Customer Reviews

Wonderworld

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

By the time Heep started work on the follow up to Sweet Freedom, the band was in a mess. There was a total lack of inspiration and the increasingly erratic and irritating behaviour of Gary Thain and David Byron, who believed that being a rock star meant doping yourself up to the eyeballs on a daily basis. Byron and Mick Box came up with a couple of miserable tunes and it looked like the upcoming album was going to be a disaster. So Ken Hensley, who by then was working on his second solo album, came to the rescue and offered two tunes he had originally intended for his own record - Wonderworld and The Easy Road. The final result is a miserable album with only two good songs on it. Without faithful Kens contribution, Wonderworld wouldn't even be worth half a star.

The first thing you'll notice about Wonderworld is the improved sound quality. While it's not one of their best albums overall (the first side of the album is great), there are a number of excellent tunes here. "Suicidal Man" features a menacing riff throughout it, and "The Shadows and the Wind" is the perfect example of the band's intricate 5-part harmonies. The bonus tracks are the other highlight here. Along with a B-side ("What Can I Do"), the disc includes a previously unreleased version of "Dreams" and great live renditions of "Something or Nothing" and one of the band's best ballads, "The Easy Road."

Apparently many people have a problem with this album. That is, the few people who've heard it. The title song sounds a lot like the chorus in Elton John's "don't let the sun go down on me". Don't you think so? Yes? No? Come on, it does! I don't know which song came out first.

I really think this is one of Uriah Heep's most melodic albums. I find myself humming songs from this album ALL the time, especially "something for nothing" (which, for some reason reminds me of the video game Mega Man series) and "dreams" (which sounds like it came from Walt Disney World or something). The other songs are short, heavy rockers.

I love the whole album. "we got we" reminds me of the Flintstones. It seems like EVERY song on the album reminds me of something, and in the end, that's part of the thing that makes music so great. Yup. Pick up Wonderworld.

Simply trhe best album of the Heep.......a true collector piece for the real Rock fan.

To say that Uriah Heep are very uneven can hardly come as a surprise. This band have written and recorded some excellent as well as awful stuff throughout the years. "WONDERWORLD" from 1974 is actually one of the band's better. The best tune is the melodic "Something for nothing" with great vocals from David Byron (R.I.P.), but there is more good stuff here. The slow "The easy road" is a tune far from heavy metal but it's a beautiful song. "So tired" sounds like a mix of light Led Zeppelin and traditional rock `n' roll, while "We got we" has a psychedelic touch that actually works very well. "Dreams" is a bit strange and there's almost a cabaret feel to this one. "Suicidal man" is the album's heaviest song and although there's a frantic or panic feel to it, it's quite alright. "I won't mind" is slow and heavy, while "The shadow and the wind" goes in a more easy listening way. The title track is an organ and piano driven song with a rather melodic touch. If you're unfamiliar with Uriah Heep, you might start with the album "FIREFLY" (1977) but this one might also be a nice starting point to explore this uneven but at times great band that critics never took a liking to. One critic is claimed to have written (in the band's early career) that he would commit suicide if Heep ever made it big.

I would say that "WONDERWORLD" falls somewhere between strong 3 stars or 4 weaker stars.

I think this album is pretty good, I like every song on it, but my favorites are "Suicidal Man" and "Something or Nothing" I know this album has a reputation of being a bad album, but if you give it a chance I think it would be a good addition to your Uriah Heep collection, also I think its as good as "Return to Fantasy".

Once again, I'm re-writing another review because I feel that my stance on this record has changed a bit. While its still a truth in fact that this record was made under an enormous amount of pressure for Uriah Heep to keep producing quality material with so little space in which to do it in, its really a minor miracle that the results turned out as well as could be expected. In my first review, I accused the majority of the record as Heep on auto-pilot; but now that its grown on me a little more, I find Wonderworld as a very good follow-up to the peaks of the previous Sweet Freedom set. The title track still remains a gem of sorts and is a very powerful opener to the record as all of the classic Heep elements are intact: a soaring vocal from Byron, Hensley's piano and keyboards melding perfectly for color and texture and the strength of the group collectively as a whole makes this song an instant classic. Suicidal Man is a mid-paced rocker that has a bit of a darkness to it with the harmony chorus and some great guitar leads from Mick Box.

