Uriah Heep — Salisbury (1971)

Uriah Heep’s second album, “Salisbury”, was recorded between October and November at Lansdowne Studios, London, and released in February 1971 by Vertigo (later re-released by Bronze Records). Musically the album was more multifaceted than the previous one. Ken Hensley wrote three songs and co-wrote the rest of the tracks, including the “Salisbury” suite. He also sang lead vocals on two tracks, “Lady In Black” and “High Priestess”.

The title track, “Salisbury”, is a 16-minute piece for the band and the orchestra. Orchestral arrangement was written by John Fiddy. The UK version of the album included “Bird of Prey” which was a different mix than the one already published on the American version of Uriah Heep’s first album, “Very ‘Eavy… Very ‘Umble”.

The American version of the album again had a different track list. The opening track was replaced by “High Priestess”, and the side B opened with “Simon The Bullet Freak”, which was not included on the UK version.

Track list (UK release):

1. Bird Of Prey  (Box/Byron/Hensley/Newton) 4:05
2. The Park (Hensley) 5:38
3. Time To Live (Box/Byron/Hensley) 4:02
4. Lady In Black (Hensley) 4:33
5. High Priestess (Hensley) 3:39
6. Salisbury (Box/Byron/Hensley) 16:02

Musicians:

• David Byron — vocals
• Ken Hensley — organ, piano, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, harpsichord, back vocals, vocals
• Mick Box — lead guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
• Paul Newton — bass guitar, vocals
• Keith Baker — drums

Producer — Gerry Bron (Hit Records Productions).

Recording and mixing engineer — Peter Gallen.

Tape operators — Ashley Howe and Les Cunningham.

Bonus tracks on CD re-issues:

1996:

• Simon The Bullet Freak
• High Priestess (single edit)

2003:

• Simon The Bullet Freak (US album version)
• Here Am I (unreleased version)
• Lady In Black (unreleased version)
• High Priestess (single edit)
• Salisbury (single edit)
• The Park (edit)
• Time To Live (edit)

Original liner notes were written by Ken Hensley.

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