Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Hensley, Ken
Label: Politur Records
Release: 2007
Rating: 3/5
The legendary Ken Hensley, former keyboardist and the creator of the original Uriah Heep magic, is back with the autobiographical rock opera “Blood On The Highway”. The album is set up as an ambitious piece, a sort of rock opera that takes a nostalgic look back at his music career so far. At the same time, as has become pretty much the norm on his last few albums, it’s yet another round of exorcising some of his past personal demons, of which there was no shortage along the way and which almost did him in at one point. “Blood On The Highway” is thus an in-depth autobiographical trip through his musical career; from the very beginnings and the time of greatest triumph and excess with Uriah Heep in the 70s, when he strolled around in bell-bottoms and fur coats, partied with groupies and reached for “white powder” as artistic inspiration (a habit he later managed to kick), all the way to his solo career, when he became a “born-again Christian” and dedicated his music mostly to expressing his new personal beliefs. Most of the songs revolve lyrically around his professional ups and downs, in the first half mainly around the many rock’n’roll excesses and brighter chapters of the Uriah Heep days, but also around memories of his two unluckier Uriah Heep mates who died far too young: the unforgettable singer David Byron (died in 1985 of alcoholism), an excellent interpreter of Hensley’s work, and the brilliant bassist and friend Gary Thain (died in 1975 of a drug overdose). The songs in the last part represent his rehabilitation from the excessive life and a sober look back through the eyes of a mature musician devoted to his solo career.
Even though he can still (relatively) hold his own as a singer, for the purposes of the album he gathered a string of prestigious, established vocalists from the classic rock world, mostly old acquaintances he’s worked with a lot in the past and could therefore trust completely to realize his musical vision: the indestructible old wolf John Lawton (ex-Asterix, Lucifer’s Friend, Uriah Heep, Rebel, ZAR, solo), Glenn Hughes (ex-Trapeze, Deep Purple, Hughes-Thrall, Black Sabbath, solo), better known as “the voice of rock” and someone who needs no special introduction, and the Norwegian Jorn Lande (ex-Ark, Beyond Twilight, The Snakes, Masterplan, Brazen Abbot, solo), whose pick is just as spot-on, since in my opinion he’s one of the best rock singers of the younger generation. This very mix of excellent vocalists is the main charm of the album, which without it would surely be an extremely, extremely average product.
Musically, the album shows no urge to discover anything new, which nobody really expected from a musician whose artistic development stopped at the end of the 70s anyway. Ken sticks the whole time to the established, recognizable patterns of his career, built mainly on his juicy use of keyboards (especially Hammond organs), with the twist that many of the pieces on the album have a distinct 70s flavor. And that’s the main reason the album will appeal to most fans of Uriah Heep and his solo career. Broadly speaking, it’s that classic melodic rock with a pinch of AOR that he’s been dishing up for most of his solo career.
The first part brings us songs that represent his “wild” years. The opening, optimistically minded “This Is Just The Beginning”, with a great vocal performance from Jorn, is a solid start to Ken’s tale of a dream come true. Then Jorn and Ken steer us toward the Heep-flavored “We’re On Our Way”, which has the classic backbone of Hammond organs, guitar riffs and vocal harmonies and, as such, stirs up nostalgia. Still, I don’t see why it was necessary to bring in motifs from some old Heep classics like “July Morning” and “Free Me”, even though they do noticeably add to the atmosphere. The title track moves into darker territory mood-wise, specifically the two-faced world of the business side of rock life. The album also features two linking pieces called “Doom”, which mark Ken’s transition from Uriah Heep toward the 80s, his solo career and a personal upheaval. Lawton makes his first appearance on the solid “It Won’t Last”, one of the better pieces on the album and the moment Ken realized his road with Uriah Heep wouldn’t last forever. Sadly, anyone in the know will quickly figure out that this one already came out on “Running Blind” (2002), and although this version is noticeably improved, it’s painfully transparent that Ken is peddling old stock on the cheap. That’s not the album’s only weak spot, though: besides the constant reuse of old motifs and two newly re-recorded songs, it’s plagued by quite a few uninspired moments. With “Think Twice”, a rather clichéd and syrupy pop ballad sung by Eve Gallagher, Ken tried and failed to present something new, and it ended up as the worst moment on the album. On the no more inspired ballad “There Comes A Time”, Ken also steps up on vocals and piano. It’s sad to hear how much of its former fire his voice has lost. In the second part, the excellent “Okay (This House Is Down)” stands out, again with a Heep-style touch. Jorn’s thunderous vocals, a good guitar passage and a delicate layer of Hammond organ make for an energetic treat. As in every success-story fairy tale, things work out in the end in Ken’s life story too. The closing track “The Last Dance”, with Hughes on vocals and a small orchestra, is admittedly the best piece on the album, but, alas, it’s yet another noticeably improved remake of his solo classic from the album of the same name from 2003. Even so, Ken and Glenn managed to create great chemistry together and wrap up the album on a majestic note. That softens the blow of the fact that these are the confessions of an already thoroughly worn-out musical wizard, who has deftly cloaked his fading artistic inspiration in the recognizable, beloved motifs of his musical journey.
Although “Blood On The Highway” is the best of Ken’s releases from the last ten years of his career, mainly thanks to the good use of all the vocal masters and a breath of that original Heep magic that blows through individual pieces from time to time, most of them come across as way too worn-out and already heard. Many of the motifs on the album are so threadbare it almost seems deliberate. Ken keeps trying to hide behind them and clever remakes of past work, which isn’t exactly fair to those who valued the master as a source of endless imagination, the musician who knew how to weave musical bridges between fiction and the real world. Still, the album will surely delight the less demanding fans of Uriah Heep and his solo career, who like to indulge in nostalgia through those musical elements that made Ken’s career so successful. If this happens to be (I hope not) his last studio release, it will surely make a fine testament, a rounded-off whole. And the tale of Ken Hensley, however it’s set to music, will no doubt go down as a dream-come-true story and the story of one of the most talented and prolific writers of powerfully confessional music .
Lineup
Ken Hensley – vocals (2,9,12,13), backing vocals, Hammond organ, synthesizer, electric guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, dobro
Jorn Lande – vocals (1,2,3,4,10)
Glenn Hughes – vocals (11,14)
John Lawton – vocals (6)
Eve Gallagher – vocals (7)
Juan Carlos Garcia – drums
Tommy Lopez – drums
Antonio Fidel – bass guitar
John Smithson – bass guitar
Ovidio Lopez – guitar
Rafa Raposo – guitar
Dani Saiz – guitar
Vicente Ruiz – piano
Antonio Molto – alto sax
The Alicante Symphony Orchestra – orchestral arrangements
Production
Ken Hensley
Track list
1.) (This Is) Just The Beginning
2.) We’re On Our Way
3.) Blood On The Highway
4.) You’ve Got It (The American Dream)
5.) Doom (Scene 1)
6.) It Won’t Last
7.) Think Twice
8.) Doom (Scene 2)
9.) There Comes A Time
10.) Okay (This House Is Down)
11.) What You Gonna Do
12.) Postscript
13.) I Did It All
14.) The Last Dance
