Equator (Uriah Heep album)

Equator
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 1985 (UK)
July 18, 1985 (US)
RecordedBattery Studios (27 August - 9 September 1984), London
Jacobs Studios (12 September - 26 October 1984), Farnham,
Genetic Studios (12-26 January 1985), Reading, Berkshire, UK
GenrePop metal
Length46:20
LabelPortrait
Columbia (North America)
ProducerTony Platt
Uriah Heep chronology
Head First
(1983)
Equator
(1985)
Raging Silence
(1989)
Singles from Equator
  1. "Rockarama"
    Released: 4 March 1985
  2. "Poor Little Rich Girl"
    Released: 20 May 1985
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal6/10
Kerrang!

Equator is the sixteenth studio album by English rock band Uriah Heep, released in 1985. It marked the studio return of bassist Trevor Bolder, who had rejoined the band for the Head First tour. The band also had a new record label, Portrait Records, a subsidiary of CBS. Equator was also the last Uriah Heep album to feature vocalist Peter Goalby & keyboardist John Sinclair.

The tour programme would be Heep's last in the UK until the Wake the Sleeper tour, which began in 2008.

When the Heep back catalogue was issued on CD in the early 1990s by Castle and then remastered, with bonus tracks, in the mid-to-late 1990s by Essential, Equator was conspicuous by its absence. This was because Sony/CBS wanted what was considered an extortionate sum for the rights. The album ultimately had a CD release in 1999, with no bonus material whatsoever. When the Essential remasters were expanded and reissued in the early 2000s by Sanctuary, Equator had to be passed over once again. However, in 2010, the album finally saw a release in expanded and remastered format on Lemon Recordings (subdivision of Cherry Red Records), in time for its 25th anniversary, thus finally ending remaster-series.

After this Uriah Heep took an extended break from the recording studio, and their next studio album would not appear until 1989.