A Rock Odyssey: Celebrating Uriah Heep's Legacy and a Personal Top 20 Soundtrack

My brother Jim's influence on my musical journey was profound, and nowhere more so than with the band Uriah Heep. This episode is a heartfelt homage to those rock legends, as I weave personal tales around their historic rise, the evolution of their sound, and the impact of their lineup metamorphosis. From their early days to their current form, we'll celebrate Uriah Heep's undying spirit and their indelible mark on heavy metal and progressive rock, underlining why great music can weather any storm of change.

Imagine standing in the electric atmosphere of a Southern California venue, moments away from meeting the titans of rock themselves, Uriah Heep. I bring this scene to life with an anecdote of such an encounter, complete with the thrill of live music and the magic of personal interactions. Listen in as I recount the details of meeting Mick Box and Bernie Shaw, drawing you into the shared moments that define the band's profound connection with their fans and showcasing their ability to leave a lasting impression long after the concert lights have dimmed.

Strap in for a ride through the quintessential Uriah Heep experience as I count down my top 20 tracks from these rock pioneers. Feel the passion behind each selection as I describe the essence of what makes songs like "Sympathy" and "July Morning" timeless classics. This isn't just a list; it's a narrative journey through Uriah Heep's storied discography, inviting fans old and new to relive the highs and rediscover the deep cuts that have cemented the band's place in rock history. Join me, and let's explore the harmony-laden, organ-fueled soundscapes that only Uriah Heep can deliver. #tellyourstory #thebenmaynardprogram #familymatters #classicrock #progrock #heavymetal #uriahheep #mickbox #kenhensley #davidbyron #johnlawton #bernieshaw #phillanzon #daverimmer #russellgilbrook

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Hey everyone, welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. A little bit of housekeeping to take care of before we get started. As a reminder, this program is available on multiple podcast platforms like Apple Podcast, amazon Music and Spotify, among several others. Of course, if you can't resist this beautifulness right here, then you can always watch on YouTube. And if you are watching on YouTube, then please subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. Love comments. I'd appreciate it very much. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Simply Ben Maynard program. So plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And with that we'll recap the last episode.

Speaker 1: 1:09

That was my Z02 review, their brand new album that was out and we talked a little bit about them and kind of a little bit of their history, what's going on, what had been going on with them and what they're doing now. Really good album. Check it out, okay, and I'm hoping to have a nice surprise for you guys coming up here real soon. So just stay with me, all right, appreciate it. And with that let's get the ball rolling. So I want to talk about this band that I've been a fan of since I don't know. I was probably eight or nine years old and I was introduced to this band by my brother, Jim. I've been a fan ever since. They are so near and dear to me and that band is Uriah Heap. As you can see, I'm wearing their T-shirt right here, so I got a shill for the boys.

Speaker 1: 2:13

This is a band that's been around since 1969. They're one of the original creators of heavy metal prog rock, right up there, I should say, with Black Sabbath, deep Purple Black Sabbath leaning a little more towards the heavy metal side of it, uriah Heap leaning more towards the prog side of it, like Deep Purple, but certainly some, I guess you could consider some heavy metal influences. Anyway, they get some real heavy stuff but also real melodic and at times proggy too. Really really good. So the original lineup was Mick Box on guitar and vocals, ken Hensley on keyboards, guitars, vocals, david Byron vocals, paul Newton was on bass and vocals and Keith Baker on drums and vocals.

Speaker 1: 3:28

They had their first lineup change with the third album, Look it Yourself. I believe that was in 1971, I think Keith Baker was replaced by Ian Clark on drums and when the band was preparing for their fourth album, which was Demons and Wizards. They then again had two lineup changes. Paul Newton was replaced on bass by literally the great Gary Thane, and Ian Clark was replaced on drums by what I consider to be one of the greatest rock drummers ever. That's the Bear Lee Cursed Lake.

Speaker 1: 4:18

So stay with me here. So stay with me for a moment. Okay, I'm not going to go through the entire history of the band, although I literally could, and I could do it very easily. That's how much I really just I just really love these guys so much. So I just I want to make a point, though. That's why I kind of bring some of this stuff up and I'll go through a little bit of the history, but not the whole thing. So, like I said, stay with me, because I do want to make a point. And the point is that you can't keep a good band down, and in this case a great band. So that lineup there that came in on the fourth album, demons and Wizards. That's considered their classic lineup, and they only recorded four albums with that lineup.

