork for Queen. No heavy band prior to Heep had that big block multi harmony happening. And yes, D&W is a masterpiece. The acoustic guitar on The Wizard tuned down a step with the low E tuned to C is the most glorious sound I ever heard.

Gary Thain is one of the most underrated bass players in rock. The guy was incredible!

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

I agree

@francishickory287

5 ай бұрын

I've been saying that for decades. It's great to see others that feel the same.

@joemartucci4786

5 ай бұрын

Glad to see Gary Thain fans. As a bassist myself he was always killer. Great tone great lines great look. The 3 middle albums Demons & Wizards Magicians Birthday Sweet Freedom are untouchable to me. When I was in cover bands we did a lot of Heep loved it.

@micahhull5126

4 ай бұрын

Heep yes!!

@mark240862

3 ай бұрын

100% agree with you. Gary Thain was one of the best bass players ever in my opinion.

1. Demons and Wizards 2. Look at Yourself 3. Salisbury 4. Sweet Freedom 5. Return to Fantasy 6. Very Eavy Very Umble 7. Wonderworld 8. The Magican´s Birthday 9. High and Mighty Gary Thain was a killer bass player!

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

Cool!

1. Look At Yourself 2. The Magicians Birthday 3. Demons And Wizards 4. Uriah Heep 5. Salisbury 6. Return To Fantasy 7. Sweet Freedom 8. Wonderworld 9. High And Mighty

the bernie shaw stuff is really good too they always have the best musicians

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

Agreed, I’ve been listening to Sea of Light and Sleeper a lot lately.

@chrisflood9205

5 ай бұрын

dont forget john lawton and pete goalby had good stuff too @@LairoftheAlchemist

1. Demons and Wizards 2. Look at Yourself 3. Very ‘eavy That’s my top three. I go back and forth on ranking after those three. Magicians Birthday is cool but it’s sort of like someone turned a knob and rolled back the heaviness that was found on Demons and Wizards. It would probably be a fairly consistent #4 for me, but my top three rating is static and never changes.

In the UK we got Bird Of Prey on Salisbury! And I love the title track, my fave prog track not recorded by Yes! Here's my list - 1. Salisbury 2. Demons And Wizards 3. Sweet Freedom 4. Very Eavy, Very Umble 5. The Magicians Birthday 6. Look At Yourself 7. Wonderworld 8. Return To Fantasy 9. High And Mighty My favourite overall Heep album is Abominog which was my entry point to the band.

@JohannesYtterstrom

5 ай бұрын

Love the title track to Salisbury as well. I get goosebumps from it!

1. Demons and Wizards 2. Look at Yourself 3. Salisbury 4. Sweet Freedom 5. The Magician's Birthday 6. ...Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble 7. Return to Fantasy 8. Wonderworld 9. High an' Mighty

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

great list!

Great video! I love Uriah Heep. They are so undervalued in the scheme of all things heavy. Uriah Heep is worthy of the rock n roll hall of fame, and Mick Box is a straight bad a$$ axe slinger.

Uriah Heep have been a fun band to get into on vinyl - been picking them up when I see them over the last 10 years or so. Such as weird mish mash of sounds and styles - quite a lot of it not really my traditional taste but for some reason keep coming back for more. They are a band that I really get a lot out of listening to on the original pressings and going on a trip back in time with.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

I agree

Legendary band, one on my favourite of all time.

1. Demons and Wizards 2. Look at Yourself 3. Sweet Freedom 4. Very Eavy Very Umble 5. Salisbury 6. The Magican´s Birthday 7. Return to Fantasy 8. Wonderworld 9. High and Mighty

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

Nice!

☮ só os gloriosos anos 70 poderiam produzir algo tão majestoso como uriah heep

Love your top 5 picks 👍

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

1. Sweet Freedom (underrated masterpiece) 2. Demons and Wizards 3 Magician’s Birthday 4. Look At Yourself 5. Salisbury 6. Very ‘Eavy Very ‘Umble 7. High and Mighty 8. Wonderworld 9. Return to Fantasy

@JCStorm76

5 ай бұрын

Return To Fantasy last? Really? That’s my number one. Either that or Look at Yourself

@metaldams78

5 ай бұрын

@@JCStorm76 in my opinion, a few very strong tracks but the rest is pretty weak.

Great band. Many good records (and a few bad ones). My top 3 Heep (with Byron): 1= Return to Fantasy, 2= Demons and Wizards, 3= Sweet Freedom.

Happy New Year John

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

Happy New Year!

What is interesting is UFO also included Come Away Melinda on their debut. It would have been strange to pick up both albums as new releases back in 1970 , and discover that 2 new albums have the same song. Both versions sound nearly identical also. They also both suck equally

@ledzep9501

5 ай бұрын

Heep's version sucks??? Oh my..m yes, ok, UFO's is not doing any justice but UH us beautiful.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

I'm ok with Heep's version, what really drags down the first album is "Lucy Blues" which thankfully isn't on the U.S. version.

Great video, super informative and interesting comments. Was looking forward to this! With Bird of Prey on my Salisbury, it ranks higher for me. Totally agree with your take on the rock n roll stuff they do, and Spider Woman. Magician’s Birthday is almost perfect without it. Rushing off to listen now! Thanks again.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

Thanks..and yeah, Bird of Prey really adds to Salisbury

JG, AKA Mr. Alchemist: Thanks for this cool video. I heard you mention the Lee Kerslake documentary right at the beginning of this vid. After l finished with your countdown, l found the documentary Not On The Heep on KZread and watched the whole thing. It was very interesting, informative and enjoyable. Indeed. Indubitably. I highly recommend it to other Uriah Heep - and rock & roll - fans. Thanks for mentioning it. Watcher beware: don’t watch the 91 minute version, there’s a sound dropout for a few minutes, about 31 minutes in. Instead, watch the 93 minute version. No sound dropouts in that version. Keep up the stellar work. Cheers from Noo Yawk, ova heyah. Rock Out & Prog On! ~ The Diabolical 😈 Davey Cretin from Cretin Classics.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

Thanks and yeah, those audio drop outs are unfortunate in that video.

