Uriah Heep

Now, this really is a chunk to bite off and chew. This six-disc overview of the long, winding, and confounding career of Uriah Heep (confounding that Mick Box and Lee Kerslake have managed to keep it afloat for nearly 40 years), is the first box to take into consideration all the permutations this dinosaur juggernaut has been through. First, the box itself: a long box, containing the six music-packed CDs, a lavishly illustrated book with an exhaustive liner-note interview with Mick Box (the man who compiled this set, and the band's only constant member), Ken Hensley (member from 1969 -- 1980), and Lee Kerslake (left in 1979 and came back in 1981). Two of the band's founding members, vocalist David Byron and bassist Gary Thain are deceased due to self-destructive behaviors. There's also a groovy concert poster enclosed. (A DVD of concert footage would have been nice, but oh well.)

Disc one begins the tale with 12 tracks by Heep precursor bands such as the Gods, Spice, Toe Fat, Head Machine, and the Keef Hartley Band. Interestingly, this music, though it has its flaws, is utterly compelling, particularly the cuts by Spice -- the unreleased cut "Astranaza," and "Born in a Trunk" contain the earliest version of the sound the Heep would hone on Magicians Birthday and Demons and Wizards. The earliest UH material here is "Gypsy" and the previously unissued "Real Turned On" and "What's Within My Heart." It's frightening how the band has a sound a lot like the music Deep Purple would make in 1974. Hensley's keyboards against Box's roaring SG are devastating.

The Heep story continues through the glory years when they rang the bells at the higher reaches of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic through 1977, and into the demise and back again -- musically if not popularly. There are 14 unreleased studio cuts, in total, and a whopping sixth disc of live material, most of which has never been released before. Virtually every track a fan would want is here: "Sweet Lorraine," "The Magician's Birthday," "July Morning," "Look at Yourself," "Tears in My Eyes" (an unreleased alternate take), to "Easy Livin'," and "Stealin'," to "Sweet Freedom." The new cuts here, like the alternates of "Lady in Black," and "Why," are wonderful sit-ins for their originals.

It is true that the material on discs four and five can be dicey at times, but there is still plenty to love. Box did a fine job of keeping the dross of the albums from Different World through Sonic Origami at bay, but all is redeemed on disc six with the live material, showcasing the awesome power and sheer dynamic theatricality of a band that walked the line between hard rock, metal, and prog rock. Chapter and Verse is highly recommended for the faithful. All others be forewarned: the Heep might become an addictive, guilty pleasure as one of the consummate bands of the 1970s; they embodied everything wonderful about the rock decade as well as its tawdry, conceited excesses. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide