![]() At 3:00 it goes back to how the beginning sounded. Out of the blue, a kazoo comes in along with backing vocals singing “happy birthday to you” (not the traditional “happy birthday” song, just the words “happy birthday to you.” Just thought I should clear that up) over and over again. The first minute and a half of the song flat out rocks, but at 1:45, this song gets a bit weird. Definitely a filler.Īnd now next and final song on the album is he title track, "The Magician’s Birthday." It starts with a great intro riff. But I enjoy listening to it once in a while if I’m in the mood. This song has potential, but the song is very linear and maintains the same tone throughout the entire song. The next song, "Tales," is not one of my favorite songs on the album. Other than the driving chorus, it’s Hensley’s synthesizer that really carries this song along. Then the chorus comes in, which really makes this song a lot of fun to hear. A moog synthesizer leads the guitar and rhythm section for the intro of this song. "Sweet Lorraine" is a straight-up rocker and, as I mentioned before, is the second of the two "happier" sounding songs on this album. Sorry my description of that song was very bland, but I just can't put how this song sounds into words, as it it a very moving song and I feel that the emotions people would get from a song like this would be different for everyone. There is not much to describe about it because it's just Hensley playing piano with Byron singing along, but is an absolute must-listen-to. It is one of the prettiest piano songs I have ever head. This next song, "Rain," is very different from the rest. Anyways, great stuff, definitely one of my favorites on the album. In fact, my interpretation of the lyrics in this song seem to be about someone having an encounter with a ghost, so the song could actually be set in an abandoned/haunted house. Just hearing the piano alone makes me think of a haunted house. "Echoes In The Dark" is easily the darkest song on the album. For example: "Stranger than the sunrise, darker than the night, fiercer than a rainstorm, blinder than the blind eye." Also: "I ran to a place in the open sea where I pledged my whole life to the sun, it was good for a while, I could laugh, I could smile, but when I woke up one day the sun had gone." They sound really cool, especially when you hear it on the recording, but like I said, what do they mean? I guess it's one of those songs where the listener determines the meaning. It's a decent song but it's not as good as "Sunrise" or "Sweet Lorraine." The lyrics in this song are very interesting, the thing is, it is hard to decipher what they are about. The third track on the album, "Blind Eye," starts off with a great bass line from Gary Thain and goes off into a harmonized, very uplifting sounding guitar riff. Good song, but it looses it's steam after a while and gets kind of old. Right off the bat Mick Box starts the song with one of his many great slide guitar riffs and his slide playing pretty much carries the song all the way through to the end. "Spider Woman" is one of the two songs, the other being "Sweet Lorraine," on the album that don't have that dark vibe. Then it eventually leads into a very anthemic section and ends one a very strong note from Byron. The relationship between Byron's shrieks and Box's riff sounds awesome. When I first heard the intro of this song it just blew away. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, you are bombarded with Mick Box's very heavy yet very simple guitar riff (very Tony Iommi-esque) accompanied by singer David Byron’s signature shrieks. It starts very softly with Ken Hensley's organ which chromatically builds up. This is definitely one of Heep's best songs. The opener of the album is "Sunrise." It's the perfect opener for this album since the song pretty much sums up the mood of the whole album: very dark and spooky. It contained Mick Box (guitar), Ken Hensley (keyboards, organ, synthisizer, guitar, and main somgwriter), David Byron (lead vocals), Gary Thain (bass guitar), and future Ozzy drummer Lee Kerslake (drums). ![]() This was the follow-up to their breakthrough album "Demons and Wizards." Out of the many different incarnations of the band (over 30 different musicians), this is the best line-up they ever had. "The Magician's Birthday" is the fifth release of the very talented and very underrated band Uriah Heep. Review Summary: This is my first review, so any feedback, negative or positive, is greatly appreciated.
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