The Shadows and the Wind is a bit lighter and also uses strong vocal harmonies to its advantage throughout the duration of this uplifting, positive number. So Tired is about as autobiographical as one could get within the mix of this album; Hensley and band are sending a message out to their management(Gerry Bron) whom were working them mercilessly to death with their touring and recording schedules, that yes they were So Tired and Uninspired. Hensley again pens another great ballad here with the Easy Road, and in turn David Byron delivers another heartwrenching vocal. Despite the fact that the two were increasingly feuding and with their addictions inflating their egos even bigger, they still proved that they worked marvelously together and were two-fifths of the best ingredients in Uriah Heep that made them so special.

Something or Nothing follows and is another rocker with some great harmonies and some tight playing amongst the band. I Won't Mind is a bluesy number that features some magnificent slide guitar from Ken and while its a dyed-in-the-wool blues-rocker (ala Mountain), it retains some solidarity within the grooves of Wonderworld. We Got We is a bit of an experiment for Heep and has a melody that seems a bit pedestrian at first, but Ken adds some more slide guitar along with his interesting keyboard lines to beef this song up a bit more, despite the awkward vocal arrangement given here. Dreams closes out the record on a somewhat anti-climatic note, but there's still some interesting musical passages that twist and turn within the duration of this number; its also interesting that towards the end of the track, voice snippets from Dreamer and Sweet Freedom's title track are interspersed with the faded ending, added no doubt, as if the listener were caught up in this dream throughout the entire recording. At least, that's what Hensley explains in the updated liner notes on the Sanctuary remaster to this, and it makes more sense to appreciate now as opposed to before.

The bonus tracks featured are 3 outtakes in the form of What Can I Do(a mid-paced rocker), Love, Hate and Fear(thankfully shelved) and the acoustic folk/blues of Stone's Throw. Stone's Throw should have really been included in the original tracklisting as it is a very tuneful and solid number that would have added a bit more presence to the record. Finally, the last 3 bonus songs are an extended version of Dreams(roughly a minute longer) and live renditions of I Won't Mind and So Tired taken from a gig in Shepperton during '74 and are rendered even better live than their studio counterparts. Overall, I find that Wonderworld is at best consistent and underrated, and at its worst burned-out and tired. Fortunately, the stronger songs like the title track, Suicidal Man, Something or Nothing and the Easy Road more than make-up for missteps like We Got We, I Won't Mind and Dreams. Wonderworld is what it is, and it ain't half bad. 3 and a half stars.

I dont know why this album gets a bad rap. To me, this album fitted in well with that period of work. The title track and "Dreams" are exellent,and the guitar solo on "I wont mind"(a heavy blues,heep style) is rippin. This,to me was the last album they made that had the classic uriah heep sound.It was different from the previous classics, but a solid step forward...then all hell broke loose,or the wheels fell off for the band. This album can sit with the first five or six..

Very good at the end of a period i'm convinced by the progressive music and blues influences. Demons and Wizards

1972 hatten Uriah Heep ihren Höhepunkt mit "Demons and "Wizards" überschritten. Die Platten ab da gefielen mir nicht mehr so. Doch "Wonderworld" beschwört noch mal den alten Keyboard-Geist der frühen Siebziger und für was die Gruppe einmal bekannt und geschätzt war. Es sind aber schon Erinnerungen an eine vorherige Epoche, die U. Heep war bereits etwas aus der Mode. Die LP lohnt allein durch den Song "Something or Nothing" der so temperamentvoll und bezwingend klingt, daß es wundert, daß die Single kein Hit wurde. Er ist auch auf manchen Samplern. Nach Anhören der 45-er im Würzburger Woolworth kaufte ich mir sie sofort mit 6,- DM Taschengeld. "Wonderworld" ist eine schöne Ballade. Der Rest ist z.T. etwas langweilig hat aber noch einige Perlen zu bieten. Vielleicht das lezte Album der Briten, mit dem sie sich die alten Liebhaber von 71/72 noch halten konnten. Die einzige LP, die ich mir nach "Salisbury", "Look at Yourself", dem grandiosen Erfolg von "Demons and Wizards" und "Magicians Birthday" evtl. noch anschaffen würde. Vielleicht auch das Live-Album hören, daß ich nicht kenne, die Balladen CD ist auch gut ausgewählt. Ich freue mich, daß die Gruppe noch Freunde hat. MFG Thomas Richter