Customer Reviews

Firefly

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Firefly is the first album of the short lived (unforunately) John Lawton era. This album is right up there with their classics of the early 70's. John Lawton is just below David Bryon as far as vocal talent and much better than any of his successors. He's more blusier than Byron,but doesn't have the range.

If you are looking for the heavy side of the band, this album is not it. The material on this album is closer to the laid back tracks that dominate "The Magician Birthday". This album features more keyvboard dominated songs than guitar oriented songs.

Breakdown review of the tracks.

1. The Hanging Tree - UH returns to the fantasy theme on their earlier albums with this one. Nice guitar echo effects at the songs introduction.

2. Been Gone Too Long - Start out slow and then speeds up, though not too loud. Fits Lawton perfectly.

3. Who Needs Me. - A Southern rock boogie style song. Songwritter Ken Hensley would leave Heep for Southern rockers a few year later. His interest in Southern fried rock seems to show early here.

4. Wise Man - The Wizard, part II. Nice piano ballad that continues the theme of the Wizard on Demon and Wizards.

5. Do You Know - The weakest track on the album. A throw away.

6. Rollin On - Could easily be mistaken for a Paul Rogers' Bad Company ballad. Good song though.

7. Sympathy - Nice mid temple rocker.

8. Firefly - One of the best epic UH has ever done. Song by organist/guitarist Ken Hensley. Nice soft keyboards and accoustic guitars. Has a Crosby, Still, & Nash feel to it.

9. Crimes of Passion - Another song with a Bad Company feel to it.

10 A Far Better Way - This is a bonus track that should have made it on the original album. A soft ballad that sounds like it's was song by Ken Hensley (Doesn't sound like Lawton's gritty voice). Could have been an Elton John song. This song is a little different than the 1997 remaster version. There are a little more guitars featured in the 2004 deluxe remaster.

Also featured in the 2004 remaster are two previously unleased songs. Unlike any of the above songs, these are not album ready and are rough around the edges. You can still here scratches on these.

They are.

I Always Knew - Heep tries to do a Stevie Wonder type song on this. Very soulful. Wouldn't have sounded bad once it was cleaned up.

Dance Dance Dance - Heep attempting to do Disco Disco Disco. Could have fit on the Fallen Angel album along side What you say.

There is also a live version of Who Needs Me that is much different than the album version.

With the sacking of David Byron in the summer of '76 and John Wetton jumping ship soon thereafter, Hensley, Box and Kerslake needed to regroup and begin anew with Uriah Heep. Trevor Bolder(ex-David Bowie) was recruited first and then upon the recommendation of Roger Glover to Ken Hensley, Former Lucifer's Friend vocalist John Lawton was hired. The music within Firefly is fresh, yet, a bit more commercially driven in parts; but nonetheless, a very worthy and lasting release within the group's repetoire. Hanging Tree is an outlaw's tale driven by Lawton's soulful vocal, the steady beat and rhythm of Bolder/Kerslake anchoring and Box and Hensley's guitar and keys riding the melody along respectively. Been Away Too Long reminds me a little of Foreigner at times, and is a bit strange. But the time period of the mid to late seventies rock bands was that of a smooth and glossy type of sound. Bands like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac would hone this radio-friendly style to amazingly successful heights, albeit, in terms of stadium concerts and millions of records sold.

Firefly has these qualities no doubt, for wanting to be included in these areas, and other tracks like Do You Know, Who Needs Me(by Kerslake) and Sympathy fit the bill, for sure. However, The title track is a greatly arranged number that sustains this record. Rollin' On is ponderous and moody, Wise Man actually was a big hit in Europe and is another Ballad-type of song. Once again, the Sanctuary remaster is full of outtake material here. Crime of Passion, A Far Better Way and I Always Knew should've perhaps, been included on the original release, but, at least they're here. Firefly is a solid release and a worthy successor to Return to Fantasy, excluding High and Mighty that, like Wonderworld failed to be a fully realized and satisfying record. Heep were at a commercial crossroads and each proceeding release would see them become further and further diluted into mainstream and losing a bit of earthy-ness to that which they had become known for and met the greatest success with. But, hell, Firefly sure is good music when you're in the mood for it. 3 and a half stars.

Firefly introduces John Lawton, Heep's second singer, who has a great voice. Overall this album (and the others with Lawton) has more of a bluesy/soul kind of feel - it reminds me of the early Whitesnake and David Coverdale stuff of the same period. I'd like to point out here that, after the first 3 albums, Uriah Heep never really put out a constantly "heavy" album, (in fact, almost all the remasters I have have Mick Box saying "not one of our heavier efforts . . .!"), but this one is a little more hard-rocking than the others with Lawton. Overall, it's a great late-70's hard rock disc.

With the departure of vocalist David Byron - and to a much lesser extent, bassist John Wetton - it would have been easy to write the band off before this February 1977 release. But once the album hit the record stores, it was clear that Uriah Heep was far from cashing in the chips and becoming an early version of a "classic rock" band.

The eight original tracks, there is a bevy of bonus material, clocks in at 35:20 and features a solid vocal statement by John Lawton - The Hanging Tree - and a pair of cuts, Wise Man and Sympathy, that became immediate fan favorites. The title track features some neat work by guitarist Mick Box and keyboardist Ken Hensley, with the sleeper being drummer Lee Kerslake's Who Needs Me, which chronicles his frustration of being an ignored songwriter within the band. Bassist Trevor Bolder is solid in his studio debut.

On this occasion, the group reached the crossroads and decided to rip up the map and forge its own road home. The renewed energy clearly demonstrated that there was life after Byron.

Firefly is a good album but I'm not blown away.
I love Uriah Heep and think the albums Innocent
Victim and Fallen Angel were all brillant. Firefly
just seems too laid back but has some great songs.
Who Needs Me, Wise Man, Do You Know are all classic
Heep songs and the bonus track Crime of Passion is a
killer and should've been included on the album. After
listening to Firefly I go back to High n' Mighty and
Innocent Victim albums which are much stronger than this.
But if your a Heep fan like me you won't be disappointed
is you get it and it's worth a listen. OH the live version
of Who Needs Me is a killer!