Customer Reviews

Equator

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I usually like to search out albums that have been roundly trashed by fans. The more bad things I hear about an album, the more I want to hear it to see how bad it could be. Much of the time the bad ratings are justified; but many times a bad takes a new direction to change with the times. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't.

In this case it was 1984-1985 and Uriah Heep had just come off two pretty successful albums ("Abominog" and "Head First") that breathed new life into a then uncertain future. "Equator" may not have been the most logical step for the band, as it takes a big step away from their traditionally guitar driven sound fans came to expect and introduced heavy pop keyboards and some fairly cheesy lyrics. In all honesty, it's not all that bad of an album. Yes, they do occasionally stumble on this album ("Party Time" and "Skool's Burnin'"), but there's some really good material here ("Night of the Wolf" and "Poor Little Rich Girl" comes to mind).

Should you rush out and buy "Equator"? Only if you're looking for some good mid-80's pop or you want to round out your Uriah Heep Collection. I really don't think it's representative of Uriah Heep, but then again, I think the band has put out albums of similar quality ("Raging Silence" and "Different World") that many fans rank above this album.

So does "Equator" deserve its bad reputation? In my opinion, no. While it's by no means definitive Uriah Heep music, it is a good three star album.

Equator is the long lost Heep album. This particular line up rather quit after its limited release. Basically the band was not gettin much attention, and the record was never really released and promoted. In fact, when the band went on tour, most of the fans had not even heard of the new record. Equator is indeed a fine album itself. It is very similar to Head First in that it is similar to the awesome Abominog album, but not quite as magical. Stand outs are Bad Blood, Night Of the Wolf and Poor Little Rich Girl.

Some time ago I gave "Equator" a less than favourable review. I regret that now. In the year or so since I decided that it was the worst piece of work in the entire long and bloody history of my all-time favourite band, Uriah Heep, I've revisited it several times (each of these times a couple of months apart, the most recent of them being last week), and my mind has been changed. "Equator" is in fact a highly enjoyable album that's just been given a very bad image. I've always enjoyed the first and last tracks on the album, "Rockarama" and "Night of the Wolf", but it's my great pleasure to confirm that the songs that fill the space in between are not the [stuff] I thought they were. Even "Party Time" which I once called Uriah Heep's most awkward moment, has become a fun song that I like quite a bit (the backing vocals, which once really did it for me, are no less embarrassing than the backing vocals on "Woman of the World" from Heep's 1976 album, "High and Mighty", which I always thought were very cool, if a bit unusual.

In"Equator" gets four stars from me. It's no waste of time and is tremendous fun to listen to, but it's still not up to the standards Heep set earlier with 1974's "Demons and Wizards", 1977`s "Firefly", or later with 1998's "Sonic Origami". If you're new to Heep, try those... if you've already been initiated, you won't lose with "Equator". Besides, if you're already initiated, "Equator" is likely the only one you don't already have in your collection anyway.

Carry on carry on,

MN

I hate to disagree with the two fellows who posted their certainly posative reviews here regarding my favorite band, Uriah Heep's 1985 album, but I just couldn't enjoy it as much as they did (and I waited nearly three weeks to receive my copy, simply because Amazon.com had trouble tracking one down for me. I appreciate their effort and as a completist I AM glad to have this CD in my collection, but... they really SHOULD have tried harder on any other CD but this one. It really is forgettable, save for the absolutely fantastic "Night of the Wolf" (the only real reason for buying this CD), and the highly enjoyable "Rockarama", which is just a heck of a lot of fun to listen to. Unfortunately, the song "Party Time" is for me absolutely CRINGE-INDUCING... I honestly wonder what Mick and the boys were thinking when they recorded that? I hate to say anything bad about these guys, but... No more, please, no more.

After saying that, I WILL mention that it's great to hear the fantastic Trevor Bolder back as the band's bass player... he was certainly missed (no offense to Bob Daisley, who was great himself on the two albums he did as a member of Heep... I've just had a special fondness for Trevor, after hearing him do his stuff on "Who Needs Me" from Uriah Heep's 1977 album, "Firefly". There, his bass has to be heard to be believed!)

