After the release of the excellent Demons and Wizards set, Heep were now beginning to see a bit of success and the classic line-up of Mick Box, David Byron, Ken Hensley, Gary Thain and Lee Kerslake would soon find themselves among the elite of the rock and roll scene(and all of its trappings). Merely 6 months after touring behind "Wizards", the group released Magician's Birthday and yet another offering was seen and heard of an equal quality to the previous release. Ken Hensley was very prolific again on this outing, with no less than the bulk of the album in 5 songs including: Sunrise, Echoes in the Dark, Rain, Tales and Blind Eye.

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The material is up to par and the band is on point here. Sunrise is a powerful opener with some great ensemble interplay and top notch vocals from David Byron; there's some nice slide work from Ken on Spider Woman which is a bluesy rocker written by the band, minus Hensley. Sweet Lorraine would prove to be a great live number and is one of Heep's most enduring songs joining classic status of July Morning and Easy Livin'. Other numbers worth of mention are the more acoustic folk-like tracks in Blind Eye and Tales; Blind Eye is a bit upbeat while Tales has a ponderous and surreal-like quality in its undertone.

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The album peaks with the title track and although its well over ten minutes in length, it seems more like a pieced together, labored number, beginning with its main riff theme then follows into an improvisational "dream" sequence; (the idea here is Box and Kerslake are "swordfighting" according to the "concept") then, the coda enters giving an anti-climatic ending. It's not a bad number by any means, but it just seems to miss its intended epic impact.  In the 2003 remaster liner notes, Ken Hensley stated that they never quite achieved in finishing the track properly as originally envisioned, due to time constraints and touring commitments. With this in mind, it makes one listen a bit closer to it and you can agree with Hensley's statements in some respects yet, overall, the album is a great piece of work despite his criticism and remains one of their most classic outputs.

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There are also bonus outtakes included here on the Sanctuary remaster in the shapes of Crystal Ball(written by Gary Thain), Silver White Man(David Byron) and another version of Hensley's Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf, which was included in another form on the Demons and Wizards remaster. All of these tracks have a unique quality of appeal to the die-hard fan and it's interesting to hear these discarded numbers. Magician's Birthday is certainly worth owning as it joins Demons and Wizards and Sweet Freedom in a triad of consistent material and continued to push the band to grow musically within their talented spectrum. 

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Rating Grade- A-