While working on the early re-masters for the Uriah Heep project it became apparent there was a market and indeed a need for a "Best Of" compilation. We researched past releases and it was decided to re-release the original Bronze Records Best Of Uriah Heep with extra relevant tracks (the magic of CD!) along with a couple of previously unreleased versions of well known songs. The inclusion of these previously unreleased versions should keep the diehards happy as well as the people who just require an introduction to the Uriah Heep catalog. It should be noted that these "extra" tracks that we have been including would probably never have secured a release it if had not been for the re-master program. When work commenced on the original Best Of we decided it was appropriate to upgrade it by adding some hitherto unreleased gems and to extend the CD to cover the first 10 albums. This was one album further than the original vinyl version covered. We thought this was logical as High & Mighty was also the last album to feature David Byron.
The success of the original release has been very encouraging. So encouraging in fact that it has highlighted the need for the rest of the catalog to be addressed in a similar fashion. The result... we give you The Best of Uriah Heep Part 2. The need for a "Best Of" should be obvious, some people do not want all of the original albums (cheapskates), or like me they want a nice CD to play in the car. This Best Of...Part 2 commences where Part 1 ended.
The recording of Firefly was started in the latter part of 1976 and released in February 1977. The record featured a new bass player, Trevor Bolder, formerly of Bowie's Spiders From Mars. Another addition was a new singer, John Lawton, formerly of German hard rock band Lucifer's Friend and sometimes singer with the Les Humphries Singers! Lawton stayed with the band for three studio albums including the aforementioned Firefly as well as Innocent Victim and Fallen Angel. He was also lead singer for the second official live album from the band entitled Live In Europe 1979, released later in the 80's.
1979-1980 was a really low point for the band. Lawton departed along with drummer Lee Kerslake. These two were replaced by John Sloman (ex Lone Star) as lead vocalist and Chris Slade, formerly of Manfred Mann's Earthband on drums. Along with Trevor Bolder (bass) and the ever present original members Mick Box (guitar) and Ken Hensley (keyboard, vocals, guitar) this new line-up recorded Conquest, a controversial album for the band to say the least. It was this record that was the last to feature Ken Hensley in the band. Trouble had been brewing for some time within the ranks and this culminated with the departure of Ken Hensley. To many this spelt the end of Uriah Heep. Mick Box and Co. soldiered on, replacing Hensley for a short period before the cracks in the band turned into gaping chasms. Sloman departed, as did Slade and in early 1981 Mick Box disbanded Uriah Heep after David Byron, the original lead singer refused to rejoin. His refusal was primarily due to the fact he had just formed another band, but this was the last straw for Box. It looked like that was the end.
Box however restructured his thoughts and set about rebuilding a new Uriah Heep, after he received a huge amount of letters from fans encouraging him not to let the Heep name fade away.
Kerslake rejoined Box after a stint with Ozzy Osbourne and they recruited bass player Bob Daisley (who had played alongside Kerslake in Ozzy's band). John Sinclair (formerly of the Heavy Metal Kids) covered the keyboard position and Pete Goalby, formerly of Trapeze, was recruited to cover the lung department. The band then disappeared into a studio, reappearing several months later with a new album entitled Abominog.
A lot of hope had been pinned on this new album and it did not disappoint. Released in May 1982, Abominog sold extremely well world wide, entering the Billboard charts and gaining the band a top 40 hit single in the USA with That's The Way That It Is.
This "mother" of hard rock albums was followed up with Head First was not destined to fare as well as Abominog due to problems with the band's record company. Bronze Records collapsed in a heap (excuse the pun) shortly after the release of the album. The band lost a lot of money in the process as well as the ever important factor in Rock and Roll, momentum. Out in the cold for the first time since 1969, Uriah Heep went searching for a record deal. CBS Portrait picked them up and they recorded Equator, an album that to this day has not yet seen a CD release (no tracks from Equator have been included due to licensing restrictions). Equator did not fair particularly well as the record company put virtually no promotion behind the release. Within a year the band were without a record company once more. It was to be several years before the band were to record and release a studio album again.
Goalby departed after the failure of Equator and the band was effectively put on ice. In 1986 Uriah Heep reinvented itself once more. Much to the disgust of the press, this was a band that refused to die! Mick Box, Trevor bolder and Lee Kerslake recruited a new keyboard player, Phil Lanzon (who formerly played with Sweet) and Bernie Shaw as the new vocalist. Their recording debut was during the concerts behind the Iron Curtain in 1987. Playing to huge numbers of people in Moscow it was deemed appropriate to release a recording from this very successful tour. Live In Moscow or Cam B Mockbe for those of you who speak Russian) as it was called was followed up by a good new studio album in 1989. Entitled Raging Silence the album featured an excellent cover version of the old Argent anthem, Hold Your Head Up which we have included in this release. The band were not to return to the studio for another two years when they recorded the Different World album. Where Live In Moscow and Raging Silence proved the band had not lost direction, the new album was not only a Different World, but by and large a different direction. The new album was a rather lackluster affair. It contained some good songs but the magic really was missing from this release. Blood On Stone, the track we have included here, showed however the band could still rock.
The period following the release of Different World really was a time when the band were in a state of quandary. The "Wilderness Years" if you like!
Mick Box, as ever, worked hard to ensure the band did not lose focus. They toured in Europe and the former Communist Block countries continuously before entering the studio in 1994 to record the excellent Sea Of Light album. Uriah Heep were back, make no mistake! 1996 saw the release of Spellbinder, a live album from the Sea Of Light tour.
Interestingly, the current line-up has been together longer than any other line-up by far, twelve years! That's nearly twice as long as David Byron was in the band!
The Best Of...Part 2 we have presented here covers the period up to and including the Different World album. As Spellbinder and Sea Of Light are the current releases, we have not included any tracks from these albums here. Besides, we only have 76 minutes or so to play with, and who knows, we might get a "Part 3" out of them yet!
© 1997 Robert M. Corich
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Content Copyright © 1997 Jay Pearson
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