[Heeplist] Promised review of Trouble

[Igor Shveitser]

Ken Hensley&Live Fire
Trouble
6/10
Foreword:  If I would never have heard any of the previous opuses by various bands with Mr. Hensley, or was some 10-20 years younger, or never have played any musical instrument, my assessment of this very CD could have been way more positive. But, since my memory and ears still serve me well, it is what it is, and I am bringing it over to you as detailed as see it necessary. Hope by the end of your reading you’ll have all the questions answered and won’t have an opinion that the one of mine is biased or unbalanced. Anyway here we go…
 
In our Soviet socialist past we had such a slogan: “Party’s decisions – into reality!” That was some kind of pompous promise not necessarily kept. In the spirit of those socialist slogans but keeping the promise given sometime earlier, Ken Hensley made real plans of releasing two live albums and a new studio disk in one year.
For obvious reasons, the studio one was expected with greater interest, although, frankly, in the light of the material published by Ken in the last five years, interest in music was rather technical than painted with strong emotions. And in fact the CD has confirmed the latest trend in the musician's career which is making newer songs using, to some extent, older ones. If anyone has doubts, let's look at this piece of music a bit closer.
So, here they are - the 10 songs that clearly will not shake the world of contemporary rock. 
The album opener,  Ready To Die , mood-wise is a bit desperate and gloomy. But, along with the mood, immediately comes the feeling of some mechanicalness; seems done in accordance to a songwriting formula used before, at least once or twice. It is further underlined by  Trouble , - this one sounds extracted from some larger piece, like “Blood On The Highway”, and incomplete in terms of arrangement – just see for yourself listening to the “prelude” (in my eyes, just missing). Really looks like some modern rock musical. More precisely, bits and pieces from it. The blame lies not only on Maestro, but on the singing bassist as well. 
The Italian’ voice could not be described as bad or ugly, but his singing and playing leaves the impression of a conveyor-made product. Needless to say, the rest of the band is also still nowhere near Ken in terms of individuality. Now I miss not only Lee but even Tommy Lopez! Back to Roberto: he hits, sometimes even with vibrato, "high tenor" notes (at least D-Flat). But he really is nothing but an allusion to Ken himself, as well as to some famous (and not so) comrades who cooperated with him. E.g., Glenn Hughes or John Sloman, even Eirikur. 
I take it, the artist is proud and pleased having hired such a singer who also pulls some bass strings. However, oddly enough, Roberto doesn’t fit classic Ken’s music. Hensley’ solo works (and I mean the best ones, like his early albums or The Last Dance) just prove to be an example of a singing man maybe without outstanding vocals but with a great heart into it, with a distinct voice, sadly missing here. And so is the diction – you’ll struggle to understand what especially this foreign guy sings.
 
However, the songwriting style and even entire phrases, used before in other solo albums by Hensley, are noteworthy. Number three,  It , is just an example of such familiarity, because vocal theme of One Tender Moment from “A Glimpse Of Glory” here has become a part of the riffy-melodic phrases, played by the whole group. And the intro is a cliché – you could here lot’s of those from, say, UDO or Metallica.
 
The same thing with the next number,  Todo Loco, a very close relative of Rainbow Demon and Love Stealer, if anyone remembers that one. But only regarding intro part, afterwards it is followed by some "walking" musical design, hardly very entertaining. 
I Wanna Go Back –  not a distant cousin either, intro utilizes a phrase from Give 'em What They Want (with only a slight key change, from C to D, the phrase remains the same), then "extended" with something quite classic-rock-kind-of-stuff, but nothing like striking, with monotonous "pecking" drums. 
 
Despite certain similarities, a change although not crucial comes with the following composition.  Please Explain too, does not show us the example of an original number. So has been done, but with different arrangements, rock music of moderate heaviness in 80-e. In a similar vein, Ken has written something for his previous “rock” product, titled Beyond The Starz. However, in the abstract, if we put aside its obvious secondariness, the song is good and moody. The situation is mostly corrected with bright organ solo breaking into a guitar one, ending up in chromatic outro, and pretty simple but effective harmony.
 
You Will Always Be Mine   - here we hear a song of a different sort, it's just much less secondary (a minor self-citing of Tell Me When from “Love And Other Mysteries” stays aside), plus this ballad can boast of intermittent rhythm changes: standard four quarters transform in the bridge into three, slightly less familiar to rock. However, handwriting of Ken the author here is almost unrecognizable. 
I Don't Know –  just a typical example of Hensley’s style "after the return”, its mood and harmony are vaguely reminiscent of the song off “The Last Dance” which had a second serial number. If we forget about those reminiscences or treasure them - a great one, even more so because at last you can hear in the background the voice of Ken’s.
Dangerous Desire - not bad, and once again, so to say, from the same opera. We clearly hear Hensley of the mid-80 's or early 2000 's but, devoid of his voice the song lacks individuality. Like, for instance, most of UH songs belonging to “Head First” – “Different World” era. 
Fortunately, the disk ends with a song sung in part by Ken himself, and, thus the impersonality and commonness here do fade into the background.  The Longest Night is a nostalgic ballad. A pleasant one. It also reminds about some Ken’s songwriting features, typical chord progression alternating between minor and major. But there’s also something amusing about it: this song is typically a drinking one, it is good clinking mugs in some Schwabian pub, kind of strange this idea visited Ken not, say, Candice and Ritchie. However, we can’t do without discoveries at all, can we?
But seriously, you have to summarize: Ken and his Live Fire recorded 50 minutes of music which will please conservative fans of Uriah Heep that demand “more of the same”, rather disappointing anyone who seriously still considers Mr. Hensley a mastermind composer or at least the author of original songs.
Yes, the "shirt", which Hensley and his comrades put on ideas here, is slightly different to the ones off the unlikely most popular albums “Love and Other Mysteries” and “Faster”. No, they did not develop ‘em, rather continued to multiply. Plus, added some depression and aggression resulting in swear words and general gloomy mood – hardly typical for his best period and indicating that something is going on with Ken, and I doubt this something is positive or uplifting.
However, yes, prolific Ken created one more album in his rockier style, and now throwing in a formal accusation of being popish is no longer possible. But how different from its predecessors this collection of songs sounds to a demanding, critical fan? How ever strange it may seem, major, root difference is not noticeable. As there so here we have nothing that would likely make it to his “The Best Of…” collection, sung by someone else, by people without much personality. The irony is also that relatively unpopular “Love and Other Mysteries” features much more of Ken's voice than potentially more successful “Trouble”. 
 
P.S. When the previous rock opus of Maestro, “Faster”, hit the stores, it didn’t thrill anybody except for the most desperate fans of Heep and Hensley. Now, two years later and in comparison with it, “Trouble” hardly impresses more. However, maybe it should be given time to grow? Needless to say, that doesn’t apply to “classic rock” lovers – they are going to love it since it features, at first glance, all they really fancy, no matter how unique the music is.  As long as Ken Hensley and his organ are there, and the songs remain somewhat reminiscent of classic ones. Still I have two questions: when Ken complained about the continuing pressure in the 70-s to write more Easy Livin’ kind of material did he really mean it and who puts it on him now?

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Igor Shveytser