I consider myself a die-hard Heep fan, so allow me to introduce myself:
In my time I have been known to respond to curses; anonymous hoots and
hoarse whispers. I have even been known to respond "Hey You", but I
deplore that practice, my name is Al Edlund.
I was first introduced (Heepanated) back in 71 on the prairies of South Dakota, so try and picture this setting: we are miles from the closest town, the sky's are totally clear and all the stars shining as clear and bright as you could imagine. I am hanging out with a bunch of full-blooded Sioux Indians sharing one potent "peace pipe".
The situation did hold some higher spiritual vibe and not just another famous smoke out. The car had an 8-track player and we had a limited selection of tapes to listen to, I cannot remember what the others were, the one that stuck out was Heep's first album. I can still remember the endless looping of tape, each time finding some new sympathetic phrase that fit so well with what I was feeling in those times. But it was Gypsy that stole my heart. The opening power cords rocked my soul; I felt the agony of each lash of the whip. I wished to find a love of such depth that I too would suffer our unnamed hero's fate. I was hooked.
A short while later, again hanging out, but this time with my local musician friends(I must give honorable mention to the Blacks Hills greatest cover bands of the 70's, WarPage and K-9 (just in case anyone from there is reading this) that I was quickly introduced to Salisbury and Look at Yourself. The crest of magic just kept rising, Demons and Wizards, Magician's Birthday, Live73, I was in heaven. Sweet Freedom and I could see cracks in my friend's support of the band. Wonderworld, I still held on, but Heep soon become my private listening band. I was tolerated to the Greatest Hits release when picking out music at gatherings. I kept collecting Heep as they became available, but I must admit it turned into a sort of hit and miss. I had sporadic exposure throughout the next several releases and didn't come back solidly to the fold until Abominog came out. But it was to be a short lived reunion as I again fell to the wayside with Equator. Not that I totally left, as I did pick up the Live 74 and Live 79 CD's. I also replaced my vinyl with the first re-release's of the early CD stuff.
Fast-forward a decade or so, I am now living in South Korea (not in the military) and I see an ad for Eric Clapton and George Harrison playing in Nagoya Japan. I am psyched, I am ready to go. Perfect situation, my wife's sister lives in Nagoya, we fly, we stay with her, wife and sister visit, I go see two legends, we go home. I'll cut short the argument, but I didn't get to go. My commensuration to that, I vowed that anytime, anyplace Uriah Heep was playing anywhere in the Pacific area or Asia I was going to go. It was from there that I reformed my interest in the band and started scouring the record store shelves. What an amazing surprise I had just waiting for me there.
I had never seen nor heard Firefly, I found several CD releases of material so far not in my collection and it began to grow. The most amazing thing was that I found the current lineup to be very effective in renewing my passion and appreciation of this band. The Live in Moscow, Raging Silence and Different World brought me home solidly to stay this time. Guess not knowing all the rifts in band personnel, or worrying about which lineup was best (I think that is sort of like arguing which Beatle was cuter) allowed me to take the music to heart. My diligence paid off as in July of 93 Uriah Heep played the Seoul Olympic Fencing Arena. Have no doubts, I was there.
On my return to the States in 93, I found the Conquest CD, backfilled any missing issues and picked up the 3 CD set Two Decades Of Rock. Thanks to the accompanying booklet I was finally able to catch up with all that had really transpired within the band, that serving only to concretely set my appreciation of all phases of the band. (I remember the Uriah-Heep.com when they only offered the mouse pad as merchandise.)
I have been fortunate enough to have seen them two more times, Club Madrid (Henderson NV) and the Greek Theater in LA. in 2001.
My fondness for this band only continues to grow. Sorry for the
long-winded look back. I enjoy reading all the varied opinions of the
mailing list.
ALE
