Salisbury (studio album) by Uriah Heep

From Jboy56 04/04/2023 16:52

This must be their 2nd best album after Demons. The remastered sound and playing on this album is at high level. and there are several great tracks. The opening song is awesome.

From IlMala 01/23/2022 18:07

how possible is not the best in UH dischography?! that's an orgy of pleasure. Bird of prey by far the peak of their whole dischography.

A rare successful blend of powerful proto-heavy metal and complex prog rock flavoured with elements of folk, jazz and classical string and brass arrangements. Fairly experimental at the time but a clear indication of the band trying to decide on which direction to go in the future. Salisbury, the title track is the stand out for me but I can see it wouldn't be to everyone's taste at 16 mins long. The musicianship on the album is generally very good and an improvement on the first album, but it is exceptional on the title track. The addition of Ken Hensley at this time would ensure a purple period for the band over the early years of the 70's. The expanded version of this album is well worth exploring for Heep fans who may only have the original.

"Salisbury" from 1970 is Uriah Heep's second album. It is an ambitious work where the group mixes the heavy metal power genre with progressive rock with elements from both folk and classical music. With main songwriter Ken Hensley at the beginning of his creative peak and David Byron on convincing vocals, it may be described as the first of the group's major albums in the 1970s ending in 1975 with "High and Mighty" after which Byron left the group.

With nine studio albums over just six years, it is obvious that there should be some unevenness in quality; but “Salisbury sits firmly on the good end; with "Demons and Wizzards" as an undisputed number one ( a personal point of view!).

The songs are generally good and well written, but if you are not exactly a fan of the early heavy metal, you may want to take the music in smaller doses; especially this expanded version may be too big a mouthful. The bonus numbers are generally fine, though, and they spoil in no way the overall impression.

The album will probably especially be remembered for the folkish "Lady in Black" with acoustic guitars and its catchy melody. Also the title track is nice; a long ambitious work that is almost symphonically structured with various musical pieces and with backing of a real string orchestra.

As mentioned, the bonus numbers are fine and you can only wonder why the Hensley number "Here Am I" was deselected; it must have been thought that one very long track ("Salisbury" 16 min.) was enough; "Here Am I" is only just under eight minutes.

"Sea Change" is just the third Beck album I have come across, and among these three, it is by far the most melodic and most easily accessible. The other two are "Mellow Gold" and "Odelay" and on those two I was challenged on several tracks.

"Sea Change" is a rather subdued album with a strong roots point in both country and folk-music. Along the way I came to think of Nick Drake several times; and also artists Alex Chilton and Kurt Cobain might sources of inspiration for Beck, on tracks like "Side of the Road" and "Little One".

My great favorite song is "Lost Cause". A very melodic and quite catchy song, with evocative background sounds. The track was one of two singles pulled from the album and it did well both in the U.S. and in the U.K. ‘

The second single was "Guess I'm Doing Fine", which is a slightly melancholy and country-influenced song. A nice but also less remarkable song than "Lost Cause".

Among other songs that are worth highlighting is "Already Dead", which is so catchy that you might think you have heard the song before. Lovely acoustic guitar and one of the songs that reminds me of Nick Drake.

"End of the Day" is also very nice - melodic with a nice some quirky theme.

"Little One" was a track that reminded me a bit of Kurt Cobain's more subdued tracks from "Nevermind" and "In Utero".

"Sea Change" has to a great extent changed my impression of Beck as an artist, and he now appears to me far more nuanced than before my meeting with this great album.

Lady in Black is one of the great songs of the 70s.

From earlysparker 11/17/2017 20:42

a nice relaxing album overall track by track

A great prog record with every track a stand out. Highly recommended!

The lead-off track was Judas Priest before Judas Priest. Hugely influential stuff.