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SALISBURY

The  naming  of  the  Salisbury  album  has been the source of many stories, some of them  conflicting.  Ken  Hensley  has  said that  the album title came from the band's anti-war  phase.  The plains  of  Salisbury were the site of army training grounds and the tank  crushing a flower  on  the  album cover  was  photographed   at  Salisbury. Although this explanation seems plausible, another band member stated that Salisbury was  dedicated   to   the  fans  who  helped Heep  out  of  a  jam.  It  seems  the  story  involved  a  bouncer named Tiny who wouldn't let the band get  their equipment after a gig.  After  the  police intervened,  Heep  was  given  five  minutes to  move  their equipment  and some fans helped the roadies get the job done. According to the story, this gig took place in the town of Salisbury on July 11, 1970. One version of this story involves Mick having a scuffle with Tiny because they disagreed over whether the kids' conduct at the gig  was  acceptable.  In  this  version,  the band had to break in to the venue to get their equipment back. Still another version  of  this  story had the kids at the gig with black noses from sniffing shoe polish.

MUSIC LOVERS

Mick Box once joked that at the point in "Salisbury"  where  he  cuts  on  his wah wah pedal for his solo, you can hear 22 orchestra members throw their headphones on the floor. Perhaps he was admitting to being  a  little  loud!

NORTH AMERICAN RELEASE OF SALISBURY

Again  the  North  American  version  of Salisbury  had  a  different  cover and  a different  tracklisting  than  the  UK  one. The  cover  resembled  a  DeVinci study of the human anatomy. It fit very well with the   melancholy   mood   of   the   album. "Simon the Bullet Freak" was substituted for "Bird of Prey". The UK version of Bird of Prey was different than the US version on the debut album.

JULY MORNING

In an interview in Metal Hammer, Mick Box related  how  "July  Morning"  came  to  be. "The song started off in rehearsals. It was three  separate  pieces  of  music   being worked on in different songs; there was the riff, the actual verse and  the  middle  eight up  to  the  chorus.  I  had the flu at the time. When I went back after a few  days,  I saw they  had  not  gotten  any  further.   So  it occurred  to  me  that  the  three   pieces were all in  C minor and  that  they  would  all fit  together. That's how it was born.  It was Kenny's lyrics and till this day I don't quite know where the ideas for that came from."

FOLK ROCK?

When Heep released Look at Yourself,  Ken  Hensley  had  an  idea for the band to do an acoustic set as well as an electric set in their live show. Paul Newton wasn't crazy about the concept of an acoustic set and protested by showing up to gigs dressed in a "folkie" outfit.

AN EVENING WITH URIAH HEEP

To introduce the Look at Yourself album, Heep played a special one off gig billed as "An Evening With Uriah Heep". The two and half hour concert took place on September 12, 1971 and it included a 40 minute acoustic set!

WHY 13 MINUTES?

The Heep  favorite  "Why"  was  called  "Why 13 minutes?" as a tongue  in cheek joke about how long the song would last when played live. The song was a great vehicle for the whole band to jam! Reputedly, Gerry Bron hated the song because of its length.

LOOK AT THE COVER!

Mick Box suggested the cover concept for Look At Yourself.  He felt it  would make the album  stand  out  on  the  shelves  to  have  a  mirror  on  the  front  of  the  album.  The distorted reflection  on the cover tied in with the album title as well as making the cover visually unique.

HE'S A WIZARD!

Although  Mark Clarke's  tenure   with  the  band was  very short, he co - wrote one of Heep's most memorable  songs' "The  Wizard".  As Mick Box told Metal Hammer, "It   was   sort   of   half  written  with the acoustic bit and the power chords behind   it,    but    we  couldn't  find  a  middle eight. Then, Mark Clarke, the bass player at the time, had an idea so him and Kenny went running down to the studio and knocked down the  riff.  It slotted in perfectly!" Mark added  a  lead vocal to this section of the song. Additionally,  the song featured the sound of  a  tea  kettle  whistling.  The band  came  up  with  the  idea   when  the  kettle  sounded  off  during  a playback.  They  put  mics  on  the  kettle  and recorded it about six  times according to Box. Then they vari-speeded the track  to  get  the  right  pitch.  Additionally, Mick says David's speeded up voice at the beginning of  the track was an accident. "Well, how that came about was Ashley (Howe, the engineer) was really tired and he was sitting on the tape machine and his elbow  slipped  and  hit  the  vari-speed.   We  thought   'Great,  keep  it!' " Also, Mark Clarke played on "Why", the b-side of "The Wizard" single.

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