High And Mighty

The final album with David Byron on vocals and due to David recovering from Chicken Pox he wasn't available to record early on. John Wetton did the main vocals with Ken Hensley for One Way Or Another. Wetton's vocals were intended to be a guide but when Bryon heard the track he decided not to redo the song and the band used that version on the release. This album featured only songs written by Ken Hensley and the rest of the band didn't have much input; as David was quoted, "That's why High & Mighty is a bummer to me; for example Mick Box played just a few parts on the album."

The band decided to produce High and Mighty themselves using engineers Ashley Howe and Peter Gallen. Hensley felt Bron deliberately neglected promotion on the album because he didn't produce it however Bron contended it was Heep's worse album. The band was very experimental with the recording. As Mick said, " ....at one point David was singing through Lee's drum floor tom with a mic underneath it, and our manager, Gerry Bron, came into the studio and saw what we were doing, declared we were all mad and walked out." Additionally David was accidentally locked in an echo chamber for three or four hours and some of the backing vocals were sung on their backs through piano strings. Bron and the band were really at odds at this time. Heep slipped in the secret lyrics "You can take the contract and stick it up your flue" into the background vocals of "Woman of the World". Bron failed to notice before the album was released.

To launch the album, thirty journalists were flown to the top of a Swiss mountain for a reception. The album only charted for three weeks in the US and peeked at # 161. In the UK it only charted one week at # 55. The worst chart position of any album to date since 1971. It was a dooming mark on the band and the point where changes were in store. Not that these choices were best for the band but hindsight is 20 / 20. A era in music was coming to a end, one that will never be duplicated to most.

Recorded December 1975 - March 1976
Roundhouse Recording Studios, London
Initial release May 1976

Original Album Credits:

David Byron: Lead Vocals
John Wetton: Bass, Guitar, Mellotron, Electric Piano, Vocals
Lee Kerslake: Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Mick Box: Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, 12 String Acoustic Guitar
Ken Hensley: Organ, Piano, Moog Synthesizer, Tubular Bells, Electric Piano, Guitar, Slide Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric 12 String Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Vocals

Produced and arranged by: Uriah Heep
Engineer: Ashley Howe (except on "One Way Or Another" and "Footprints In The Snow" by Peter Gallen)
Assistant Engineer: John Gallen
Mastered by: Alan Corbett at RCA, London
Equipment: Del Roll, Pete Gibbs, Mike Briscoe, and George Merriman
Thanks to the Wobblers - Chris and Rick
Design: Shirtsleeve Studios
EMI Music Publishing Ltd.
©1976 Bronze Records Ltd.

Track Listing: (sample audio files marked in yellow)

Side A:
1. One Way Or Another (Hensley) 4:37
2. Weep In Silence (Hensley / Wetton) 5:09
3. Misty Eyes (Hensley) 4:15
4. Midnight (Hensley) 5:40

Side B:
1. Can't Keep A Good Band Down (Hensley) 3:40
2. Woman Of The World (Hensley) 3:10
3. Footprints In The Snow (Hensley / Wetton) 3:56
4. Can't Stop Singing (Hensley) 3:15
5. Make A Little Love (Hensley) 3:24
6. Confession (Hensley) 2:16

1996 Remaster Bonus Tracks:
Name Of The Game
Sundown

2004 Re-remaster Bonus Tracks:
Name Of The Game (unreleased version)
Sundown (alternate)
Weep In Silence (extended version)
Name Of The Game (demo)
Does Anything Matter (demo)
I Close My Eyes (demo)
Take Care (demo)
Can't Keep A Good Band Down (edited)

Single Releases:

High And Mighty UK Promo Ad