Indeed, on the closing section of the studio version of “July Morning”, Manfred Man had been brought in to play the synth solo, Hensley at the time being unfamiliar with this new instrument.
It should be remembered that at the time, only an handful of bands were using synthesisers successfully. The closing slide guitar theme is repeated briefly before being picked up by Hensley on moog synthesiser, and developed into a magnificent solo. David Byron gives one of his finest virtuoso vocal performances here. The live version however was a complete transformation. The original version closed with a repeating slide guitar solo, which faded after a couple of minutes. “Circle of hands” really began to take on a life of its own during the bands subsequent live performances, to the extent that by the time of the “Live ‘73” album (sometimes referred to as “Friday night in Birmingham”), it had arguably become the highlight of their act. By this time, Ken Hensley was clearly writing with Byron’s style of vocal delivery upper most in his mind, the “Demons and Wizards” album as a whole finding the two of them in greater harmony than any other Uriah Heep album. The structures of the songs are very similar, with a powerful opening burst leading to a soft vocal section and louder refrain, both tracks closing with a repeated instrumental theme. This started life as the last track on side one of “Demons and Wizards”, initial impressions being that while it was a great number, it was a something of a clone of “July Morning” from the previous “Look at yourself” album. A track by Uriah Heep which deserves special mention is “Circle of hands”.
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