Search - Uriah Heep :: Live

Expanded Deluxe Remaster of Uhiah Heep - Live '73

Richard Thompson | El Paso, Texas | 07/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Uriah Heep Live in 1973 is one of my all-time personal favorite Live albums by any band. It certainly made my Top Ten list of "The Best of the Best Live Albums" listmania list. If you are not familiar with the music and are looking for a "music review", see other reviews for the older single disc $9.98 version. There are plenty of good reviews.



My review is mainly about the new Sanctuary Records Expanded Deluxe Remaster and how it compares to other previous releases. I recently decided to finally upgrade my Uriah Heep Live cd and decided on this Import version. I have a very old original Mercury Records/Polydor release from 1989. It was a single disc (69:25) with 12 tracks, a simple 3-leaf fold-out booklet with mini-biographies of the band members, some production notes, and some small color photos on one page. The older version really only had 11 songs on it since the "intro" is track 1, which is the "Give us a minute to tune the guitars and voices and things and we'll be with ya" part. The Rock 'n Roll Medley was cut on the early version due to the indusrty standard 74 minute compact disc in those days.



This Expanded Deluxe edition 2-disc set is a great improvement. Disc 1 is the complete concert as we all know it, same as the original 2-LP vinyl release on Bronze Records (SRM-2-7503). Clocking in at (77:47) the sound is good. Compared to my older release, the new Sactuary Import has slightly more output. Their is a restored even balance. More defined clear bass response. Much better high-end frequency response. Crisp highs without additional tape hiss. Improved separation. On my older Polydor release, the instruments and voices sound slightly "distant". Buried a little in the murky bass response. On the Import, everything is brought forward sonically.



The two discs are housed in a standard size double cd jewel case. I guess it would be considered "slimline". There is a 23 page booklet which includes the original sleeve notes, original full-size photos of each band member (w/signitures), full gate-fold live stage shot, and newly updated commentary from surviving members Ken Hensley and Mick Box. There are even two pages of reproduction album dust covers showing bad reviews for the band!



Disc 2 is all bonus material. Basically other Live recordings from the same 1973-74 era. Disc 2 is (55:28) in length and contains 12 tracks. If you look at some of the track listings for this product you will notice some tracks appearing twice. Here's the story on that. The first four songs are from a US Radio show that was broadcast in 1973. Songs include Something or Nothing, I Won't Mind, Look at Yourself, and a heavily edited version of Gypsy. The other eight tracks are from the infamous Shepperton Film Studios show from June 1974. These are Easy Livin', So Tired, I Won't Mind, Something or Nothing, The Easy Road, Stealin', Love Machine, and the Rock'n Roll Medley. This additional material was discovered by Robert Corich while doing research for this project.



The only thing missing is a live recording of The Wizard, which is rumoured to have been played during the show, along with Lady in Black, Bird of Prey, and Come Away Melinda. But, these tracks were cut to fit onto the 2-LP format. And, as stated by Robert Corich in the production notes, no multi-track tapes, except for the one used to make the original vinyl album, exists today.



I highly recommend this Live album. Especially if you tend to lean towards Hard Rock or Heavy Metal."

Double Life

eurocrank | Ketchikan, Alaska | 06/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A historically underrated band, Uriah Heep has been well served with remastered versions of their albums, showing that popular acts (like Dickens) sometimes prove the critics wrong in terms of quality and longevity. This album especially.



For one thing, it's raw and truthful. Unlike other classic Seventies double-live albums, "Uriah Heep Live" was recorded one sole January night in Birmingham, England, and unlike similar albums by the Allmans, Derek and the Dominos, Led Zeppelin, and Thin Lizzy, it doesn't reveal significant overdubs or splicings. The Seventies were an age when studios and producers became name brands, and even "live" albums were stamped with their mark. "Uriah Heep Live" isn't, yet almost every track is superior to its studio incarnation. What makes this version of this exceptional album the best yet is the bonus disc of additional live tracks.



The original 1989 CD release did not include the 'Rock 'N' Roll Medley' from the vinyl album. The 1996 Castle remaster corrected this due-to-CD-time-limitations problem with the additional track, better sound, and superb packaging. The 2003 Sanctuary remaster sounds even better (thicker, more detailed) and includes not just the complete album but an additional disc of live material mostly postdating the 1973 album. The first four tracks were originally heard as a U.S. radio show compiled from live recordings made in 1973 ("Uriah Heep Live") and 1974 (Shepperton Studios sessions). The other eight tracks come from the Shepperton Studios sessions BUT, like the two (duplicate) tracks that were included in the radio show, with tremendously improved sound quality. That is, the formerly hard-to-hear guitar parts are now as loud as they should be, and the "Wonderworld" tracks come across as they always should have--as classic Uriah Heep. The mushy echo is gone.



Uriah Heep fans should feel blessed. Young goth listeners could do far worse than trying out a band that, in its early years, could drive reviewers to contemplate suicide. Any other fan of 70s hard rock would do well to pick up this exemplary reissue."