KEN HENSLEY

Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf

A1 When Evening Comes 4:35
A2 From Time to Time 3:35
A3 King Without a Throne 3:51
A4 Rain 3:14
A5 Proud Words 3:10
B1 Fortune 5:22
B2 Black-Hearted Lady 3:36
B3 Go Down 3:10
B4 Cold Autumn Sunday 5:27
B5 The Last Time 2:48

22,50 €

The first solo album of Ken Hensley, keyboardist and main composer of Uriah Heep, keeps some analogies with this band, in sound and spirit, though more focused on the privative –and quite melodic- Hensley songwriting.
The Hensley vocals sound, for some reason, pretty similar to the Heep’s singer back then, the defunct David Byron, though naturally without the Byron’s compelling scope: this fact gives an even more Heep-like savour to this “Proud words on a dusty shelf”.
The songwriting has always a detail of quality (Hensley is a very talented composer), albeit there is something missing if compared with Heep: that group completion perhaps...Ken covers himself here with “Rain”, the beautiful ballad from the Heep’s record “The magician’s birthday”, the version is fine, though the Hensley’s voice can’t give the song that especial melancholy that David Byron gave it, and in the end it’s a bit unavoidable to full this review with obnoxious comparisons: all in all Ken Hensley demonstrated that he was a good vocalist, even surprisingly appealing, though not too personal.
This album from 1973, it’s regarded as the Hensley’s finest LP; and it’s a sort of appendix of the Uriah Heep discography, though more oriented to the soft-rock and the acoustic guitars.
Best tracks, besides of the afore mentioned “Rain”: “King without a throne”, “Cold autumn Sunday”, and “From time to time” which features the best Hensley vocals, and some cool Moog.; Gary Thain and Lee Kerslake, bassist and drummer of Uriah Heep play here as well; enjoyable record.