Firefly Oklahoma

Firefly

Uriah Heep

Essential Records, 1977

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/11/2000

In 1977, it wouldn't have surprised me if people had written offUriah Heep as a band caught in a black hole. The British stalwartsof progressive-based rock had lost several key members, and boththeir music and sales were suffering. With the sacking of foundingmember/lead vocalist David Byron (and the subsequent departure ofbassist John Wetton), some people might have been ready to pull theplug on Uriah Heep.

But something happened in 1977, with the release of Firefly. Uriah Heep, in effect, was reborn thanks to theaddition of vocalist John Lawton and bassist Trevor Bolder. Themusic sounded fresher, and the end result showed a group stillstruggling with who they were, but suggesting they had gotten backon track.

Latwon sounds a lot like Byron, which helps the transition butdoesn't make it sound like the band is trying to replace Byron witha carbon copy. What this does, in effect, is re-energizes themusic, making these songs sound as if many of them came from UriahHeep's glory period.

For well over half of Firefly, it's almost as if Uriah Heep can do no wrong.Tracks like "The Hanging Tree," "Who Needs Me" and "Wise Man"suggest that these tracks could have been as big of a hit as "EasyLivin'". Why some of these tracks weren't given a fighting chance,I just don't understand. (The only exception to the praise: I couldhave lived without the falsetto vocals on parts of "Been Away TooLong", but it's otherwise a very good song.)