Salisbury is the second studio album by British hard rock band Uriah Heep, released in January 1971 in the United States and a month later in the rest of the world, through “Vertigo Records”.

The album introduced Uriah Heep to a “progressive” rock musical approach, with the album’s title track, which lasts over 16 minutes and features a 24-piece orchestra, being a typical example. “Salisbury” also gave the band their first hit on the singles charts, with the song “Lady In Black”, which remained in the German charts for 44 weeks, re-entering there in 1977. The album was also important in Hensley’s immediate rise to the position of the group’s main composer.

This album was also the last with the band, drummer Keith Baker, having been replaced by Ian Clarke after the end of the promotional tour.

The album’s front cover depicts a British Chieftain tank, which is associated with the title, as Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, is a military training area. The original LP release was a double-sleeve, the inside of which featured a black-and-white image of the underside of the tank with the turret facing backwards, with Hensley’s commentary for each track printed on it.

The album was later reissued by Bronze Records in 1971, after the band signed to that label for their third album. Salisbury was remastered and reissued by Castle Communications in 1996 with two bonus tracks, and again in 2003 in an expanded deluxe edition. In 2016, Sanctuary Records released a two-disc deluxe edition.

According to AllMusic, the album perfected Uriah Heep’s blend of heavy metal power and progressive rock sophistication, while being too vague for the casual listener, but offering enough solid songs to round out the band. William Pinfold, in the special reissue of Record Collector magazine, described Salisbury as an album notable for its tight and precise sound, exuding a breath of talented self-confidence, praising the band for the diversity of the album’s sounds.

“Lady In Black”, the track that I select, is described as an elegantly written piece that builds from a folk acoustic melody into a hard-edged rock track full of fantastic harmonies and crunchy guitar riffs.
 
Tracklist

1. Bird Of Prey 4:05
2. The Park 5:38
3. Time To Live 4:02
4. Lady In Black 4:33
5. High Priestess 3:39
6. Salisbury 16:22