Instead I knuckled down and painting for a couple of hours (I'm working on a pair of giant rats I'll post soon). In the meantime, here's a record that has been largely forgotten by radio, but that has had a lasting impact on me.
Disc 310 is...Demons And Wizards
Artist: Uriah Heep
Year of Release: 1972
What’s Up With The Cover?: This is what I expect of prog rock album covers - weird fantasy inspired art. Here we find what I assume is the 'wizard' from the demons and wizards promised in the record title (you can tell, because he's got a wand). However, unless he is some kind of butterfly demon, they're missing the second part. Apart from the groovy eclipsed moon in the upper left hand corner, I can't say I like this picture, but I certainly want to like it.
How I Came To Know It: I had known Uriah Heep by name and reputation only for many years until my buddy Spence got me hooked on them via this record. He also hooked a few other friends (he's got a talent for it). For a while, as each of us would buy the remastered version, we would trade the non-remastered version down to a new person. I think that non-RM version of this record has seen at least four homes now, as various people have paid it forward.
How It Stacks Up: Uriah Heep has many records, but I only have two - this one and "The Magician's Birthday". I like them both, but I'm going to put "Demons And Wizards" on top.
Rating: 4 stars.
The early seventies was a magical time for rock and roll. Artists were doing what they wanted, with the active assistance and support from record labels you just don't see anymore. Fans had moved past the bubblegum pop of the sixties 'singles' scene, and into the joy entire records as a cohesive piece of art, to be played all the way through sequentially.
I think there is still plenty of good music being made today, but I often long for a return to the artistic sensibilities that were pervasive in 1972 when Uriah Heep released "Demons And Wizards".
If there is one word to describe this record, then that word is 'grandiose'. Undoubtedly a hard rock record, with slow n' heavy riff-driven songs like the amazing "Rainbow Demon", the album also has songs that are lighter and more up tempo like "Easy Livin'", which you could imagine being played on the FM radio of their day for mass consumption.
On top of this you have all the requisite early seventies prog elements; bizarre and fantastical topics, time signature changes and otherworldly organs and synthesizer sounds. It is a brave record that is not afraid to go in a lot of different musical directions, while at the same time maintaining its hard rock soul throughout.
The lyrics are a guilty pleasure. Yes they are over the top, but only in the most delicious way possible. I'm sure that songs on this record would later inspire artists like Dio to ride tigers, see rainbows in the dark and stay out too long on the moonlight sea.
The first song you hear ("The Wizard") sets things off with a perfect blend of fantasy novel hyperbole and hippy philosophy:
"He was the wizard of a thousand kings
and I chanced to meet him one night wandering
He told me tales and he drank my wine
Me and my magic man kinda feeling fine."
That is good stuff, but my favourite is this section from a later track, "Circle Of Hands":
"Sky full of eyes, minds full of lies
Black from their cold hearts, down to their graves
murdered the dawn, spreading their scorn
Cursing the sun of which love was born.
"We must keep them away, or pretty soon we'll pay
And count the cost in sorrow
Sacrifice, the future has its price
And today is only yesterday's tomorrow"
The last line is one of Sheila's absolute most hated, to which I can only retort that it is so bad it is actually good. The whole record is suitable for drunken quoting at parties. Like Neil Diamond's "I Am I Said", quoting lines from "Demons And Wizards" can only be successful when done in a loud and authoritative voice, where you are absolutely certain of the awesomeness and deep inner meaning of what you're saying.
Lest such comments diminish Heep's talents, I would invite you to consider the hidden genius amongst the sword and sorcery silliness. These lines from "Poet's Justice":
"Run swiftly / silver stream
Find my love / or let me dream
Incorporate both internal alliteration and a natural caesura (or dramatic pause in the middle of each line). You might recognize such craft in earlier works. Like - say - Beowulf.
"Demons and Wizards" obviously isn't at the level of Beowulf, but it is a damned fine prog rock record that needs to be known by more fans. As noted above, my version is digitally remastered with three added tracks (the radio edit and extended versions of "Why" as well as "Home Again To You") all of which are good complements to the flow. In fact, the furious bass line in the extended version of "Why" is a damned fine trip all on its own.
Sure this record is a bit hokey in places, but it is exactly as hokey as it needs to be and no more. It may not be five stars, but it is an excellent album that is not content to play it safe.
Best tracks: The Wizard, Traveller in Time, Poet's Justice, Circle of Hands, Rainbow Demon, Why (extended version)
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