Uriah Heep – ...Very 'Eavy ...Very 'Umble (1970)

When I was about 14 years old, I started to lose interest in the 90's heavy metal and hard rock bands like Metallica and Guns n' Roses. What replaced them, was 70's heavy rock. The sounds very more authentic and I was intrigued by the clearer way of singing. The most obvious bands in this category were Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. My father had listened to these bands in his youth and we had some vinyl albums at home where I could start my plunge into this genre. He also had one Uriah Heep album (Demons & Wizards) that I really liked. That album led me to listen to Uriah Heep and it became one of my favourite bands in that time. ...Very 'Eavy ...Very 'Umble is the band's debut album. It's not their best one by far, but there are a couple of really good songs nevertheless. I have this album as a remastered jewel case CD, which doesn't really give full justice for the authenticity of this kind of album, but that was what was available in those days.



Uriah Heep's lead singer David Byron has one of the most amazing voices of rock history. His vocals extend to ridiculous heights. He doesn't make the full use of it on this album yet, but you can still see that it's there. The guitars have a very sharp sound that goes well together with the almost shredding organ sound. Typically for the time, the album has some progressive rock elements in the form of strange rhythm changes and jazzy bass lines. The songs range from properly heavy rock songs to beautiful ballads.

The opening song Gypsy is one of the best songs on the album and it resembles band's later sound more than the other songs on the album. That song also already shows some of the high-pitched vocals of David Byron. Possibly my favourite song on the album is the beautiful ballad Come Away Melinda. The flute on the background was quite typical at the time of this album, making a resemblance to medieval English folk music. The gentle vocals in this song are really good. Lucy Blues is a proper blues song. I'll Keep On Trying really shows the amazing talent of the band. There are some great solos and jamming in this song. Mick Box's solo guitar is quite spectacular which gets even more room on Uriah Heep's second album, Salisbury. The closing song Wake Up (Set Your Sights) is a proper progressive rock song that resembles bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer or Yes.

When I started to express interest in this band, my father told me that he had seen the band live at Ruisrock, a Finnish rock festival, in the early 70's. He even had a small piece of paper with the band's autographs. I had this autograph slip on my wall in my room for years and I was really proud of it. Me and my father have almost always had similar views on music, but this period in my life was the only time I really expressed interest into his music. Rest of the time, it has gone the other way around.

I may not listen to Uriah Heep that much anymore, but whenever I do, I get kind of nostalgic. Even though these albums are lot older than I am, they have a special place in my heart and they remind me of a specific period in my life when I was about 14 to 16 years old and I hadn't yet discovered modern indie rock.

Listen to album on Spotify.