Speaker 1: 5:20

But after the 1976 album, high and Mighty, the voice of the band, david Byron, was. He was fired for inconsistencies performing live and he was also dealing with some substance issues. So in comes John Lawton to take over on vocals and the lineup was also then solidified with former David Bowie bassist Trevor Boulder. I'm hoping some of you are familiar with Trevor and his work. I guess if you're going to replace a great like Gary Thane, no better person to do it than Trevor Boulder. Trevor Boulder is fabulous. This particular lineup. They produced three albums Firefly, innocent Victim and Fallen Angel. Two of those two of those albums there, those are among my favorites. If I was ranking all the albums, the two of those would definitely be in my top 10.

Speaker 1: 6:24

So, beginning in 1984, for the next five years, four or five years I guess, while the band went through several lineup changes, including founding member Ken Hensley. He left right after the release of the 1980 album Conquest and then the next three albums. Those were Abominag, headfirst and Equator. Those featured Peter Golby on vocals and what I can say about those albums, that is seemed on those three the band was, they were looking well, they kind of I shouldn't say looking, but they were trying to I don't know reach out to a younger audience, bring in a younger audience, and they were kind of taking on that sound of the new British wave of heavy metal, and I think I may have mentioned that before, but I'm not a big fan of those three albums. But there is some really good stuff on there, something on each album and some that is among my favorite songs from the band.

Speaker 1: 8:01

So B, this is a Vampire and I'm justЭ. Now, again, I hope you're sticking with me on this one. My point is coming. It's really coming okay, but in 1986, the lineup of Mick Box, trevor Boulder and Lee Curslake found themselves with two new members. That would be Phil Lansen, who took over on keyboards and vocals, and Bernie Shaw, who came in to take care of the vocals. This particular lineup became the most, and has been the most, consistent lineup in the band's entire history. They were together the longest and they were just about as prolific as any other lineup that the band had. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that Lee Curslake had to bow out in 2007 due to some health issues and Trevor Boulder passing away from cancer in 2013, who knows what this band would have done and what they would be doing to this day. They might still be together, but, needless to say, that particular well, I should say the core of the band now has still been together for 37 years.

Speaker 1: 9:40

But after Lee's exit from the band, russell Gilbrook came in on drums and the next four years that lineup produced four albums Wake the Sleeper I'm sorry, they produced two albums in four years. That's what it was. Two albums in four years was Wake the Sleeper and Into the Wild, which they contain, great material, great material. And then, after Trevor Boulder's passing, dave Remer, who kills it, and he's been killing it on bass, came in. So the current lineup now as it's constituted, has been together since 2014, and they've released three outstanding albums Outsider, Live in the Dream and 2023's Chaos and Color, and that's the one I talked about on the last show of 2023. So really really good stuff. Okay, so what's the point now? What's the point to all of this? The point is that, with the exception of one album, in my opinion, where the band lost their way, that was 1980s Conquest album, and I just kind of I don't know, I kind of think that one's a bit of a mess and what I don't like about it.

Speaker 1: 11:15

John Sloman came in on vocals, and not to say that John Sloman was a terrible singer, because actually he had a really good voice and sounded really good, but I don't think that his interpretations of the songs that Ken Hensley was writing was what the band really wanted or what they needed. Certainly not what they were expecting, and I know just by listening to the album myself. In the sound structure or not sound in the song structure those songs to me sound like Jim Steinman compositions, and if anybody's familiar with Jim Steinman, he was the writer for most of Meatloaf's material, certainly all of Bad Out of Hell and Bad Out of Hell 2. And Jim's written for many other artists as well. But he writes these. I don't want to say operatic, but they're just different and they are sort of I could go in that operatic range. I guess as a structure it's not Uriah Heap and it wasn't Uriah Heap and John Sloman. He, like I said, I don't think he interpreted the songs the way they were meant to be, but he also sounded like what's his name? Justin Hawkins from the Darkness, doing some vocal gymnastics that just weren't the band at all. So, as I said, to me that one was a mess. And then the three Peter Golby albums where the band was was to me looking for a younger audience with that new wave of British heavy metal sound. It just there were flashes of Heap on those albums but it wasn't very consistent so with I don't know. I just think now that the current line of stays a lot closer to that classic Heap sound.

