In April of 1981, after
12 years of ups and downs, Uriah Heep
collapsed in a heap of broken dreams.
Ken Hensley, who had held the keyboards
position and had been main song writer,
had left the band after more rangour in
the ranks, and his replacement, Gregg
Dechart, had definitely not worked out.
The last two albums, Fallen Angel (78)
and Conquest (79), had been Heep’s weakest.
The final tour being very difficult for
the band (support band “Rage” had blown
them off the stage every night) and quite
frankly, agony for the paying public.
On the last night of the tour drummer
Chris Slade left to join Gary Numan and,
after realizing he had set his sites a
little low, later joined “The Firm” with
Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page before taking
over the drum seat with “AC/DC”. Bassist
Trevor Bolder joined Wishbone Ash; talented
vocalist John Sloman was let go after
trying to take over the show leading the
band in a very unheep like direction,
leaving the only remaining founding member,
Mick Box, with the name but no band.
After a couple of months of staring at
the inside of the bottom of a bottle of
vodka, band agent Neil Warnock coaxed
Mick out to give it one more go. Mick’s
first telephone call went to longtime
cohort drummer Lee Kerslake (who’d only
originally left the Heep over a falling
out with Ken Hensley). Having just been
fired by “Ozzy Osborne”, Lee was glad
of his old job back and became Heep’s
5th and 7th drummer. Although to be fair
he has been with the band 28 years in
total now. Also just sacked from Ozzy’s
band was the great “Bob Daisley” on bass
(Heep’s 6th Bassist). So he was dragged
along by Lee Kerslake adding his considerable
songwriting skills to the party. Mick
Box had always admired the skills of keyboard
player John Sinclair from the disbanded
“Heavy Metal Kids”, so he became Heep's
3rd keyboard player. The final part of
the jigsaw was put together when vocalist
Peter Goalby (Heep’s 4th) was lured away
from “Trapeze”.
The new band then retired to the studio
with producer Ashley Howe to emerge 2
months later with ABOMINOG, a classic
in hard hitting melodic rock.
From the moment Mick Box’s guitar riff
hits you on opener “Too Scared To Run”
you know you are in for a sumptuous ride.
Goalby’s vocals are perfect for the Heep
sound. Sinclair’s keyboards fill up all
the gaps and include some truly exciting
solos. Bob Daisley’s songwriting skills
have never been better shown off. Mick
Box stomps his authority all over the
guitar parts, wah-wah there, slide here,
and as many twenty note a second solos
as any heart could desire. It’s perhaps
Lee Kerslake who’s the real star here
though as his drums drive Heep on to glory.
Incredibly, the album was a great critical
and commercial success including hit singles,
two of the covers “That’s The Way It Is”
by Paul Bliss, and the stomping “On The
Rebound” by Russ Ballard.
Abominog was the spur that put Uriah Heep
back on the tracks and they are still
going today, although only Kerslake and
Box remain from this line up. Long may
Mick Box lead his warriors into action.
For those of you wondering what an Abominog
is, it’s an Abominog of course.
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
