We All Make Our Choices ...

For this weekend, I'm going to leave you with something special. Another one of those albums I thought was a classic when I was young. I'll admit I bought this album in the 80s because of the album cover. Any album with a massive, threatening, snake with blood dripping from its jaws has got to be good. So I thought.

The album quickly grew to be one of my favorites and I carried that with me over the years. It was only many years later, when I knew all about Uriah Heep did I come to find that this album, Innocent Victim was always considered one of their weaker albums. I am here now to finally dispel that myth. This is still one of my favorite albums. This is the kind of hard rock I like. It has the heavy overdriven guitars to classify it as hard rock, but the sound and vocals are clear. Like you should with most hard rock, please listen to these tracks with the volume turned up high to get the best effect.

The first track is "Free 'N' Easy" which is a good, hard rocking track that starts off with a great, confident guitar riff and keeps it up through the song. The second track is one that I found moving when I was young. I am not sure exactly why now, but I do recall feeling the lyrics hit me in the gut whenever I heard this song in my younger days. As an eighteen year old, for some reason, I was completely impressed with the lyrics
And we all make our choices
Like a blind man feels his way,
And the choice I've made is simple:
Passion over pain.

I'm sure there was a reason these lyrics affected this eighteen-year old so strongly. I've tried hard to recall what emotions led me to rave over these lyrics, but I'm drawing a blank.

Most of you are familiar with Uriah Heep. You can find more about the band here. Their complete discography on Amazon is here. This album, which I still maintain is their best, is available here with bonus tracks. Enjoy!

1. Uriah Heep - Free 'N' Easy (2.83 MB;128 kbps MP3)
2. Uriah Heep - Choices (5.33 MB; 128kbps MP3)