Ken Hensley - Rare and Timeless (2018)

Ken Hensley’s Hammond sound came to define Uriah Heep in their prime seventies era, while his writing talents produced many of their most famous songs. Even though he left that band in 1980, he has continued to produce solo recordings on a regular basis, and has now clocked up an impressive fifty-year career.

This anthology has been curated personally by Hensley, and encompasses both Heep and solo material, although the emphasis leans far more towards his somewhat patchy solo output. Inevitably there are couple of previously unreleased tracks, plus a couple of new songs and the odd hard to find rarity. In fact, the emphasis throughout is on song writing, melody and production, rather than rocking out Heep style. Indeed there is an interesting new version of their classic Lady In Black, which puts rather a different complexion on that old chestnut, although his voice will never equal Dave Byron’s of course. There are some nice guitar and piano moments on pieces such as Free Me and If I Had The Time, but too many of the tracks fall on the wrong side of whimsy, even for a fan.