All in all, this is the one Uriah Heep CD that you can afford to miss... especially now that they've raised the price to a whopping [item price](which they did RIGHT after I received my own copy...There are better CDs to spend that much money on, believe me, unless of course you have every Heep album in existance except for this one.

Another great album from the early mid-period (1985) of Uriah Heep.
It includes: Mick Box: guitars, Peter Goalby: vocals, John Sinclair: Keyboard, Trevor Bolder: Bass, Lee Kerslake: Drums.
If you like "Abominog" or "Head First" I think you will enjoy this album too.
Just remember: Listen to this record more than once and you will like it more each time.

This is not a typically Uriah Heep record, but you should listen the details... a lot of keyboard arrangements, the pulsing of Trevor Bolder and Lee Kerslake sounds... The voices around the music...
Poor Little rich girl is a sound that shows how the musicians build a road for the vocals - Beautiful arrangement.
Please be advised: this is a chance for good entretainement - but please: listen twice and in details before evaluate.

It's great to have Uriah Heep's 1985 lp "Equator" finally available on cd. Since it had a scattered, limited release initially (although it was Heep's final lp to hit the UK top 100-briefly), few fans have heard "Equator". Of those who have, many misunderstand and ultimately dismiss "Equator". What Heep was doing here was trying to be as pleasingly commercial as possible to boost their worldwide visibility. There are touches of Yes ('Rockarama'), Asia, Journey...in other words, this is a VERY '80's pop- rock-metal offering. As such, it is a bit dated in places (especially the murky, synth-heavy production), but overall there are more than enough Heep trademarks (great musicianship, strong material, inspired vocals) to carry the day. There are a few weak tracks, which is unusual for Heep but perfectly understandable when you consider the era in which it was recorded. There is one undisputed all time Heep classic on the fine "Equator": the brilliant 'Night Of The Wolf'--one of the greatest recorded achievements of the band's long career. Add to that 'Poor Little Rich Girl', 'Rockarama', 'Holding On', the somewhat prophetic 'Skools Burnin' and 'Heartache City', and you have a great all-out rock n' roll mid- '80's album from one of the greatest bands in the history of rock. Four and a half stars would be a more appropriate rating for "Equator" in my opinion, but you just can't go wrong with Uriah Heep and this cd is no exception to the rule.

Not a bad album, it has a commercial 80's sound sort of like Foreigner or Bad Company when Brian Howe was there lead singer, the songs are good and very catchy, if your into something differant that doesn't sound like typical or classic Uriah Heep, you can't go wrong with this album.

This CD seems to be considered (by some) the low point of Uriah Heep, but it sound OK to me! It's the 3rd and final of their albums with vocalist Peter Goalby. These early 80s albums saw the band with a significant lineup change from the 70s, and the new members combine with the times to make the band hardly recognizable as the old group - they went from sounding very 70s to sounding very early-80s (like just about everyone else in the scene). Like the 3 late 70s Heep albums with John Lawton, the Goalby era starts with a strong reinvention of the group ("Abominog"), followed by albums which gradually veer towards softer, weaker pop. And like the Lawton albums, it's not a HUGE decrease - Equator really doesn't sound too different from the preceeding "Head First" which isn't too big a step from "Abominog". So, if you like Heep or early 80s rock, start with Abominog, then Head First, then Equator and you should't be greatly surprised or disappointed if you like the previous album! I actually find this more interesting than the following two albums ("Raging Silence" and "Different World" - where new singer Bernie Shaw had a rather bland start, before helping create several great Heep CDs). So, if you're new to the band I'd suggest their early 70s stuff, "Firefly", or "Wake the Sleeper", but if you're finishing of your Heep collection or a fan of "Abominog" this isn't a bad album. One good thing is, where the two previous albums seemed to be making up for the loss of Ken Hensley's songwriting input by using outside songwriters and covers (notably, on the weaker songs of the albums), this one seems to be all penned by the band.
Oh, and I agree with the other reviewers that "Night of the Wolf" is a great song!

Track's 1 thru 7 are correct on the amazon site
Track 8 is Skool's Burnin'
track 9 is Heartache City
Track 10 is Night of the wolf

I have the album