Uriah Heep / 2nd British Rock Meeting 1972 / 1CDR / Uxbridge
Open Air Festival Germersheim Germany 21st May 1972.
Play sample :
“Miracle 1972”, where “Five Golden People” gathered and sent out the two masterpieces “Demons and Wizards” and “The Magician’s Birthday”. An exquisite live album that conveys the scene is now available.
There are three types of sound sources contained in this work. This is a recording of the audience of “May 21, 1972 Germersheim Performance”, as well as additional sound board recordings such as the valuable BBC session and the famous program “IN CONCERT”. The latter two types of sound boards are bonuses for several songs. Let’s start with the main Germersheim performance. This show was part of the West German music festival “2nd BRITISH ROCK MEETING”, and they appeared on the second day of the three days, headlined by PINK FLOYD. Also, as I mentioned at the beginning, 1972 was a busy and special year for URIAH HEEP. The meaning changes depending on the time of year, so let’s look back on the schedule in a little more detail here.
・ January 1-6: Italy (6 performances)
・ January 13-31: North America # 1a (22 performances)
《February 1: Mark Clark leaves → Gary Thain joins》
・ February 2-March 10: North America # 1b (22 performances)
・ March 29-May 18: Europe # 1a (31 performances) ← * MUNSTER 1972
“May 19th” DEMONS AND WIZARDS “released”
・ May 19th-June 19th: Europe # 1b (23 performances) ← ★ Coco ★
・ June 24-August 5: North America # 2 (31 performances)
・ August 12-24: Europe # 2 (4 performances)
・ September 14-October 6: Europe # 3 (4 performances)
・ October 13-31: North America # 3a (14 performances)
<< November 1st “THE MAGICIAN’S BIRTHDAY” released >>
・ November 2nd-December 17th: North America # 3b (29 performances)
This is URIAH HEEP’s 1972. As you can see, it’s lively and overcrowded. The “Golden Five” was completed with the addition of Gary Thain, but at that time it was a feat of changing members in just two days, and two more historic masterpieces were produced. In the first place, the above schedule is also cut out only from “1972”, the Italian tour at the beginning is continuous from New Year’s Eve the previous year, and the UK tour started from January 7th in 1973. It was a murderous schedule that I couldn’t even imagine how I survived. Under such circumstances, the BRITISH ROCK MEETING performance of this work is the third performance of “Europe # 1b” immediately after the release of “Demons and Wizards”. At our shop, we have introduced the masterpiece live album “MUNSTER 1972 (Uxbridge 1313)”, but this work was a concert about three weeks later.
This work recorded at such a show has a wonderful powerful and thick sound. Although it is a vintage audience to the last, the midrange, which tends to be squishy, is a response that feels mass, and the deep bass also shakes the five viscera and kicks up the six swords. Even if it’s so powerful, it’s stable and doesn’t get scared, and you can enjoy Sain’s singing bass clearly. As a matter of fact, at the beginning, it seems a little lumpy for an outdoor festival, but that also improved around the third song “Easy Livin'”. It’s smooth and clear, and its clearness is comparable to the BBC sound board with bonus recording.
What is drawn with such a sound is a full show that gains momentum with the hit of “Look at Yourself” and explodes the band potential that created the masterpiece “Demons and Wizards”. This day is also a festival appearance, and their time is about 1 hour. This work is a complete recording of the whole story. Here, let’s organize the contents together with the bonus track.
● Main story: 2nd BRITISH ROCK MEETING
・ First (1 song): Gypsy
・ Salisbury (1 song): Bird Of Prey (★)
・ Look at Yourself (4 songs): I Wanna Be Free (★) / July Morning / Look At Yourself / Love Machine
・ Demons and Wizards (3 songs): Easy Livin ’/ Rainbow Demon (★) / The Wizard (★)
● Bonus SBD
・ Look at Yourself (2 songs): Look At Yourself / What Should Be Done (★)
・ The Magician’s Birthday (1 song): Sweet Lorraine
・ Sweet Freedom (1 song): Stealin ’(★)
* Note: The “★” mark is a song that cannot be heard even on the official traditional edition “URIAH HEEP LIVE”.
… And it looks like this. The set that concentrates and reduces the two pieces of “Look at Yourself” and “Devil and Wizards” with delicious songs such as “Bird Of Prey”, “I Wanna Be Free”, and “Rainbow Demon” is a special collection of masterpieces. Rather, the performance is much hotter than the studio version. The performance that I haven’t got used to is really fresh, and while the beat and momentum are wild, the thick chorus with Lee Carslake is beautiful. Hard rock, which brings together the extremes of beauty and fierceness by force and rushes, is exactly the real thrill of British rock in the 70’s.
And the on-site feeling that confronts it is also super real. In addition to the excitement of enthusiasm, the biggest listening point is probably the big lath “Love Machine”. An excited audience rushes to the stage while the intro roars, and a happening that interrupts the live breaks out. This is amazing. Someone isn’t sure, but the staff or members poison the audience through the microphone, and the performance collapses in the chaos. And the angry flies about the announcement of the interruption of the show … URIAH HEEP has an image of “orderly and beautiful” among the HRs of the 70’s, but at the height of the song, it was extremely popular in terms of performance and performance. This work makes you experience such a reality at once.
Even after such a full show, the FM sound board bonus track is delicious. The two songs of “Look at Yourself” are BBC sessions recorded on “October 20, 1971”, and the rhythm section is Paul Newton / Ian Clark as well as the album. Even though it’s a studio live, the live performance “What Should Be Done” is valuable. The remaining two songs are live takes of “IN CONCERT” recorded on “September 28, 1973”.
URIAH HEEP in 1972 was voicing in the middle of the new music “hard rock” scene while firing historic masterpieces. They will stalle later, but at this time they were undoubtedly the pioneers of British hardware comparable to LED ZEPPELIN and DEEP PURPLE. A collection of masterpiece recordings that convey the scene and valuable soundboard takes. Please enjoy it to your heart’s content.
Uxbridge 1368