Cherry Red [Release date 24.04.26]

Return To Fantasy (1975)
High And Mighty (1976)
Firefly (1977)
Innocent Victim (1977)

Cherry Red’s latest Uriah Heep boxset, Beautiful Dream, is essentially a follow up to their Shadow And The Wind set released last year, which included reissues of Sweet Freedom and Wonderworld, their sixth and seventh album releases, 1973 and 1974.

Bringing out their eighth album, Return To Fantasy, only 5 years after the debut was the very definition of prolific.

And this was against a backdrop of significant lineup changes. Few seventies’ rock bands were able to withstand these sudden assaults on their equilibrium.
Yet others – like Uriah Heep – seemed to thrive on it.

This boxset is the perfect demonstration.

Over the course of these 4 albums they substituted John Wetton and David Byron with Trevor Boulder and John Lawton, adding them to the rock solid core of Mick Box, Ken Hensley and Lee Kerslake.

This blend brought fresh energy while continuing to provide seasoned performances and sharp songwriting.

A previous reissue of Return To Fantasy was reviewed by GRTR! in 2023. Joe Geesin noted that it continued the band’s “exploration of hard rock”, and that they had gone on to “open some shows in 2000 with the glorious title track, at his suggestion, after a meeting with Mick Box at a promo event earlier that year.” Wise words indeed.

The band’s commercial traction saw a marked improvement with Return… propelling them into the UK Top Ten album chart.

No surprise then that High and Mighty climbed onto the slightly more accessible hard rock wagon, but unfortunately lost direction half way through.

The music media condemned H&M as an album of diminishing returns. And they had a point.

Side 1 had the magnificent classic rock of ‘One Way Or Another’ and ‘Midnight’, Side 2 labours in the shadow of Return To Fantasy.

Firefly and Innocent Victim introduced wary fans to the vocals of new man, John Lawton. His rich tenor immediately boosted standouts like ‘Free Me’ and ‘Who Needs Me’ into their consciousness. The band’s sound was fresh and vital once again.

And again, the label has sought and found a bunch of bonus tracks.

7 bonus tracks on CD1, 8 on CD2, 8 on CD3 and 6 on CD4.

B sides, live versions, new edits, demos, alt versions and so on.

If this isn’t value for money I don’t know what is. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 13 April 2026

DOGMA Fate Unblinds (MNRK Heavy)
SEVENDUST Threshold (Napalm Records)
OH HIROSHIMA Broken Sunlight (Pelagic Records)
HARSH Back To Life (Fireflash Records)
KING KRAKEN Call To War (indie)
HIGHWAY QUEEN Bring Me Home Tonight (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 13 April 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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