Wonderworld (June 1974), recorded in Munich's Musicland Studios in January, disappointed fans and band members alike. "Recording abroad disrupted the band's normal method of operation and that had a big negative effect on the group. Our communication was falling apart, we were arguing over stuff like royalties and we were getting involved in matters beyond music," Hensley said. Box remembered weeks spent in the studio as "dramatic" for all the wrong reasons. "David was drunk for most of the time, Kenny was having an emotional time of it and I was constantly trying to help them so it was difficult for me too. There was also a little bit of friction because (artistic) Kenny didn't like all the attention that (flamboyant) David was getting." Gary Thain was in even more serious trouble. According to Blows, "A strenuous touring schedule, compounded by the bassist's heavy drug dependency (inherent even before joining Heep) was taking its toll, though matters came to a head while on tour during September," when the bassist received a serious electric shock on stage in Dallas during a gig at Southern Methodist University’s Moody Coliseum on 15 September 1974. The rest of the US tour was then canceled and their UK dates rescheduled to October. Soon after going out of hospital, Thain, in Sounds, openly accused manager Gerry Bron of having turned Uriah Heep into a mere "financial thing" and was fired two months after the group's final gig of 1974 at New Theatre in Oxford, England on 14 December. A year later, on 8 December 1975, Gary Thain was found dead in his Norwood Green home, having overdosed on heroin.
John Wetton (ex-Family and King Crimson) joined the band in March 1975 and with him Return to Fantasy (June 1975) was recorded; representing a revitalised Uriah Heep, it soared up to No. 7 in the UK. "It was a relief to have someone solid and reliable, and he had a load of ideas too," Box remembered. The following "Year-long world tour" (according to a headline in NME), was marred by a new accident.
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