Speaker 1: 13:41

But going back some Uriah Heap fans, they might consider the early 90s the lost years or the wilderness years for the band and I think that might have a bit to do with the musical climate at the time. That was the grunge era really. We had that first part of the decade. First half of the decade was the grunge era. But to me, since 1986, the band has been as strong musically as any point in their history. Even though Mick Box may be the only original member, as I said, the core line has been together what is it? 37 years, I guess.

Speaker 1: 14:38

So this is a real band. They're not a nostalgic act touring and trying to make it off of their 70s catalog or their classics. These guys are continuing to put out great music. That fits right in and it stands up with anything. Anything in the classic catalog and I guess I use classic in the sense of the 70s era Uriah Heap. But when you see this band, the set list, it changes often. There's a few of the classic songs that Heap fans expect to hear that are dropped from the set from night to night to make room for new stuff or stuff that's been put out within the last 10 to 15 years.

Speaker 1: 15:43

So they don't rest on their laurels. It's just a great band that puts out great material. They're still out there working it hard, they're slugging it out. As a matter of fact, they have a tour coming up. They have a tour coming up. I believe it starts sometime in April of 2024, so this year, right now it's running April and May. I believe it starts about mid-April, runs to the end of May and it's a co-headline with Saxon.

Speaker 1: 16:19

Now I'll be quite honest with you. I'm not going to try to fool anyone. I don't know the first thing about Saxon. I've heard of them. I know they lean a little, probably harder and more towards the heavy metal side. But yeah, I'm not going to try to pretend that I know anything about Saxon, but it's a co-headline tour with Saxon.

Speaker 1: 16:44

Unfortunately for me, there are no shows currently near Southern California. That's kind of a drag. But I did notice that on the website it said that they will be adding more shows. So I'm hopeful and crossing my fingers, because these guys, they're just outstanding. They really are. And though Bernie Shaw is really, he's the fifth lead singer in the band outside of David Byron. He's the best. He does a great job. He doesn't try to be David Byron, he tries to be Bernie Shaw and he sings those ERI Heap songs, even the ones that he wasn't a part of. He sings those just as they need to be done and they should be done. And great guys, great guys.

Speaker 1: 17:38

I've had an opportunity. Oh gosh, it's probably been almost 10 years. I had an opportunity to meet the guys in the band. I had seen a show they were opening up for Blue Oyster Cult and I wish that bill was flipped around because Uri Heap tore the roof off the theater that I saw them in. They were great, but after they're set and it was in a theater, I don't know, a 3000 seater, something like that and after they're set, I happened to walk out into the lobby. I went with my brother because, as I said before, my brother, jim, introduced me to this band, so I had taken him to the show and I said, hey, stay here, I'm going to go out to the lobby. I probably went to use restroom or something, but I see the guys in the band, all five members of Uri Heap, walking through the lobby and so they were kind of just in a line and I stopped them and congratulated them on a great show.

Speaker 1: 18:57

But I then talk to Mick Box for just a brief moment and I said, hey, just want you to know, I'm a huge fan. I've been a fan since whatever it was I think I said 1973, 1974, whatever and my brother is the one who turned me on to you guys and he says oh, thanks, mate, appreciate it. So on and so on. Very, very nice, very genuine guy Shakes my hand, happy to hear it all that good stuff. So I go back to my seat and I tell my brother, hey, guess who I just ran into in the lobby, and tell my ran into all the guys in the band. And I said, yeah, I even spoke to Mick for a couple minutes, and so on and so on.

Speaker 1: 19:46

And so we sit through the BOC set and afterwards we walking through the lobby on our way out, we notice that in different areas in the lobby each member of the band is almost holding court with someone. They're just having a soda or a cocktail or whatever it was that they were drinking and just talking with their fans. Nothing special, no meet and greet event, nothing extra to have to pay for. They're just walking around the lobby talking with everyone. And so I happened to go up to Bernie Shaw and I said hey, bernie, great show, great job. I love how you stay true to the David Byron stuff, but you make it your own. And he says, yeah, thanks a lot, appreciate it. And I'm the fifth lead singer. I said, yeah, you are, you know. I said but, man, you do a great job and I love it. I appreciate it. And then I said, hey, can we take a couple selfies? And so grabbed my camera out. He stands right by me. We snap a couple of photos. I did a terrible job taking them, but he was kind enough to do that and that was just. That was a ton of fun.

