CR> NP: "The Park" -- Uriah Heep (pretty decent song -- reminds me of
 CR> early Supertramp a bit)
 KA> What album is that from? Don't believe I've ever heard of it.
C>It's an album called _Salisbury_ (1971).  I borrowed it from Stuart.
C>The first song is not much to write home about, but the second one, "The
C>Park" is great.  Nothing else has stood out for me yet, but I think
C>there's some potential here.  I'd previously only heard Uriah Heep's
C>_Demons & Wizards_ and _The Magician's Birthday_.  They were both
C>alright, but I seemed to like _Birthday_ more.  That first song is
C>especially cool with all that choir-like yelling.
The proggiest stuff on _Salisbury_ is the proggiest stuff UH ever did.  They 
weren't really a prog band.  Their main claim to prog fame was, in fact, the 
title track, which is a fully orchestrated hard rock song that clocks in at 
over 16 minutes and is a masterpiece.
"Lady in Black" is a heavy folk-rock song, and would not sound out of place 
on a prog show.  "Simon the Bullet Freak" might qualify as prog because it's 
so weird.  Listen to it and the title track with headphones a couple times.  
SBF has lots of weird effects, and the orchestration on the title track is 
stunning.
I consider the album to be an A list classic, but not really a PROG classic, 
just that "high 70's" style (pun intended).
I also think it is far better than any other album they did, though _Birds of 
Prey_ and _Look at Yourself_ have their moments (notably the classically 
schamltzy "July Morning").  "Stealin" is a classic Bad Ballad (stealen when 
ah shooda bin buyhahayan), but the album "Sweet Freedom" is otherwise 
forgettable.  I have _Demons_ (their most popular, I think) and think they 
tried a bit too hard for that proggy feeling, personally.  I haven't heard 
_Magician_ in several lifetimes, but I thought it was inferior to _Demons_ 
way back in the Analog Age.
It seems the more prog I listen to, the more insulting my reviews of my old, 
nonprog favorites become.  Everything is Bad nowadays, but in a good, 70's 
sort of way.
I am currently listening to that Rundgren album _A Wizard a True Star_ and 
it's pretty hairy.  There are some extremely weird sections on this album, 
like Zappa at his wackiest, but quite psychedelic.  Some is much more normal, 
but it hasn't lapsed much into Radio-Friendly Todd much (although it is now).
Stuart
np:  see above
---
 * PW * 
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
---------------