2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
The British band Uriah Heep ("Uray Heep") appeared in the late 60s and performs in our time. The group has been in an unstable position for more than fifty years: loved by a million-strong audience of fans, but categorically unacceptable by critics. "Hip" is considered one of the popularizers of progressive rock in Western Europe. It is easy to recognize the work of "Yurai" by the complex harmony, close to dodecaphony, in backing vocals and long tracks (more than 6 minutes).
Personal style
Initially, the group was considered a representative of British hard rock. Already in the first line-up, the band stood out with an unusual approach to arranging, adding prog-art sounds to the guitar, organ and backing vocals. Some tracks are a synthesis of hard rock and heavy metal with hints of jazz music (complex harmony with modal gravity). Later, the stylistic devices used in Lady in Black and "July Morning" would influence Queen's experimental album and stimulate the development of progressive music in Europe.
Uriah Heep comes from the legendary band The Gods, who raisedfuture co-founders of the Rolling Stones, King Crimson and others. "Hip" has gone from a classic rock band to progressive metal. The work of the musical group has been concentrated on the latter since 2008.
Song history
The ten-minute composition was the result of a spontaneous experiment in a recording studio. From three templates: a finished guitar composition, a melodic line on keyboards and bass improvisation, in July 1971 the main hit of the group in the territory of the post-Soviet space was born (among Western European and American fans, the track Lady in Black, written in the pop tradition, is more popular).
The composition is filled with the emotions of vocalist David Byron, who tells the story of tragic love. The long duration of the track did not make it boring: natural motifs and change of key make the song monumental and captivate the listener. After the partial breakup of the band, composer Ken Hensley includes the song "July Morning" in his solo album, and the new line-up presents a hit to the Eastern European audience.
Text
It's hard to single out the verse-chorus or verse-bridge-chorus structure typical of rock music in a song. In the abundance of instrumental material, the intro-verse is lost, a few short stanzas marking the tense moments of the track, and a coda exactly repeating the intro. The author uses non-strict cross-rhyming with an accent on the last syllable.
The text of "July Morning" "Yurai Hip" contrasts the feelings of the hero with natural phenomena. The rising sun is a symbol of joy andawakening. Night storm plunges into the atmosphere of struggle and anxiety. The catchphrase "city of a thousand faces", denoting the loneliness of a person in a crowd, comes into being thanks to a similar metaphor in July Morning.
Influence of the song on popular culture
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, in a number of Eastern European countries, the work "Hip" "July Morning" is recognized as a symbol of a bygone era. So, every year in Bulgaria on the night of June 30 to July 1, residents of coastal cities gather to meet the dawn and sing the song July Morning until the morning, the younger generation organizes themed parties where residents of the former Soviet Union share their memories of communism and the work of the Yuray Hip group.
The song is considered the anthem of the European hippies of the 70s and symbolizes the youth opposition. The intricate harmonic line, defying the canons of rock and pop music, fueled the spirit of protest until the early 2000s, when the popularity of "old hip" faded and the band turned to progressive metal.
Performances and awards
The song gained popularity in the central region of modern Russia, where it received recognition, hitting the top ten foreign compositions of the first chart in the history of the USSR. The combination of opera and rock catered to the needs of Eastern European audiences, while Manfred Mann's semi-satirical performance of the keyboard part matched the spirit of protest in the West.
The critical acclaim was not received by the group itself, but only by a couple of successful works. About July Morning DaveThompson (progressive music scholar and rock critic) responded as follows:
Uriah Heep paid tribute to the fashion trend in prog-rock by using a moog-synth, but - unlike all his contemporaries - this detail was given almost decisive importance. The Hips have abandoned all restraint and displayed such a pearl of excess that the very grandiosity of the adventure overwhelms any desire to resist it.
Lady in Black from the band's second album is considered the main competitor of the "summer hit" in the west. Simple harmony and strictness in the performance of the local audience appreciated more progressive music with complex atonal moves. In the early 2000s, as part of group concerts dedicated to rock and alternative of the 20th century, the group toured the cities of the Black Sea coast, and in 2015 came to Luzhniki, Moscow. Contemporary music analysts oppose Heep to the Scorpions, who have overcome the generation gap and have been continuing their career for fifty years already.
Conclusion
July Morning is a song about freedom, love, moral values and sensual perception of life. The penetrating composition has become a symbol of youth, protest and romantic encounters. Technically difficult to perform, it brought fame to the musicians and the soloist of the group, demonstrating the professionalism of the members to the general public.
The song July Morning was awarded the golden lion and entered the collection of the best ballads of the group. Hit these daysare included in many themed events dedicated to the hippie movement and the history of the twentieth century.
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