@daveycretin664

5 ай бұрын

@@LairoftheAlchemist ~ The 91 minute version had a two minute sound dropout. The 93 minute version did not, so that’s the way to go. Up The Irons, mate!

I can't really say that I could rank the albums. I like songs from all of them, but as full albums I would say Demons and Wizards , Magicians Birthday, and Look at Yourself all the best, and equal. Gypsy Bird of Prey Simon the Bullet Freak The Park Lady Wore Black Look at Yourself Suicidal Man Rainbow Demon Sunrise Pilgrimage Shadows of Grief All of My Life Blind Eye Return to Fantasy Traveler in Time Dreamare

D&W, Sweet Freedom, Wonderworld, Magicians Birthday, Look At Yourself, Salisbury, Very 'Eavy, Return To Fantasy, High & Mighty. Though if I rated all UH albums, the Lawton albums would crack the top-6.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

Cool you like the Lawton albums

@MichaelBradley1967

5 ай бұрын

@@LairoftheAlchemist Have you ever done a vid for Lucifer's Friend and/or the Lawton UH era? If UH is considered underrated (and they are), LF is much more so.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

@@MichaelBradley1967 I did a video on Lucifers Friend kzread.info/dash/bejne/hmRk29Ooc6fVlrQ.htmlsi=l_Eah9XPDQRuEF53

Only liked the first four albums. Bought each of them when they were first available.

@LairoftheAlchemist

29 күн бұрын

Those are the best ones for sure.

You can tell that Iron Maiden was influenced by them. Listen to 'Heep's "Time to Live," When the verse kicks in change the lyrics to "Revelations." "Oh, god of earth and altar, bow down and here our cries."

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

wow...I never noticed that, great observation!!

@spicykimchi1

5 ай бұрын

@@LairoftheAlchemist That's what I hear, anyway. They're probably in different keys. And to me, Ace Frehley's intro to "Snowblind" sounds a lot like 'Heep's "Suicidal Man."

1 demons and wizards 2 look at your self. 3 very heavy. 4 sweet freedom. 5 magicians b day. 6 wonderworld. 7 salisbury. 8 high & mighty.

What kind of realese editions do you have? Do newer editions improve the sound overall, and do they lose that original release atmospheric sound?

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

For this video I listened to all the albums on the original vinyl pressings. I have a few of the remasters on CD but usually listen to the original CD versions.

🍀🍀

I am still upset that they fired Byron just because of alcoholism

Demons and wizards is my favorite, it's magical. Some great songs on magicians birthday but a couple not so strong and I hate that silly happy birthday part at the end of the title track. There my top 2 and abominogue is very good but very different. I haven't listened to some of the others yet.

The later albums aren't great but have some good songs on them. If you'd pick a top 3 from each of the latest 3 albums. Then make a sonically coherent album. That album could be rather nice. As they stand now? Average. The competition during the 70's was way to firerce for any of the three to stand out.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

I was thinking recently the same thing, if you took the best from those later albums and made one solid album it would be really really strong.

I must say I don't like the U.S. covers of Very Eavy and Salisbury. Not a great deal of thought put into them. I like all of their albums up to Magician's Birthday, then I thought the quality and song consistency started to slip. Of those albums there was always some killers song but plenty to skip.

The American covers are better than the British ones, especially Very 'Eavy. That was the first Heep album I ever heard, and I must admit I hated it at first, mainly due to 'Come Away Melinda', which is just awful (and I wasn't crazy about the lyrics for 'Gypsy', either). No doubt some tiresome English person will point out that Salisbury is pronounced Sorlsbree. Sorry, and Happy New Year.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

"Lucy Blues" is what always ruined the first album for me.

Love heap but the Byron era is my least fav era.

@1oriss

5 ай бұрын

Sorry about the heap, heep, I sort of tired.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

That's interesting...what's your favorite era?

@1oriss

5 ай бұрын

​@@LairoftheAlchemistdon't have a fav, I don't really like the 70's sound, much prefer 80's onwards sound. Strange as I was in my teen in the 70's.

The US version of Salisbury is definitely better for having Simon the Bullet freak on it rather than Bird of Prey which i find to be the most laughable Heep song which after 40 years of listening to it, still makes me laugh. So in turn, i'd rather also have lucy Blues on Very Eavy Very Umble and wish bird of prey had just been a miss-able single. The most annoying aspect to heep is that they weakened the albums by including one or two filler or poor songs, then when the reissues with all the outakes came out, you realise they could have been much better albums. "Why" for instance is a fantastic track. And there are a good 10+ better songs they didn't include over the years and they could actually release them all as one great album. High n Mighty definitely at the bottom though, terrible album with an even worse and again pretty laughable cover.

Been a Heep fan since 1972 - yeah - I’m old. Can’t really argue with your picks too much. I agree on the bottom 3 - but I would but then in a different order. Too 3 sounds just about right but I might switch them around - not sure - they’re all good.

Salisbury is the greatest Heep song... The song is just pure bliss epicness.

@LairoftheAlchemist

5 ай бұрын

I agree...I kinda' wish they had done more like that.