Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Ken Hensley & Live Fire
Label: Hear No Evil Recordings
Release: 2013
Running time: 51:08
Rating: 4/5
Ken Hensley, the genius creative engine of rock ‘n’ roll and the man without whom Uriah Heep would never have broken through into the ranks of the immortal, most influential hard rock bands of all time when they started climbing the world’s charts in the early seventies, is enjoying a fresh creative bloom with his band Live Fire. Two years after the release of »Faster«, good old Kenny is back with his new love Live Fire and the new album »Trouble«, and he keeps all the creative and artistic confidence of its excellent predecessor intact.
With »Faster« the man already signaled that he’d gotten the itch to go back to his rock ‘n’ roll roots, drawing on the best of Ken Hensley’s songwriting from the days of the top-shelf Uriah Heep records, led by »Demons And Wizards«, »Magician’s Birthday« and »Sweet Freedom«, as well as his early solo studio releases »Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf« and/or »Eager To Please«. It’s no news anymore that you can’t miss the elemental, protective sound of Hensley’s Hammond organ and the style in which he uses it in his arrangements. That fact naturally ties the musical experience of the new Live Fire across all four decades of this musician’s career back to the days when Hensley was writing for Uriah Heep. And even a little further back in rock history, to the very end of the sixties, when Hensley was still playing in The Gods, Toe Fat and Head Machine. Ken Hensley is considered one of the most prolific composers and lyricists in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, and his unique approach to building songs hasn’t changed much over the years. That’s why »Trouble«, in 2013, also keeps a strong retro sound that harks back to the pioneering days of rock ‘n’ roll.
»Trouble« continues the story begun on Live Fire’s debut »Faster«. Hensley and his subjects deliver another excellent record, packed with that elemental seventies retro sound and the thing we’ve already talked about: the signature »Uriah Heep-isms«. Thanks to the unique sound of Hensley’s Hammond organ, and to the way the chorus melodies are tinted with those specific vocal harmonies that pull venomously toward seventies Uriah Heep, Hensley once again brings out an album that every David Byron-era Uriah Heep nostalgic and every fan of Ken Hensley’s classic solo studio work will snap up in an instant.
For the second studio album, Ken Hensley made some changes to the lineup. The Norwegian musicians, vocalist Eirikur Kauksson and bassist Sid Ringsby, left the band, and Hensley decided to save a bit on musicians’ fees. He cut the Live Fire lineup by one member and ended up with a quartet. So he killed two birds with one stone and called up the excellent Italian bassist and vocalist in one person, Roberto Tiranti from Genoa. Tiranti, who had already worked with Hensley on Hensley’s solo album »Love & Other Mysteries« (2012), is best known to metal fans, having spent years as the vocalist of the Italian symphonic power metallers Labyrinth, who gained notable international recognition over 15 years together. With all those musical commitments, the hyperactive Tiranti has also recently joined the Italian prog heavyweights Mangala Vallis, as well as the melodic hard rock project A.P.D. With his vocal coloring, Tiranti brought to the band a touch of soul/bluesy acrobatics, along with quite a bit of the typical vocal approach of the gentleman we like to “lovingly” crown with the superlative »The Voice Of Rock«, Glenn Hughes. Compared with his predecessor Kauksson’s Gillan/Dickinson-style approach, this is the main change in the chemistry of the new Live Fire and, as a result, in the energy vibe of the new album »Trouble«.
Everything else is kept intact. The opener Ready To Die confirms it, carrying the typical hallmarks of Hensley’s songwriting. What stands out above all is that instantly recognizable heaviness of the song, with its rocky Hammond lines backed by determined guitar riffs and a solid rhythmic rock ‘n’ roll swagger. Tiranti’s vocals fit right into these surroundings across the whole album, and Hensley, who shows up as a vocalist only in a couple of duets on the album (Todo Loco, The Longest Night), knew exactly what kind of singer he needed for »Trouble«. Tiranti can add a pinch of grit to his basic voice, which occasionally brings his vocal showcase close to the master Bob Catley of Magnum (I Wanna Go Back and/or especially Dangerous Desire, where even a positive-sounding »Magnum-style« riff opens the »door to similarity«). Besides Dangerous Desire, the album carries one more radio-friendly rocker. This one is also fast. It’s the song Please Explain, where the guitar riff takes even a bit more of the spotlight from the blanket of Hammond organ. Extreme delicacy and softness come to »Trouble« through the lovely, sweet and organically warm-sounding »ballad lullaby« You Will Always Be Mine. One of the strongest songs written in the »Hensley – Heep like« tradition, one that will put on alert everyone looking for the daring crash of something like Pilgrim or Sweet Freedom, is caught up in the drama of all dramas on the album “Trouble”. That’s the song I Don’t Know, which delivers one of the album’s peaks.
Still, »Trouble« feels less interesting compared with the content of »Faster«. The two albums are simply too alike, and Hensley can’t pleasantly surprise us a second time. Surprise in the sense of the extremely short interval between the two releases. The title track keeps the characteristics of the album opener’s chunky, noisy swagger, and the overdone repetition of the lead melodies is broken up very effectively by an extended instrumental finale loaded with extraordinary drama, which delivers one of the most bombastic moments of the entire album. Todo Loco (»Everybody’s Crazy«) delivers somewhat less of a thrill, as does the closing The Longest Night. Both songs, namely, fall victim to a naive insistence on repeating the chorus melodies.
Otherwise, there’s nothing more to add. This album, too, keeps (oddly enough) more in common with the sound of seventies Uriah Heep than today’s Uriah Heep do. It’s simply more proof of what a powerhouse Ken Hensley is, as both arranger and songwriter. His Hammond elementality is pronounced, strong, solidly tangible in substance and absolutely unique. So it’s more than obvious that Ken Hensley is the pillar and the basic creative nucleus who brings to every band the element of constant, creatively inspired change. Everything rises and falls on the genius of Ken Hensley’s unique musical character. In every band such a musician lands in. That goes today for Live Fire, just as it did for Ken Hensley’s golden days with Uriah Heep in the seventies. And after an exceptionally fine second record with Live Fire, the question arises of whether Ken Hensley’s time has ever really passed at all. Let’s hope for a solid creative continuum from this music legend!
Lineup
Ken Hensley – vocals, backing vocals, Hammond organ, Mini-Moog, guitar
Roberto Tiranti – vocals, backing vocals, bass guitar
Ken Ingwersen – guitar, backing vocals
Tom Arne Fossheim – drums
Production
Ken Hensley
Track List
1. Ready To Die (4:24)
2. Trouble (6:02)
3. It (6:56)
4. Todo Loco (6:28)
5. I Wanna Go Back (4:57)
6. Please Explain (5:10)
7. You Will Always Be Mine (4:09)
8. I Don’t Know (4:43)
9. Dangerous Desire (3:50)
10. The Longest Night (4:34)
