Uriah Heep: Raging Through The Silence

While there's undoubtedly an ever growing mountain of Uriah Heep live releases, for many hardened Heepsters, Raging Through The Silence will be the long lost piece of the puzzle. Originally released in 1989 on VHS, this 20th Anniversary celebration has never been reissued since, so while the most ardent fans may well still have a copy of RTTS, in all likelihood, they haven't actually heard it for many a year. With the band making a concerted effort to ensure that their catalogue is fully available on digital formats, there's now the opportunity to partake in this 2 CD/1 DVD set, which also features a 25 minute interview with the band, recorded on the day of this London Astoria show.

Released the same year as Raging Silence, the band's first studio album with then new singer Bernie Shaw, this excellent show does a good job of highlighting what an underrated collection the band had just created, "Bad Bad Man", "Blood Red Roses" and "Cry Freedom" every bit as potent and memorable as the material from the early years. With bassist Trevor Bolder, keyboard player Phil Lanzon and drummer Lee Kerslake all in tremendous form, those 'classic era' tracks also sound as fresh as the day they were recorded, "Stealin'", "Gypsy" and "Easy Livin'" delivered with an enthusiasm that belies just how often the band must have performed them. With the unmistakable "Look At Yourself" and "July Morning" just as urgent, it's to Shaw's great credit that his vocals not only keep pace, but in many places are actually the most eye catching feature – no wonder he's gone on to become the band's longest serving singer by many a year. Although, there's little doubt that the main man is guitarist and founder member Mick Box, who not only nails every one of the mighty riffs, but also provides a trademark solo slot in grand style.

Rounding out the set is a 25 minute interview conducted by Chris Tetley, a DJ who used to have many of his interviews with bands released on 12" picture disc back when the only real way to hear your musical heroes speak was on the radio. As these things tended to be, it's hardly essential stuff, Box briefly covering the band's different eras to that time, while Bolder and Shaw are, disappointingly, largely ignored by Tetley, the bassist and singer only really asked to detail how they joined the band. All three however are good humoured and interesting, Box (and Shaw) especially engaging chaps with many a funny story to share. While there's also a very brief archive piece of interview with the band's original singer David Byron, where he explains why he left Uriah Heep, which Box pretty much agrees with.

Considering its age Raging Through The Silence is an excellent show (with top notch audio if not quite so stellar visual quality) that shines a light on an era of Uriah Heep that's often overlooked. I've said this before, but there can be few, if any, other heavy rock outfits who've been just so consistently good over their time together. When you consider that period now spans nearly 50 years, that they sounded so damn good after only 20, should be no surprise at all.

Track Listing
DISC ONE
1. BAD BAD MAN
2. CRY FREEDOM
3. STEALIN'
4. TOO SCARED TO RUN
5. THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT
6. MORE FOOL YOU
7. BLOOD RED ROSES
8. MR. MAJESTIC
9. THE WIZARD
10. JULY MORNING

DISC TWO
1. GYPSY
2. EASY LIVIN'
3. THAT'S THE WAY THAT IT IS
4. LOOK AT YOURSELF
BONUS TRACK
5. THE URIAH HEEP STORY INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS TETLEY

DISC THREE - DVD (PLAYABLE WORLDWIDE – NTSC REGION 0)
1. BAD BAD MAN
2. CRY FREEDOM
3. STEALIN'
4. TOO SCARED TO RUN
5. THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT
6. MORE FOOL YOU
7. BLOOD RED ROSES
8. MR. MAJESTIC
9. THE WIZARD
10. JULY MORNING
11. GYPSY
12. EASY LIVIN'
13. THAT'S THE WAY THAT IT IS
14. LOOK AT YOURSELF

Added: November 19th 2017
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Raging Through The Silence at Cherry Red
Hits: 2008
Language: english

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