Firefly (Uriah Heep album)

Last updated

Firefly
Firefly (Uriah Heep album).jpg
Studio album by
Uriah Heep
ReleasedFebruary 1977
RecordedOctober–November 1976
Studio Roundhouse (London)
Genre Hard rock
Length37:40
Label Bronze
Producer Gerry Bron
Uriah Heep chronology
High and Mighty
(1976)		Firefly
(1977)		 Innocent Victim
(1977)
Singles from Firefly
  1. "Sympathy"
    Released: 28 February 1977 (Ger.) [1]
  2. "Wise Man"
    Released: 15 April 1977 (UK) [2]

Firefly is the tenth studio album by English rock band Uriah Heep. [3] It was released in February 1977 by Bronze Records in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was their first album without lead vocalist and founding member David Byron, and the first of three albums with new singer John Lawton, formerly of Lucifer's Friend. Bassist Trevor Bolder made his Uriah Heep debut on this album. Barring a break of about 18 months in the early 1980s, he remained with the group until his death in 2013.

Contents

The first single from the album was "Wise Man".

The original vinyl album was a gatefold sleeve, with a cardboard lyric liner.

The album was remastered and reissued by Castle Communications in 1997 with four bonus tracks, and again in 2004 in an expanded deluxe edition.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 3/10 [5]

A retrospective review by AllMusic said that the album "pursued a stripped-down sound harking back to the group's early-'70s successes," and concluded that "Firefly remains one of the most cohesive albums from Uriah Heep's mid- to late-'70s period". [4] Martin Popoff in his Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal defined the album as "a mixed bag of scroungy, comatose blues ballads, nerdy party rockers and scary prog rock abortions", proving the intensification of "the deconstruction of a once great collective". [5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Ken Hensley, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Hanging Tree"Hensley, Jack Williams3:40
2."Been Away Too Long" 5:03
3."Who Needs Me" Lee Kerslake 3:39
4."Wise Man" 4:40
Side two
No.TitleLength
5."Do You Know"3:12
6."Rollin' On"6:21
7."Sympathy"4:44
8."Firefly"6:21
1997 CD edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Crime of Passion" (B-side of "Wise Man" single)Hensley, Box, Kerslake3:37
10."Do You Know" (previously unreleased demo version recorded in 1976) 3:16
11."A Far Better Way" (previously unreleased version different from the rough mix released on the Time of Revelation box set in 1996)Hensley, Box, Kerslake, Bolder, Lawton5:50
12."Wise Man" (TV backing track – previously unreleased mix originally used during an advertising campaign) 4:48
2004 Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Crime of Passion" (B-side)Hensley, Mick Box, Kerslake 
10."A Far Better Way" (Demo Mix)Hensley, Box, Kerslake, Bolder, Lawton 
11."I Always Knew"Hensley, Box, Kerslake, Bolder, Lawton 
12."Dance Dance Dance"Hensley, Box, Kerslake, Bolder, Lawton 
13."Been Away Too Long" (Alternative Version)  
14."Do You Know" (Demo Mix)  
15."Who Needs Me" (Alternative Live Version)Kerslake 
16."Wise Man" (T.V. Backing Track)  

Personnel

Uriah Heep

Production

Charts

Chart (1977)Peak
position
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [6] 12
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [7] 17
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) [8] 21
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [9] 17
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [10] 6
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [11] 35
US Billboard 200 [12] 166

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wise Man (song)</span> 1977 single by Uriah Heep

"Wise Man" is a song by British rock band Uriah Heep. The song was written by Ken Hensley and Jack Williams for their album Firefly, which was released in February 1977. The song is also the first UK single with the band's new vocalist John Lawton. "Wise Man" was recorded at Roundhouse Recording Studios in London during October and November 1976, and was written in the key of A major.

References

  1. ↑ "Uriah Heep singles".
  2. ↑ "Uriah Heep singles".
  3. ↑ Neely, Tim (28 October 2005). "Uriah Heep U.S. Discography". Goldmine. Vol. 31, no. 22. p. 18.
  4. 1 2 Guarisco, Donald A. "Uriah Heep – Firefly review". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  5. 1 2 Popoff, Martin (October 2003). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 303. ISBN   978-1894959025.
  6. ↑ "Firefly – Uriah Heep". Danske Hitlister.dk. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  7. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Uriah Heep – Firefly" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  8. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN   978-951-1-21053-5.
  9. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Uriah Heep – Firefly" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Uriah Heep – Firefly". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Uriah Heep – Firefly". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Uriah Heep Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
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