Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One Tremendous Comeback, August 13, 2009
Nowadays, it is quite common for a band can take a hiatus from recording/touring for a couple of years. Back in the day, a year away from the studio or off the road was a recipe for disaster. But guitarist Mick Box went against the norm in 1982 and Uriah Heep roared back onto the scene.
The band had spent several years trying to reinvent itself while keeping an ambitious recording/touring schedule before calling it quits in 1980. But Box used the time off to plot a sustainable course for the band, which included the return of drummer Lee Kerslake - who brought bassist Bob Daisley from their stint with Ozzy - along with vocalist Peter Goalby and keyboardist John Sinclair.
Five of the 10 original tracks are covers, but the unbridled "take no prisoners" approach to the sound brings back fond memories to the gothic metal from earlier albums, but with the drive that was looking to the future. Box shines on the top cut - Too Scared to Run - while Sinclair takes the reigns on Chasing Shadows and Hot Persuasion fits neatly in the harder-edge AOR sound that was finding airplay on FM radio. The best cover is Prisoner (lyrics by D.B. Cooper/performed by Sue Saad and the Next), with That's the Way That It Is (Paul Bliss/The Bliss Band) very close behind.
The album cover may be chilling for some, but the music inside - bolstered by six bonus tracks - sizzles. This was a tremendous comeback by a band that had imploded in 1980.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
180 degree change in direction... and we get a MILESTONE!, September 4, 2000
OK, this album will certainly disappoint core Heep fans from the Magicians and Demons-era. Enter the new decade and we find a completely different Uriah Heep at the works, and guess what? they are quite brilliant! Sorry, but Ken Hensley's departure was good for the band. Abominog is definitively more mainstream oriented but the songs are very good. Enter Pete Goalby, and Uriah Heep gets a superb vocalist, sounding a bit like Foreigner's Lou Graham, only better. Hensley's replacement, John Sinclair (ex-Heavy Metal Kids and Gary Farr's Lion) came up with some of the best keyboard intros, sounds and arrangements ever. The freshness of the new line-up works fantastic together with the old nucleus of Mick Box (g) and the "Bear" Kerslake (d). Abominog is a great commercial-rock album from the early '80s. And don't forget that the rhythm section here consists of Lee Kerslake and bassist Bob Daisley (relatively fresh from Rainbow and Widow Maker), the same rythm partners in Ozzy Osbourne's two greatest albums (Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman), which were recorded within a year-and-a-half of Abominog. If you like QUALITY ROCK, buy it!
Same comments apply on Heep's outstanding follow-up: HEAD FIRST... an excellent album.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic??? Yes, November 26, 2001
This review is from: Abominog (Audio CD)
Lots of cover songs. Lack of Originality. More hard rock them classic Rock? So what! this album rocks. The mix of the group members Daisley-Kerslake back end. Box's guitar with Sinclair on Heavy Keys. And Peter Goalby's vocals fit perfectly into the mix. What Box did on this release was pull the band out of the 70's/doldrums. MTV Played a cover song from this LP in medium rotation good for HEEP at the time. No Byron, or Wetton? Thats not great but Hell Sinclair and Goalby easily made up for that with their own talent. Out of the 200+ hard rock/metal albums I bought in the early 80's Abominog rocked the hardest with the best mix of Hard rock/Keys/vocals. I wore the disk out.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|