Label: Vertigo Records (United Kingdom) / Bronze Records (rest of the world) / Mercury Records (USA)
Release date: February 1971
Production: Gerry Bron
Album length: 38.19 min
Genre: Heavy Rock / Progressive Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
That’s how it’s done. The critics tear you to shreds, so you hit back even harder than with the first assault. The wicked Bird Of Prey opens the record with a properly psychotic, hard-as-nails riff. With that heavy riff backed by a rolling rhythm, it’s really not hard to picture a steel, robotized bird of prey stomping around and wreaking havoc with its insatiable sharp beak and talons. The Park is the romantic opposite, soaked in flower power peace ideology. Anyway, let me not stray off course. David’s angelic singing offers an incredible contrast to the raw power of the opener. The gentler you play a song like this, the more intense it comes out! Time To Live is again built on an expressive, seriously heavy riff, with the Hammond organ and Mick’s axe working in lockstep. If I may be a little wicked, twelve years later one of the pioneering NWOBHM bands used a very similar main riff in a pre-chorus. I’m talking about Iron Maiden and their Revelations, whether that’s pure coincidence or not (depending on who you ask).
Ken Hensley, who jumped aboard Uriah Heep at a time when the songs of the debut were already done, got to show all his genius for the first time on “Salisbury”. Lady In Black is sung entirely by Ken. A true master of the polished acoustic composition, it’s built on just two chords (Am, G). Tambourines dictate the rhythm. Ken says that one November day he was watching a snowstorm, and suddenly he saw an apparition outside. A girl dressed in black. He says he doesn’t know why, but obviously it had to happen so that Uriah Heep could carry her message out into the world. The song is fragile and ice-cold at the same time. The girl in black. Death and birth. Transformation. New life.
The title track is a masterpiece of just over 16 minutes, a perfectly balanced fusion of rock music and a classical dimension brought in by the wind arrangements. The weave of Hensley’s organ, Newton’s lively bass lines, Mick’s refined knack for adding tasteful touches of guitar makeup (how neatly his solos sit inside the composition), and David’s spontaneity on vocals all hit their peaks once the rich vocal harmonies kick in. The drama of the various twists and turns conjures up a heap of different moods and calls to mind Gill Evans’ orchestral arrangement of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with Miles Davis on trumpet (on “Sketches From Spain”); the feeling is strikingly similar. Let me tone down the “enthusiasm” a bit. Really, the song Salisbury is a kind of Uriah Heep manifesto of exceptional artistic ambition, instantly comparable to Pink Floyd’s notorious Atom Heart Mother suite.
With their second studio album, Uriah Heep showed incredible confidence and an unstoppable creative drive. They were a hair’s breadth from breaking through into the ranks of rock’s immortal creators. Besides the six original remastered songs, this reissue brings seven extra bonus tracks, whose secrets will be revealed in more detail when you read the booklet, and none of the band members was thrilled with the cover on it. Their label at the time picked it entirely on its own whim.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Bird Of Prey (4:05)
2. The Park (5:38)
3. Time To Live (4:02)
4. Lady In Black (4:33)
5. High Priestess (3:39)
6. Salisbury (16:02)
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 1996 REMASTERED EDITION:
1. Simon The Bullet Freak (3:27) originally single b-side, also on North American versions of ‘Salisbury’ (1971)
2. High Priestess (3:13) edited version released as a single
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 2003 REMASTERED EDITION:
1. Simon The Bullet Freak – single b-side (=US album version)
2. Here Am I – out-take, previously unreleased version
3. Lady In Black – edit, previously unreleased version
4. High Priestess – alternate version
5. Salisbury – edit, previously unreleased version
6. The Park – alternate version, previously unreleased
7. Time To Live – alternate version, previously unreleased
Line-up:
David Byron – lead vocals
Ken Hensley – organ, piano, slide & acoustic guitar, harpsichord, vocals on “Lady In Black”, backing vocals
Mick Box – electric & acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Paul Newton – bass guitar, backing vocals
Keith Baker – drums