Speaker 1: 21:12

So I went and found my brother. He was running around somewhere. I don't know where Jim was, but I said hey, jim, come here. And I tapped him on the shoulder. I said come here, I got someone I want you to meet. Walked right up to Mick Box and I said hey, mick. I said this was my brother I was telling you about, who introduced me to the band and he just like threw his hands up oh, that's great. And they started talking, carrying on a real conversation, not just hey, thanks, see you later, bye. And so I let them go for a couple of minutes, and it was. It was just a couple of minutes, but it was. It's a great couple of minutes. And so I thought, hey, I'm gonna do my brother a favor. I got my phone out. I said Mick, can I take a picture of the two of you guys? He says sure. So I snapped off a couple of pictures on my phone and those ones actually came out good. So I made sure that I printed a copy out and I put it in a frame, gave it to my brother and he has that sitting up on his computer or by his computer. So it's a memory that he'll always have and I'm happy that I could give it to him.

Speaker 1: 22:23

But getting back to Uriah Heat Live, these guys knock it out of the park every night. It is so good to see them play, it's so great to hear that stuff, and they do such an amazing job with it, staying true to their sound A lot of Hammond organ, a lot of Wawa guitar by Mick Box, and Mick Box is just so, so underrated as a guitar player. I mean, you never hear his name mentioned anytime. When it comes to the greatest guitarists of all time and the greatest guitarists of anything, his name's never mentioned. But listen to Uriah Heat, see him live, listen to Mick Box, listen to the work that he does, watch him play and it's almost effortless when he does it and it's just dynamite, just dynamite stuff.

Speaker 1: 23:26

So yeah, I just thought I would share that a little bit with you, and I also want to share this. I thought you know what I'm gonna. Their catalog is so extensive. They've got 25 studio albums and they probably have more than that on live compilations, and then there are various greatest hits packages in one form or another. But they've got a ton of material out there.

Speaker 1: 24:00

So I thought what I would do is I would put together, put together my Uriah Heat top 20 songs. I think that it would. I think that would probably take me too long to go through their catalog and try to rank all their albums. And I'll be honest with you too, I will. I'll be very, very upfront with everybody out here. There are a few albums in the catalog that I've maybe only listened to one time and it might not have been recently either. So, to be fair about ranking their studio albums, you know it. Just, it wouldn't be fair to do that. I would be putting the albums that I had not listened to in a long time at the bottom of my list and maybe, once I took them in a little bit more, that they would rank differently. So I wanted to be fair to that and I didn't. I didn't want to do that. Who knows, maybe somewhere down the line I like doing these lists, you know so I did so.

Speaker 1: 25:18

I put together my top 20 Uriah Heat songs and this this was, this was brutal. It really was. It was so hard, if you know. I hope that I've got Uriah Heat fans out here watching this or listening to this, and I hope that you appreciate this. And if you're not a Uriah Heat fan, then look them up. There's a bazillion things on on on YouTube to listen to or to watch, you know, and you can source their music everywhere. So check it out if you're not already in the Uriah Heat camp.

Speaker 1: 26:07

But this was absolutely brutal for me. I think I stopped. I was going through the catalog and I was jotting down, like, my favorite songs from each of the albums, and, and I just finally stopped at like 30 songs, I said, well, I have to whittle this down to 20. And I can kind of already see that I know there are 20 of them in here, or at least you know that were at least 15 of them that I knew would be on this list for sure. So so I stopped at about 30 and and I thought, well, this is going to kill me to do all this. And, and it was, it was. It was so hard, a lot harder than I thought it would be. So I will. I don't have any clips to play sorry, still haven't worked out that music deal but so no clips to play.

Speaker 1: 27:06

But at number 20, off of the Firefly album, that was John Lawton's first album with Eurehi. That was, I believe, 1976. Sympathy, that's my number 20. I probably should. Before I even go further, I probably should tell you I've got. I probably should throw in a couple of honorable mentions. Yeah, I think I will, but they're honorable mentions.

Speaker 1: 27:37

So those two are Paradise the Spell. That they're. It's combined two songs Paradise, the Spell from Demons and Wizards, which is just a fabulous album, and Hurricane, which was one of the singles released last year off of Chaos and Color. So and that's, that's a really good song. It just look, if my list was 22, that song would be on the list, but the list is 20.

