20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Uriah Heep

Uriah Heep

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
• Original Release Date: August 21, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B00005NGXV
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #112,807 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The 20th Century Masters series is the best-selling single-artist line in music history and is being re-released by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in its ground-breaking, environmentally-friendly packaging format. A first for the music industry, the standard package (both sleeve and tray) will be completely paper-recyclable, continuing the company's long-standing commitment to being "green."

To further reduce the amount of paper in the Eco-Pack, the CD booklet will no longer be offered. Official liner notes are easily accessible on the Internet at http://www.ilovethatsong.com/green.

UMe is the first North American music company to replace the traditional jewel case with recycled paperboard sleeves and the plastic tray with trays made from PaperFoam®, a new packaging technology from Shorewood Packaging, a business of International Paper, that is paper-recyclable and biodegradable. Shorewood Packaging is the first North American packaging supplier to produce disc trays from PaperFoam®. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recycled, January 20, 2002

By	eveoflove (North York, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Made in USA in 2001, Serial# 314-586-363-2, Playing Time 60:07

It was 1973... a high-school classmate (yeah, I'm THAT old!)lent me his "The Magician's Birthday" album, which he had just purchased as a UK import. My friends and I were into Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath; my "enemies" were into King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf...

After 30 seconds of the opening track ("Sunrise"), my jaw dropped; what vocals!!! (hey, DP, LZ, BS weren't known for their harmony vocals...) What textures. I was hooked, period.

This is a trip down memory lane; the disc features a chronological history of UH from their 1st 6 studio albums (up to "Sweet Freedom"), and contains either classics or should-be classics (I'm still amazed by the AWESOMELY creative bass work on "Sweet Lorraine").

Sure, there's Byron's sometimes-sweet sometimes-tough vocals, Hensley's diverse keyboard sounds, Box's clever use of the wah-wah, etc. But there's also the penmanship of what makes songs songs, not just noise.

If you don't know these guys, it's your loss. GRAB THIS!!! 60 minutes of GREAT music, displaying versatility, talent, and, I'll admit, some sounds from an era long gone...

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Single Disc Compilation, But....., September 5, 2004

By	"The Woj" (Downers Grove, IL) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

If you only have enough cash for a single disc "best of" from this great & under-rated 70's band, this Millennium Collection is the definitley the way to go. The 1976 "The Best Of Uriah Heep" is a good single disc album, but only features 9 tracks compared to the 12 offered here. Plus the sound on the Millennium release is much better. My personal advice, however, is to scrape up the extra cash and purchase the vastly superior 2 disc set, "Classic Heep: An Anthology". "An Anthology" contains a whopping 30 tracks and gives a much better musical representation of Uriah Heep. If you're on a tight musical budget though, opt for this album and save you cash for the "Uriah Heep Live - 1973" cd.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Classic Hard Rock, August 15, 2005

By	Danno (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

Do like rock and roll that's supposed to be fun, make you feel good, and make you smile? If you do, you might want to try this Uriah Heep collection. You'd never know it if you only listen to contemporary classic rock radio in the USA, but Uriah Heep were a potent live act in the early 1970s and recorded several gold albums. What did they sound like? If you can imagine a garage band doing a Deep Purple impersonation, you have a pretty good idea. They're definitely worth a listen if you're looking for music that doesn't take itself seriously.

The standouts on this compilation include a trippy ballad about "The Wizard," the fast paced shuffle "Easy Living," the Woodstock-era "July Morning," and the bluesy "Stealin'" whose rock-and-roll-as-outlaw-cowboy predates both McCartney's "Band on the Run" and Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive." This CD represents the cream of Uriah Heep's early career and serves as a jumping-off point for exploring their (admittedly uneven) albums. All feature powerful keyboard arrangements and tongue-in-cheek lyrics.

Music like this is a great antidote for the largely humorless exercise modern mainstream rock has become. Uriah Heep will never win awards for originality, but there were few bands who seemed to absolutely enjoy what they were doing more than they. To me, their fannish enthusiasm is contagious. I hope you agree.