Here’s an interesting one for Heep fans. A radio broadcast from a performance in Budapest back in 1982 during Peter Goalby’s stint with the band on the Abominog tour.
Not much Heep live stuff out there with Goalby singing so I took a chance on this despite these radio broadcast things tending to be of variable quality.
Firstly let’s get the glaring errors out of the way with the CD packaging. Sure, it is basic which is OK. However the photographs used are inaccurate. The front and inside cover pics are of the John Lawton fronted line up.
The back cover pic does have Goalby on it and John Sinclair – however Bob Daisley not there and Trevor Boulder is. Also the text has the line-up listed as Goalby, Box, Kerslake, Boulder. Not quite right.
Anyway – those gripes aside, it’s about the music and having a live recording with Goalby singing.
The excellent Abominog album/line-up was Mick Box re-launching and re-energising Heep after the collapse following the Conquest album (though I do like that album) and what a job Mick did.
The twelve song set here has Heep blazing through four songs from Abominog – including a thumping Too Scared to Run – together with the hardy perennial classics such as Stealin’ July Morning, The Wizard, Gypsy, Easy Livin’ and Look at Yourself.
Heep always put it all in on stage and no exception to that here. They are on top form thundering through the set which demonstrates the typical Heep energy and crowd pleasing effort. Check out in particular Mick’s solo which then leads in to a thundering Gypsy and one of the enduring classic riffs ever.
If you’re an old Heep fan such as myself you’ll know what you’re getting here song-wise with the bonus of a rare live show with Goalby singing and the Abominog line-up which picked the band up off the floor and back from oblivion. Heep still with us today of course and as good as ever. Check out their current album Chaos and Colour for example. Stunning.
For radio broadcast from over forty years ago the recording quality is quite good. It does reflect the energy and power of the performance and a revitalised band. Ignore the photographic errors and enjoy the music.