Sold Date: January 18, 2015
Start Date: January 11, 2015
Final Price: £18.00 (GBP)
Bid Count: 1
Seller Feedback: 344
Buyer Feedback: 48

Uriah Heep

'Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble'

Bronze, UK, 1970

ILPS 9142

HUGELY IMPRESSIVE debut album from one of the godfathers of heavy metal - actually one of the big four whose other three partners in crime were Sabbath, Zeppelin and Purple. The intention here is blindingly obvious - a huge gothic heavy sound with swirling Hammond Organ, lashings of wah-wah guitar and impossibly operatic vocals from lamboyant frontman David Byron - a dandy in the underworld no less. Not as leaden as the Sabs and not as complex as Purple, Heep would capture the middle ground with a massive sound that suggested a foot in the blues but with heads in the clouds.

Musically this album contains all the elements that you might expect from a budding superstar outfit from heavy, doom laden ravers such as 'Gypsy', a Heep classic no less, frantic hard rockers like 'Real Turned On', gentle yet menacing ballads such as 'Come Away Melinda' and lurching pounders such as 'Lucy's Blues'. Elsewhere its a beautiful thing indeed - the pompusity of Heep's remarkable spirit turns even the simplist of tracks into huge monolithic statements. A good example of this is the track 'Walking In Your Shadow' which in less capable hands would have been a mundane hard rock shuffle but here the full-on bluster and attack renders it totally astounding. 

Issued with one of the greatest, most talked about cover designs of the early seventies - a classic sleeve, perhaps the best. This my friends is not only the birth of a great band but also the start of a long strange musical trip that is still unfolding to this very day.

Pressing: Bronze, UK, 1970

Vinyl: Nice clean condition. Only minor signs of use. Numerous microscopic surface scuffs (note NOT scratches) only visible under a bright light - primarilly due to sliding in and out of the inner sleeve. Grades as MINT-!

Cover: Virtually no signs of use. Issued in a beautifully illustrated gatefold cover. Sharp corners, no dings, no bends, no ring wear, no split seams and no creases. Spine is straight, square, stiff and completely uncrushed. Small almost invsible price sticker mark top centre on front panel. Beautiful and impossible to find like this after 44 years. Grades as Ex+

Inserts: None

Matrix:

Side One: ILPS 9142 A - 2U

Side Two: ILPS 9142 B - 3U

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