Published on Jun 17, 2000
In the liner notes for
Return To Fantasy, the remastered 1975 release from British
sci-fi hard rockers Uriah Heep, Ken Hensley writes, “It’s actually
not a bad record, there are a couple of good tunes and solid
performances throughout, but we rushed into it and it doesn’t have
any cohesiveness to it. Nor does it contain a hit single!” Yeah,
there’s a quote for the ad copy on this one.
And while my knowledge of Uriah Heep’s backcatalog is
regrettably brief (though I’m working on it – I’ve only got 24
hours and one turntable), Hensley seems to be right on the money
with his description of this album. It’s not a bad effort, but one
would be hard-pressed to call it anything special.
Internally, the band was struggling. Out was bassist Gary Thain,
in was John Wetton, who would last two albums. (Thain died shortly
after this album’s release, another casualty of substance abuse.)
While the band was being lauded for a return to form, they were
inching towards a serious blowout that would come within two
years.
But most telling was that
Return To Fantasy had no real stand-out tracks nor the magic
like their classic albums
The Magician’s Birthday or
Demons And Wizards had. It was, for all practical purposes,
just another Uriah Heep album. Nothing more, nothing less. And it
doesn’t sound like the most comfortable musical coat the band could
have worn at the time.
This is not to say that there are no highlights on this album.
Tracks like “Devil’s Daughter” and “A Year Or A Day” do feature
some great musical performances as well as fluid songwriting. But
on others, it sounds like the Heep are stretching things. On more
than one occasion, vocalist David Byron (whose own days in the band
were numbered) sounds like he’s trying to do his best Ian Gillan
impression.- and it’s a bit painful on tracks like “Beautiful
Dream”. (The demo version of this track, included as one of four
bonus songs, is no improvement.) And “Prima Donna” – which, God
help us, was released as a single – sounds like a bad ’50s band
trying to sound hip 20 years later. Big mistake.
A bit harsh? Maybe I am being that way. After all, fans of Uriah
Heep took this album to the top 10 in the UK charts, becoming their
best-selling album to that point. And fans of the band will most
certainly find a lot to enjoy about
Return To Fantasy, especially with the addition of four
tracks. (Interestingly, the edited version of the title track is a
little better than the full-length one, and the two b-sides, “Shout
It Out” and “The Time Will Come,” make for stronger material than,
say, “Prima Donna” or “Why Did You Go”.)
What worries me is that some kid, wanting to learn about Uriah
Heep, might choose this album to start his or her education, listen
to it, and write off the rest of the band’s history, thinking all
their albums sound like
Return To Fantasy. An album that will have the most appeal
for the die-hard fans is just not the ideal place to pick a band
like Uriah Heep’s history up from.