Speaker 1: 28:07

And there are songs that I left off of here that I said, oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm leaving this off the list. First, I had hard enough time just putting them in order from 20 to one and I can't. I would get to a song and say, gosh, I can't believe I'm putting it at this number right here. Can't believe I'm putting this song here. Okay, so anyway, again number 20, sympathy, off of Firefly. At number 19,.

Speaker 1: 28:34

Off of the Return to Fantasy album, the title track Return to Fantasy, at number 18, off of the band's fourth album and the first with, as I called it, their classic lineup. That album is Demons and Wizards and the song at number 18 is Traveler in Time. Let's see Number 17, off of the Fallen Angel album. That's the last album with John Lawton. That one is I'm Alive and already in within the first four songs I've got two John Lawton songs. Can you believe that? That's awesome? John Lawton was such a great singer and sounded nothing like David Byron, but had a unique sound to his voice and did just a great job on the three albums that he recorded with the band. Let's see number 16,. Second one off of this album, firefly, the song Hanging Tree.

Speaker 1: 29:53

Number 15, off of the Abominag album. That is Peter Goldie's first album with the band. The way that it is, that's a good song. I really do enjoy that song. I liked it the first time I saw it and I believe eesh, I believe the first time I saw that because the album was released in 1982 and I believe the first time I heard that I saw the video for it on MTV. I think that's what it was, and I thought John Lawton, who's this guy here? This is my band. Is he right? Heap, of course there's no internet back there back then in 1982. We don't have access to the information we do now as quickly as we do now. We didn't have all that back then. It was hard to find out what your favorite bands were doing, unless you were buying every single issue of circus or hit parade or a corang or whatever it was. Anyway, number 15, the way that it is off of the Abominag album. It's a really good song. Okay, number 14.

Speaker 1: 31:18

My first entry on this list from Bernie Shaw on Lead Vocals From the Live in the Dream album Grazed by Heaven. That's the lead track, and what a man, what a kickass song this out of. I think. To me, this album, live in the Dream, ranks right up there with any album in their catalog from the classic lineup, any album at all. If I did have to make a list of all the You're Right Heap studio albums from bottom to top, I would say Live in the Dream is probably top five. Easy, it's that good, that good. And a band putting out an album that good at this late stage in their career, which the album came out in 2018. I mean just, I mean, forget about it. A lot of bands, most bands, just don't do that. Yet these guys, these, these guys did. This is just a kickass song on a kickass album, all right. So at number 13, it's all been said, off of Live in the Dream. So back to back songs off of that album. That's how good it is. It's how good it is.

Speaker 1: 33:01

Number 12, off of the Fallen Angel album. Second time for that album. Put your Lovin' On Me. I don't know something about that song, just gets me every time. Great guitar work by Mick Fox. It's not a heavy song, it's, it's a more. It's not a ballad song, but it is a. It is a softer song, slower tempo, and John Lawton, as he starts to get towards the end of the song, he just really starts, he just belting it out, and so good. I love when he screams in a song. It just sounds so, so good. Okay, okay, number 11, and I can't believe this is this is what I said. I can't believe this song is that low on the list.

Speaker 1: 33:54

But number 11, the, the, the lead track off of Magician's Birthday, sunrise. What a great song, what a great song. And and it starts out a little bit kind of a little bit slow, you know, not chugging, but just slow, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And you wouldn't think that make a great album opener, you wouldn't think that that would make a great concert opener. But once it kicks in, forget it. It's the. It's not only the, the lead song on Magician's Birthday, but it's the first track off of Uriah Heap. Live this one right here, 1973. It's the lead track and it's it's. Yeah, it's so good, it's so good the, the harmonies on it are great and that's one thing about Uriah Heap that still to this day, these guys know harmonies, these guys can sing. Every member of the band sings and and they vote, they harmonize so well, it's, it's just incredible Sounds. So so good, so okay.

Speaker 1: 35:25

Number 11, sunrise off of Magician's Birthday. All right, that takes us to the top 10. And another one, that one. I looked at it and I said I cannot believe I'm putting this song at number 10. I just can't believe it. But that's where it is and that's the lead track off of Demons and Wizards the Wizard. And it. Now that is a soft song. But just go and listen to any album in the Uriah Heap catalog. Let's put any album in the 70s era, uriah Heap, and any album from probably 1990 on, or 89, 1989 on, and just listen to those harmonies. Just it's so, it's just amazing. And they do it again.

