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PAUL NEWTON
Eastnor, Herefordshire, Feb. 1993
The Lansdowne Tapes. "When Rob Corich contacted me and explained his discovery and acquisition of these tapes, and of his plans to mix and release them, I admit to having rather mixed feelings. OK, I thought they may be interesting from the nostalgia angle, but for no other reasons. Anyway, Rob sent a rough mix to me and I sat down to re-acquaint myself with the tracks, many of which I had not heard since 1969. As can be imagined, the memories flooded back - Dave, Mick and myself as very young lads full of optimism, excitement and energy. I remembered the regular gigs such as the 'Wake Arms', 'Cooks Ferry Inn', and the 'Marquee Club' where we played much of the Spice material live. There were so many pubs and club gigs, we must have played in most of them in those early years before it all went crazy. Songs like Magic Lantern and Born In A Trunk were good old stalwart numbers and it felt fine hearing them again after all these years. In fact I had forgotten recording many of them. Some of the Spice tracks of course are not as strong as later Heep songs, but they do display a fair representation of what the band was playing in those times, and so is an honest reminder of our early years.
"I noted with interest the jazzy feel running through many of the Spice tracks, particularly in the Magic Lantern centrepiece, where the great talent of Mick Box is as evident here as it is today. And of course the vocal talent of David Byron, who I believe would have loved this collection, because David's main purpose in life was to be singing and performing, on stage and off. His contributions here are strong, not only his singing, but also in his writing.
"As we moved into the seventies it is the influence of Ken Hensely that obviously gives the band its definitive sound. Spice fades and Uriah Heep is born. The addition of Ken's writing, keyboard playing, singing and guitar work brought the band true direction. Where Spice had fumbled, Uriah Heep dug in and found itself. In my opinion the finest tracks on the album are Why, which just builds and hypnotises, and Here Am I, a beautifully haunting song, so typically Ken. I found this a very enjoyable collection of early things - I hope you do."
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Content Copyright © 1997 Jay Pearson
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