Uriah Heep

Sonic Origami

continuing the tradition of its predecessor...

Review Score:

(10/10)
In 1994 Uriah Heep roared back to life with their first truly great album in arguably 17 years ... and many would say longer still, but for me, 1977's "Firefly", not 1973's "Sweet Freedom", was the last truly great Uriah Heep album. In spite of the fact that in an earlier review here at Amazon I gave 1980's "Conquest" five stars, it wasn't "great" in the way that Heep's material from the time of the classic lineup and their first release with John Lawton were... Conquest is purely, 100 per cent enjoyable, hence the five star rating, but fails to capture my imagination in the way the other albums I've mentioned do. But I digress already, not even having started! 1998's "Sonic Origami", the album I'm **supposed** to be writing about here today, continues the tradition set by the album that came before it, presenting us with still more great music that's every bit as enjoyable as the material we heard on the previous album.

Uriah Heep had a hard time throughout the eighties... with a constantly shifting lineup and a difficult time finding a record company that would actually promote them, they vanished away into obscurity for most of the music-listening public, who promptly forgot about them altogether, and to this day remain a very obsure band, listened to only by those who know about them already and are willing to seek them out (fans like me have, therefore, a responsiblity to spread their message to the "ends of the earth", forgive the pretention). This is a tragedy, because it means that a majority of the fans of music today have no awareness at all not just of Uriah Heep, but of the extremely high quality their most recent material has been. Even with the current lineup, formed in 1987 (I think) and stable ever since, started off with a pair of pretty-good-but-still-not-great albums... something happened between the years of 1991 and 1994 that revitalized their creativity, which anyone who hears either this album or 1994's "Sea of Light" will immediately become aware of.

"Sonic Origami" is a nice blend of hard rockers and gentle acoustic tunes (with a dash of symphony, believe it or not), mixed perfectly together without ever growing tiresome. It always has something to offer you, no matter how many times you've heard it or how well you know it. There is some really beautiful music here, and every time I listen to it, even the songs I wouldn't consider favorites are looked forward to once they've begun and are recognized by me. Everything that makes Classic Heep is there... the distinctive harmony vocals (they were doing the choir thing before Queen), Mick Box's wah-wah guitar, thought-provocing lyrics, and excellent musicianship all around. It's a little more laid-back than it's predecessor, so I might say that it compliments "Sea of Light" in the same way that "The Magician's Birthday" follows up it's own predecessor, 1972's "Demons and Wizards" (which will forever be my favorite Uriah Heep album).

"Sonic Origami" roars into a great beginning with a tribute to past band members David Byron and Gary Thain, members of the classic lineup who have both sadly passed away, and takes us from there on a lengthy journey through an endless variety of ideas, sounds, and feelings. There is one cover song (seeing a cover song on an album from a favorite band always disappoints me at first... no matter how good the song is or who the band is, it's just my initial reaction), "Across the Miles", a beautiful song about distance separating two lovers, which I can immediately relate to, and it's so well done that I forgot to be bothered by the fact that it wasn't **really** theirs. Plus, to compensate for the cover, an extra unlisted original bonus track is included so we can still honestly say the album gives us 13 brand-new Uriah Heep songs.

Rather than go into a song-by-song review, which would take a lot of time I don't have and waste precious space here on the Amazon server (aren't I nice to them?), I'll just leave it at that. There's not a bad or unoriginal song to be listened to here (with the one exception, and it succeeds in being wonderful anyway). Buy it today, and heed this word of advice... to fully appreciate the majestic masterpiece that finishes the album (the bonus track is a nice epilogue or extra), the symphonic "Golden Palace" listen to it in your car while driving through a snowy countryside in February, under an overcast sky. It's beautiful.

Carry on Carry on,

MN

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