Original

Album number five released just 8 months after Demons And Wizards. Not quite up to the standard of that masterpiece but still a very good record. Half the tracks are more quiet and slow, definitely not heavy. Of these “Blind Eye” is the best , one of my favorite Heep songs and “Tales” is kind of spacey. “Echoes In The Dark” and the ballad “Rain”, the last two songs on side one I never cared for. Of the heavier songs “Sunrise” and “Sweet Lorraine” are typical Uriah Heep songs and are very good. The short “Spider Woman” was released as a single but did not chart in the U.S. The centerpiece of the album is the ten minute title track. After a couple of verses there is a section of singing “happy birthday to you”, backed by what sounds like a kazoo but is probably some kind of synthesizer, followed by some guitar soloing by Mick box. The record sounds good but the gatefold cover by Roger Dean is showing some wear. The spine is pretty much destroyed, as most of my records from that time are, and is starting to split in the middle.