In 1976, Uriah Heep was a band in trouble.<\/p>\n
Sure, they were coming off a commercially successful album,
\nReturn To Fantasy<\/i>. But they had gone through the heartbreak
\nof firing bassist Gary Thain and the tragedy of his death shortly
\nafter the album’s release. But they had new problems on their
\nhands; lead singer David Byron was developing a serious alcohol
\nproblem, and it was beginning to adversely affect his work with the
\nband.<\/p>\n
\nHigh And Mighty<\/i>, the second and final album featuring
\nThain’s replacement John Wetton, illustrates this painfully. It has
\nits moments, but the disc also suggests this was a band dangerously
\nclose to the point of self-parody.<\/p>\n
Although most of the performances on this disc are far too
\nlightweight for a band once known for its stomping melodies,
\nHigh And Mighty<\/i> occasionally does hold out some hope at the
\nstart. “Weep In Silence” has all the makings of a classic rock
\nballad from that time period, though it needed a little more
\ndevelopment in the songwriting department. “Misty Eyes” could
\neasily have been pegged as a single, even though it doesn’t really
\nfit the bill of being a typical Uriah Heep song. Still, Byron and
\ncompany pull some magic out of the track.<\/p>\n
But there is early trouble brewing on this album. Wetton’s turn
\nas lead throat, “One Way Or Another,” is not the most comfortable
\nvocal performance I’ve ever heard, and said nothing about the
\nsinger he’d show he was as a member of Asia. “Midnight” is a track
\nthat just never gets off the ground, either in songwriting or in
\nperformance.<\/p>\n
And then, there’s “Can’t Keep A Good Band Down”. Where do I
\nbegin on this one? It’s one thing when a band who is at the top of
\ntheir game records a song about being a kick-ass group. Grand Funk
\ndid it with “We’re An American Band,” and backed up the boast with
\nan outstanding performance. But Uriah Heep was a band in trouble
\ninternally, and this almost seemed like a denial of problems. The
\nsong is supposed to be a cocky boast, but instead sounds like the
\nreceiving area of the Betty Ford Clinic – “I’m telling you, I don’t<\/p>\n
have<\/i> a problem!”<\/p>\n
The second half of
\nHigh And Mighty<\/i> sounds as if it were made up of songs that
\nwere considered sub-par for other albums. Tracks like “Footprints
\nIn The Snow,” “Make A Little Love” and “Woman Of The World” all
\nfail to impress the listener.<\/p>\n
As for the bonus tracks – has it ever occurred to anyone why
\nsome songs remain unreleased? “Name Of The Game” is explanation
\nenough for me. If it had a better vocal line, I’d have cut it some
\nslack. “Sundown,” in contrast, comes and goes without leaving much
\nof an impression.<\/p>\n
\nHigh And Mighty<\/i> would be a turning point for Uriah Heep;
\nByron was fired after this album, and Wetton packed his bass and
\nfollowed him out the door. Whether the personnel change would help
\nthis band remains to be seen on another day in another review…
\nbut this album proves that something needed to be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6348],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-36787","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-uriah-heep","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36787"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36787"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}