“If this group makes it I'll have to commit suicide. From the first note you know you don't want to hear any more. Uriah is watered down, tenth-rate Jethro Tull, only even more boring and inane. UH is composed of five members: vocals, organ, guitar, bass, and drums. They fail to create a distinctive sound tonally; the other factor in their uninteresting style is that everything they play is based on repetitive chord riffs. According to the enclosed promo information, Uriah Heep spent the past year in the studio, rehearsing and writing songs. No doubt their lack of performing experience contributed to the quality of the record; if they had played live in clubs they would have been thrown off the stage and we'd have been saved the waste of time, money, and vinyl.”
The above review of Uriah Heep’s self titled (in America) debut album was written by Rolling Stone journalist Mellissa Mills in 1970. Nearly 40 years and 30 million albums later, Miss Mills still hasn’t followed through on the promise of the reviews opening line. Whilst musical taste is a very personal thing, it’s hard to fathom how this particular journalist was driven to write such a stinging review, considering the album opens with one of the greatest heavy rock anthems ever scraped in to wax; Gypsy.
In fact, her declaration that “From the first note you know you don't want to hear any more” is all the more startling considering that Gypsy boasts one of the most monumental riffs in Heavy Metal history. It makes me feel a little bit sick that a magazine with the heritage of Rolling Stone would have had a writer on staff that couldn’t identify the sheer majesty of the song.
Of course, the last laugh went to The Heep. They even went on to be the first band to play in Soviet Russia as part of Gorbachev’s policy of ‘Glasnost’.
See, even the Commies knew a classic riff when they heard it!
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