Uriah Heep - Fallen Angel (1978) [2026 Japanese Edition]

This is the last album to feature John Lawton on vocals, but he truly shines, not only on the leads, but creating stupendous harmony layers with the rest of the members.
Finely produced, on “Fallen Angel” the band moved toward an AOR sound. But this isn’t fluffy AOR; it’s the anthemic type. While it isn’t ranked high on the Billboard 200, in Germany URIAH HEEP were at the height of their popularity.
“Firefly” launched the new URIAH HEEP sonic adventure in ’77, quickly followed by “Innocent Victim”. The change in direction is evident and seems to displease some, but on the other hand, refreshed their repertoire with melodic, modern (at the time) songs, with a radio format.

Convinced of the stylistic shift made, URIAH HEEP emerged the following year with this “Fallen Angel”, which would unfortunately also turn out to be the last of this version of the group.
The line up that had already worked on the two previous albums is fully confirmed, and the coordinates on which the album moves do not show any particular changes from the recent past. “Woman of the Night” kicks things off with an engaging rocking feeling, supported by Lawton’s excellent performance, while “Falling in Love” and “One More Night” fully represent the new URIAH HEEP, proponents of a melodic rock of good quality.

In conclusion, “Fallen Angel” is surely a good album, although, objectively, not exactly as early URIAH HEEP. The change of skin, with the shift from hard progressive to AOR, worked and would define a decade of the Londoners’ production.
All in all, ”Fallen Angel” may not be progressive as Heep’s early efforts, but it offers enough slickly crafted music to please any fan of ’70s AOR / melodic rock sounds.

Tracks:

01. Woman of the Night (4:05)
02. Falling in Love (2:54)
03. One More Night (3:31)
04. Put Your Lovin’ on Me (4:09)
05. Come Back to Me (4:20)
06. Whad’ya Say (3:41)
07. Save It (3:34)
08. Love or Nothing (3:01)
09. I’m Alive (4:18)
10. Fallen Angel (5:09)
11. A Right to Live (Promo B-Side) (3:37)
12. Cheater (single B-Side) (4:05)
13. Gimme Love (single B-Side) (3:18)
14. Last Farewell (alternate version of “One More Night”) (3:21)
15. Street Lady (alternate version of “Woman of the Night”) (3:43)
16. Struttin’ (alternate version of “Gimme Love”) (3:17)
17. Falling in Love (alternate live version) (3:09)
18. Woman of the Night (alternate live version) (3:19)

Personnel:

John Lawton – lead vocals
Mick Box – guitars
Ken Hensley – keyboards, synths, slide and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Lee Kerslake – drums, Syndrums, backing vocals
Trevor Bolder – bass guitar