[Heeplist] Hail The Sunrise

[Bob Winward]

This song gets in your head with a catchy lyric.  "Hail the Sunrise, Shine the Dawn"
It sort of reminds me of Rainbow Demon, a heavy slow moving song easy to sing along to. It starts out with Phil mashing some simple but sinister sounding organ chords. The drumming drives the song but yet in a slow deliberate manner, more Lee-like than the speed drumming we have come to expect from Russell, whom by the way, penned the song. I like the way Davey blends in the bass to match the beat and help drive the piece. Mick unleashes some splendid guitar work towards the end of the song that sounds straight from 1972-73.  The vocals are haunting, powerful and melodic. " Hail the Bernie, Sing the Song"

By reading the lyrics, I get the impression the song is about an ancient stone structure erected for some sort of worship. It talks about how hard the laborers worked to accomplish the dream of the elders.  Could be about Stone Hedge, but that's my guess.  I actually visited iStone Hedge with Mike Taylor of the UK back in the Magician's Birthday Party days in 2001. As a matter of fact, after several beers I was planning on peeing on the wall (like on the WHO's Next album cover), but Mike intervened just when some Burly Bobbies were about to deny me the opportunity!

In conclusion, the hard heavy number straight from the early 70's gives the album (Chaos & Color) a nice change of pace from the more modern metal track track that opens the record. 

Bob
I love all the Bleep from Uriah Heep!