Speaker 1: 36:27

First, first song right out of the gate, off of Demons and Wizards the Wizard. Okay, number nine off of the Firefly album, the title track, firefly. I think. That's two, no, that's three, three off of Firefly. This is a great album. It's a great album, it's. It's underrated in the Uriah Heap catalog. I don't know why, but it's. It's one of my favorite albums, it's just that good. And another song gosh, it's so funny.

Speaker 1: 37:05

Another song when I, when I put this one on the list and I'm looking at it and I'm going, how in the world is this song that low? I don't get it Again off the Demons and Wizards album and it's Rainbow Demon. And if you have the album, it's the first track on side two and it's so good and it chugs. It chugs in the beginning, starts out real slow, slow but heavy, and and then when it kicks into the chorus, that's it. You hear the harmonies, kicks into the chorus and and and and you hear the harmonies of the band and it's just so good. It just man. Such a great song. It might be my brother's favorite song off of Demons and Wizards, but yeah, I'm looking at my list right now. I can't believe this song is that low, all right.

Speaker 1: 38:08

So on to number seven. That is from the Live in the Dream album, again from 2018. Take away my soul, man. What a just so good. So, so, so good. It's just, it's a. It's got a great, great guitar lick in there by Mick Box, and most of these songs do have some sort of fabulous guitar lick by by Mick. But son of a gun, it's man. It's just so good, it's so good. And and, like I said, it's just the amazing thing about this band is how great they still are 54 years later. I mean, come on, they're so good, all right. So number seven take away my soul off Live in the Dream.

Speaker 1: 39:15

Number six off of live in the dream, the title track, live in the dream, and if you know that song, it is so Like. I say I mean this. This entire album, live in the dream is so right up there with anything that the band did in the 70s, and I mean this, this one More so than then, even the ones prior, the albums prior where they had a lot of the the classic heap sound, but maybe not as Consistent through and through on the albums. This one here, front to back, boom it is, it's just, you know it. And when this song opens up, it's nothing but five guys singing, singing the first line of the song, and then it kicks in and it sounds so good.

Speaker 1: 40:13

When I played it from my brother, jim, who loves harmonies, you know I mean, but come on, who doesn't really Okay, and I said you got to listen to this and I put it on and as soon as it kicked in he looked at me and his eyes got like silver dollars. He said oh my gosh, that is so good. So he said that is so your right, heap. I said you got it All right. So that was number six live in the dream. Number five man, what a great song here. Number five off of demons and wizards circle of hands. Such a good song. Such a good song. And and I'll be on I could have gone with the live version on that very easily off of live 73.

Speaker 1: 41:07

Very easily, because it's that good. But both versions are just so good I figured I'm just gonna stick with the studio version on that. Number four Tears in my eyes. That song's off of look at your self album. But I I like the live version off of live 73 a bit better.

Speaker 1: 41:33

I think the guitars sound more. I Don't know it's, it's a thicker sound I guess, but it's so good. There's, I mean, ken Hensley comes out from behind the keyboards on that one when they play live to play slide guitar. So it's all guitars in the band, all the guitars in the band playing that song. It's just a fast Song and it's so good, so so good. And you know Ken Hensley. He's known for not only his singing abilities and he had a great voice. He had a great voice. He had a great voice but it was, you know, known for keyboard playing, but he was. He wasn't as known for his guitar playing ability as he was and he played all the slide guitar in the band and that song just kicks ass. So good, um, ok, so number three.

Speaker 1: 42:44

We're at number three now and that is off of the Magician's Birthday album and it's the title track, magician's Birthday, and that song is so awesome, it is so awesome. There's I mean it's, I don't know it's 10 and a half minute song and that's just on the studio album. I don't know what else to say about that song. The lyrics are great. In it there's a tradeoff, there's a tradeoff towards the end of the song and the last part of the song, a tradeoff vocally from Ken Hensley and David Byron and it's sometimes it's almost hard to tell who's who in it because Ken Hensley sounds like David Byron. That's how good his voice was.

