The Goalby Resurgence
The Goalby Resurgence
ABOMINOG HEEP!
Upon calling his friend Lee Kerslake, just to check in with him, Mick discovered Lee
had been sacked by Ozzy Osbourne for some American
players. Additionally, Bob Daisley, a well-travelled bassist, had also been
sacked. They both accepted Mick's invitation to join Heep.
John Sinclair who had toured with Heep previously (as
a member of the Heavy Metal Kids) was recruited.
Finally vocalist Pete Goalby, who had been auditioned when
Sloman had been hired, was offered the lead vocalist job.
The only problem was Pete had to fulfill a
commitment to tour with Trapeze for a couple
of months. When he returned from the road, he was surprised to learn
the job was still available. The rejuvenated Uriah Heep put together
a series of demos in Ridge Farm Studios. Gerry Bron
stepped in and had the band redo some of the material along with cover tunes he had
selected. The resulting album, Abominog, did very well on the US charts aided by
heavy exposure on the fledging network MTV. The video
"That's The Way That It Is" was in heavy rotation on the channel.
BAND SHARES CREDIT
To prevent the arguments over the songwriting royalties the band had experienced
in the past, Goalby era Heep agreed to split all royalties by crediting
all band members on all songs.
THE RIDGE FARM SESSIONS
In order to line up a new record deal, newly formed Uriah
Heep headed to Ridge Farm Studios. The
tracks of primarily original material was to be
used to shop around to the different
labels. The resulting recordings has been termed the Ridge Farm
sessions. The sessions disclosed an interesting, powerful
and raw Heep sound. Now Mick Box's guitar was up
front and prominent in the mix. Unfortunately most of the recordings from these sessions were unfinished, in many cases without lyrics or
at best with gibberish lyrics. Gerry Bron upon hearing
the tracks decided to shelve them and re-record some of the tracks along with several cover songs. After the songs were redone they
were good but perhaps not as rough. Additionally some of the best original material was
scrapped such as "Children of the Night", "Valley
of Kings" and "I'm Alive Again". Although Abominog
is a very good album, I believe the album
would have been even better using the Ridge Farm Sessions as a basis for the album.
1. Original Track Listing of Songs Recorded at Ridge Farm Studios:
Children Of The Night ***
Falling
Freebie And The Bean
Out Of The Ashes
Playing For Time *
That's The Way That It Is *
I'm Alive Again *
Valley Of Kings *
Sell Your Soul **
2. Additional Songs
Released From The Sessions:
Hot Persuasion *
3. Songs Goalby Indicated he Brought With Him When he Joined Heep:
Too Scared To Run **
Chasing Shadows **
* - Released on Time of Revelation
Box Set, Abominog Remaster or Still Eavy, Still Proud Remaster
** - A Re-recorded version of the song released on Abominog
*** - Song played live during Goalby years live sets.
Note: Most of the Ridge Farm recordings had little or no lyrics. Some of the remaining unidentified tracks may be songs listed under working titles that were renamed when the lyrics were finished. "Too Scared To Run" may be one of the tracks. "Hot Persuasion" wasn't originally listed, however a Ridge Farm version of the song has been released. In theory, two of the three unidentified songs are "Too Scared" and Hot Persuasion". That leaves just one track unidentified.
THE VALLEY OF OZZY
Although "Valley of Kings" was demo'd in Ridge Farm Studios,
it never got beyond the demo stage
for Heep. Interestingly, the same riff was taken to Ozzy Osbourne
and it became "Fire In the Sky".
SPINAL TAP
It has long been rumored that parody rock band Spinal Tap were based on
Uriah Heep. In fact, John Sinclair, keyboardist on Abominog, Head First
and Equator, worked on the music for the first Spinal Tap
movie. Who knows? He might have been featured in the film except for
a Heep tour conflict.
ASHLEY HOWE
As Mick Box recalled to Sigmund Ruud, Ashley
Howe really worked his way up through the
ranks over the years with Heep. He started out as
the tea boy on the Very 'Eavy, Very 'Umble sessions. He then
served as an engineer on later albums and eventually served
as the producer on Abominog and Head First.
Production Credits for Ashley Howe: Angel Witch, Angels, Babe Ruth, Carly Hennessy, Charlotte Chruch, Cliff Richard, Danny McCulloch, David Byron, Delegation, Duke Jupiter, Hawkwind, Ken Hensley, Leo Sayer, Motorhead, Osibisa, Real Thing, Ted Nugent, Uriah Heep, Wishbone Ash, and Yes.