Innocent Victim

Arjan Hut (Ljouwert, Fryslân, The Netherlands) writes "Innocent Victim was the first Uriah Heep album I bought. The only album I had heard thusfar was Salisbury, so listening to the completely different sounding Innocent Victim album was really a surprising experience. I must have been around 15 years old when I bought it and I knew that this seventies pop-rock album wasn't something my trend-aware friends would appreciate. So I kept this one to myself. From the start I loved the fresh and easy-on-the-ears rock songs of Innocent Victim. My death-metal kid-brother would come into my room and laugh at me for liking this stuff, but I really did not care. The album is more commercial and less colourful than it's predecessor Firefly, but the energy that lacks so much on Fallen Angel is still present here. John Lawton's vocals are very impressive. Illusion is perhaps my favorite track. I was still in diapers when this song was recorded, perhaps that is why the melodies of this song take me into a state of beautiful nostalgia! When I discovered it's sequal Masquerade some years later, I was in heaven! I love that twin-lead guitar intro. Innocent Victim is definitely not the best album Heep ever released, but it did urge me to buy more of their work. Although Salisbury is still my favorite, Innocent Victim is the album which made me a fan."

Jari Perko (Turku, Finland) writes "After Firefly, Innocent Victim was bringing in some hope despite its terrible cover. The first five songs were fairly acceptable Heep, though Roller doesn't sound like Uriah Heep at all. After all it's one of the best tracks on the disc. And of course - Free 'n' Easy is a legendary rock 'n' roll anthem, and Illusion so beautiful I could weep in silence. But then: What did Hensley actually think when he wrote Free Me. I mean this one really sucks! And every song after FM. Cheat 'n' Lie: same old crap in same old crappy poppy form. And the same goes for The Dance and Choices. I wonder why people are always bragging about Choices. The song is numb, nothing! So: Free 'n' Easy saved the album and gave everybody a little bit of hope. But overall - the album bit the dust... Now matter how hard I tried to like it. Again."

Roger Gößmann (Schweinfurt, Germany) writes "The song Illusion on the INNOCENT VICTIM album is pure magic. Another great performance of John Lawton. He really can make an average song a great one! I love the keyboard sounds of Ken Hensley. And I think the quality of Mick Box's guitar playing depends much on his counterpart in Hensley. It is very controlled and well worked out. To me it seems they put a lot of time in arranging, constructing, recording and mixing the songs. This album still stands the test of time!"

Brad Duren (Oklahoma, US) writes "A better album than I once thought it to be. Too pop at times, lacking the heavy guitar and B3 that define vintage Heep. Still, Free N Easy kicks arse, and Illusion (with and without Masquerade) as well as Choices are good songs. The sound is much better on the remaster, as the bottom end really comes out. Still, the mix is too tight."

Todd Pence (Fairfield, VA) writes, "Not one of my faves. It says something about this album that maybe the two best songs from the sessions were left off (Masquerade and The River). Cheat 'N Lie rocks, however, and Choices ranks as one of the band's finest lyrical moments and is a great way to close the album."

Content Copyright © 1997 Jay Pearson

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