The Magician's Birthday
Encyclopedia
The Magician's Birthday is the fifth album released by British rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...

. The story line is "based loosely on a short story" written by Ken Hensley in June and July 1972.

Even though it was recorded mere months after the preceding Demons and Wizards, the album features a notably different sound than the band's previous albums, with the aggressive hard rock toned down in favor of a cleaner appearance with more progressive elements, something which had only been hinted previously. This change in sound would define Uriah Heep's following outputs for roughly a decade.

The original vinyl release was a gatefold sleeve, the front of which was designed by Roger Dean. The inner of the gatefold had pictures of the band, with the LP itself housed in a liner on which were printed the lyrics.

Two songs charted in the United States, "Blind Eye" (#97) and "Sweet Lorraine" (#91). "Spider Woman" reached #13 in Germany. The title track is notable for an extended kazoo
Kazoo
The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...

 improvisation on the melody to "Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
"Happy Birthday to You", also known more simply as "Happy Birthday", is a song that is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth...

".

The Magician's Birthday was certified Gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

 by the RIAA on January 22, 1973.

Track listing

All songs written by Ken Hensley
Ken Hensley
Kenneth William David Hensley is a keyboard player , guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s....

 except where noted

Side 1
  1. "Sunrise" – 4:04
  2. "Spider Woman" (Mick Box
    Mick Box
    Michael Frederick Box , better known by his stage name Mick Box, is the lead guitarist of British rock group Uriah Heep, having previously been a member of The Stalkers and Spice, both with original Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron. He is the only member from the band's founding in 1969 who is...

    , David Byron
    David Byron
    David Byron -Early Life 1967-1969:From mid-60's to early 70's David Byron did a lot of session work for a company called Avenue Recordings singing lead and backing vocals...

    , Lee Kerslake
    Lee Kerslake
    Lee Kerslake is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep, in addition to his work in the Ozzy Osbourne band...

    , Gary Thain
    Gary Thain
    Gary Mervin Thain was a rock bassist, best known for his work with British band, Uriah Heep.-Biography:Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Thain was part of the rock trio The New Nadir, and with the drummer Peter Dawkins, he travelled from New Zealand to London, and once jammed with Jimi Hendrix...

    ) – 2:25
  3. "Blind Eye" – 3:33
  4. "Echoes in the Dark" – 4:48
  5. "Rain" – 3:59

Side 2
  1. "Sweet Lorraine" (Box, Byron, Thain) – 4:13
  2. "Tales" – 4:09
  3. "The Magician's Birthday" (Box, Hensley, Kerslake) – 10:19


The 2004 Remastered version by Castle (UK) as CMRCD771, adds 9 previously unreleased bonus tracks:
  1. "Crystal Ball (Out-take)" (Thain) – 4:08
  2. "Silver White Man (Vocal Out-take Version)" (Byron) – 3:40
  3. "Proud Words On a Dusty Shelf (Alternate Version)" – 3:24
  4. "Echoes in the Dark (Single Edit)" – 4:23
  5. "Rain (Single Edit)" – 3:16
  6. "Happy Birthday ("The Magician's Birthday" Single Edit)" – 4:44
  7. "Sunrise (Single Edit)" – 2:49
  8. "Gary's Song" (Crystal Ball alternate version) (Thain) – 4:25
  9. "Silver White Man (Instrumental Out-take)" (Byron) – 3:43

Uriah Heep

  • David Byron
    David Byron
    David Byron -Early Life 1967-1969:From mid-60's to early 70's David Byron did a lot of session work for a company called Avenue Recordings singing lead and backing vocals...

     – vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

  • Ken Hensley
    Ken Hensley
    Kenneth William David Hensley is a keyboard player , guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s....

     – keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

    , guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

    s, Moog synthesizer
    Moog synthesizer
    Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...

  • Mick Box
    Mick Box
    Michael Frederick Box , better known by his stage name Mick Box, is the lead guitarist of British rock group Uriah Heep, having previously been a member of The Stalkers and Spice, both with original Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron. He is the only member from the band's founding in 1969 who is...

     – guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

  • Gary Thain
    Gary Thain
    Gary Mervin Thain was a rock bassist, best known for his work with British band, Uriah Heep.-Biography:Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Thain was part of the rock trio The New Nadir, and with the drummer Peter Dawkins, he travelled from New Zealand to London, and once jammed with Jimi Hendrix...

     – bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

  • Lee Kerslake
    Lee Kerslake
    Lee Kerslake is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep, in addition to his work in the Ozzy Osbourne band...

     – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

    , percussion
    Percussion instrument
    A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

    , kazoo
    Kazoo
    The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...


Production

  • Produced By Gerry Bron
  • Engineered By Peter Gallen
  • Assistant Engineer: Ashley Howe


The 2004 Remastered version by Castle (UK) as CMRCD771, team:
  • Remastering by Robert Corich
    Robert Corich
    Robert M. Corich is a remastering engineer and record producer, who started his career as a remastering engineer, producing new re-releases for bands such as Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Budgie, Status Quo, and many others....

  • Remastering by Mike Brown
  • Assistant Remastering: Pavel Salgado
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