Speaker 1: 43:36

But I love the studio version over the live version and unless you go see them live, the only other live version I heard, I have heard is on the live seventy three album and it's just, they only sing the chorus, but yeah, it's just a tremendous song and that's why it's, that's why it's number three, and and, but it's one of those songs that, as it's ending, that it sounds like it could go on forever, that it just wouldn't end. If it wasn't for somebody in the control room, you know, turning the volume down, fading it out, it probably would have gone forever. It's so good it, man, and, and I'll tell you this, my, my three, two and one, they could have. Just I could interchange any three of those. You know Magician's birthday could have been number one and you know this was next week or next month. Maybe it would have been, but anyway. So number three, magician's birthday. At number two, it's off of. I took the live version. It's off of the live 73 album.

Speaker 1: 44:55

The studio version of this song comes off of their, their, the band's, debut album and it's good. It's good. It's not like this one, it's not like this version here. This version is just, it's just something else and that's gypsy, another 11 minute song, something like that. But man, man, it is just Just killer, just killer.

Speaker 1: 45:29

Now, I'm hoping that for you you're right, heat fans out there. I'm hoping that you know what my number one song is on the list. But let me recap before we give the number one song and number 20 Sympathy. Off of Firefly, number 19, return to fantasy. Off of return to fantasy, number 18 Traveler in time. Off of demons and wizards, number 17. I'm alive. Off a fallen angel, number 16. The hanging tree. From Firefly, number 15 the way that it is. From Abominag, number 14 grazed by heaven. From living the dream, number 13. It's all been said. From living the dream Number 12 put your loving on me. From fallen angel, number 11. Sunrise. From magicians, birthday, number 10. The wizard. From demons and wizards Number nine firefly. From Firefly, number eight rainbow demon. From demons and wizards Number seven take away my soul. From living the dream. Number six live in the dream. From living the dream. Number five circle of hands. From demons and wizards, number four tears in my eyes. From live 73, number three magicians birthday. From magicians. Birthday number two gypsy.

Speaker 1: 46:55

From the live album, live 73 and Number one and, like I said, between one, two and three, they I could interchange them all, but at number one and I took the live version and the studio version is great. Off of look at yourself, but I took the live version of July morning. Yeah, man, I Don't know else to say. This version is great. Off of live 73 is just Fantastic. I don't, I don't know how else to describe it. It's lengthy another 11 minute song and a lot of those.

Speaker 1: 47:38

I absolutely love those big Epic songs from your right heat because they do such a good job. They've got different time changes and and and Guitar solos, drum solos, things like that, oh, even a keyboard solo and I love listening to to Ken Hensley, you know, put in his keyboard solos on Actually I think there's one on these last three songs on my list. But so good, so, so, so good. And to hear that song, july morning, played today or well, not today, but now the band plays it live it's just the same. It's just the same. It's so, so good. They do a great job with it. It's just dynamite stuff cannot say enough. So look there's. There's my top ten or my top 20. You're right, heap songs, and I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed this. If there's some stuff on here you're not familiar with, I hope that you'll go and seek it out and Check it out, give it a listen and be honest with yourself about it too.

Speaker 1: 48:56

But this band you're right, heap they deserve a lot more. They deserve a lot more notoriety, a lot more play than what they get either in the, in the media world, certainly. I mean, we all know they're not gonna get radio play. There's like one song that gets played on the radio and it's not even on my top 20 list, but you know they're. They do really really well in Europe and they do really well in Japan, not as well in the United States. So they play smaller venues and a lot of times they're opening support for for a band. But they deserve so much more than that because, man, they just they tear it up. They're so good and so professional and, as I said before, they're not resting on their laurels. They're not a nostalgic act. These guys are out there, they are active, they are prolific, they put out music. They put out great music still to this day, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next and I'm hoping that they'll get a show near me this year so I can check it out. Anyway, that's gonna be a wrap.

Speaker 1: 50:17

Again, this program is available on multiple podcast outlets like Apple Podcasts, amazon music and Spotify, or just do a search for the Ben Maynard program. You'll have several options. Choose the one you want. I like everybody to go to Buzzsprout, but, like I said, the one that you choose, the one you want to listen to. If you're watching on Facebook, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. If you'd subscribe to the channel, it'd be even better. Give me a thumbs up, leave a comment, appreciate everything. Thank you again. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Simply, ben Maynard program. With that, we are done. Please stay close and tune in later on this week. All right, you don't want to miss it. I promise you. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.