While hardly 'definitive', there's no denying that Your Turn to Remember certainly represents a great sampling of some of the best Uriah Heep had to offer on their many albums the band released during the 20 years covered on this collection. With input from founding members Mick Box and Ken Hensley, BMG have put together a tasty 2CD set here that draws at least a few tracks from 17 albums released between 1970 and 1990. In trying to get such major coverage of so many albums, of course many landmark songs are sure to get left off, and that's a big part of why this anthology is more of interest to those who really haven't investigated the music of this legendary heavy rock act before, as it gives a great overview of their first 20 years of existence rather than 'just their best' material.
But, many of their most beloved songs are here, and for the newbie it won't be hard to understand why Heep are considered one of the godfathers of what later became heavy metal along with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple after hearing many of these classic songs. Disc one contains all the mandatory tracks from the early version of the band, such as "Easy Livin' ", "Sweet Lorraine", "Bird of Prey", "Look at Yourself", "Lady in Black", "Sunrise", "The Wizard", "Stealin' ", and of course "July Morning", though the latter is represented in a much shortened Japanese radio edit, which eliminates much of the songs epic power in its original form. Though there are a ton of incredible deep album cuts that didn't make the selection here, it's great to hear "Sweet Freedom", "Return to Fantasy", and "Suicidal Man", and "The Shadows and the Wind" alongside their more well known siblings, further examples of how great this band combined hard rock, prog, and boogie. No "Wonderworld", "Dreams", "Something or Nothing", "Circus", "Dreamer", "Spider Woman", "Rainbow Demon", "Circle of Hands", "Traveller in Time", "Tears in My Eyes", "Love Machine", "High Priestess", "Real Turned On", or "Walking in Your Shadow" to be found here, but then again, this shows just how strong those early albums really are. Can't have everything.
Over on Disc two you get many chestnuts from the many solid but less popular albums in this time period, where lead vocalist David Byron was finishing up his time in the band, eventually leading to John Lawton coming over from Lucifer's Friend for a trio of very strong but different records. "Weep in Silence", "Free N Easy", "Firefly", and "Woman of the Night" are all just as solid as anything the band had recorded previously, and well worth their inclusion here. John Sloman's short time in the band as lead vocalist on the Conquest album is also represented here by a few tracks, as are the years of Peter Goalby (ex-Trapeze) and the three albums where he fronted the band in the early/mid '80s that saw Heep open up their music to a whole new generation of heavy rock & metal fans. It is however sad that only "Chasing Shadows" and "Too Scared to Run" from the excellent Abominog are included here, as truth be told that album was stacked from top to bottom and these two might not even be the strongest of the lot. A better idea would have been to eliminate songs from the weak Equator in favor or more Abominog tracks, but that's a minor quibble and I get that they wanted all the albums to be represented. Another disappointment is that they could only muster one song from the underrated Raging Silence album from 1989 in the form of "Voice on My TV", which is not even the best track from that release. "Cry Freedom" or "Blood Red Roses" would have been better choices, but either way, it's great that the version of the band with Bernie Shaw and Phil Lanzon (who are still in Heep to this day) are represented here.
Like I said above, this isn't a perfect compilation by any means (a 3 disc set would have given this additional heft and made it more complete), but you can't argue with the quality of what's here, and in the end you have to look at that more than what is actually missing. Throw in a great looking digipack complete with a booklet chock full of rare photos and a Joel McIver essay with commentary from Box & Hensley, makes for a worthwhile collection for those new to the majesty that is Uriah Heep.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
Disc 1
1. Gypsy
2. Come Away Melinda
3. Bird Of Prey
4. Lady In Black
5. Look At Yourself
6. July Morning – Japanese Single Edit
7. Easy Livin'
8. The Wizard
9. Sunrise
10. Sweet Lorraine
11. Stealin'
12. Sweet Freedom
13. The Shadows And The Wind
14. Suicidal Man
15. Return To Fantasy
16. Devil's Daughter
Disc 2
1. Weep In Silence
2. Can't Keep A Good Band Down
3. Sympathy
4. Firefly
5. Free N' Easy
6. Free Me
7. Woman Of The Night
8. Come Back To Me
9. It Ain't Easy
10. No Return
11. Too Scared To Run
12. Chasing Shadows
13. Straight Through The Heart
14. The Other Side Of Midnight
15. Rockarama
16. Poor Little Rich Girl
17. Voice On My Tv
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