Ken Hensley - My Book Of Answers

Ken Hensley
My Book of Answers
(HNE Recordings)
7/10

By Robert Corich

When I was asked to review this album I was, in fact, a little reticent having been involved with the production of some wonderful earlier works by Ken. However, with his recent passing, it seemed at least that the correct thing to do would be to give it a good listen, make notes and take a view on the work.

Initially, having been provided track downloads and pdf art to work with (don’t you just hate when labels do that!) I wasn’t actually very impressed with the ‘packaging’ and, I have to say, nor the initial flow of music upon first listen. Being from an age where vinyl and CDs ruled, downloads are something I’ve always struggled with. Once the real product arrived for me to leaf through, however, that rather boring front cover aside, the booklet and album are well set out and informative.

My initial reaction was that I’d heard it all before and a lot of the music and melodies sounded like they have been lifted from elsewhere. Wait! Did I just say Ken had nicked the music? Well actually, yes! He has and he did. However, it’s his own music and melodies that he has in fact lifted and then very cleverly woven these into yet more new (and old) melodies and music, incorporating lyrics which unusually are not his own in origin resulting in a quite beautiful set of songs.


And so, to the music. The album kicks off with the crunching riff laden ‘Lost’ and the guitar breaks in this track will immediately remind Uriah Heep fans of music penned by Ken for their late seventies’ releases. The track is a more than satisfying commencement.

Track two ‘Right Here, Right Now’ will be immediately familiar to Heep fans as well as the music to ‘The Hanging Tree’ penned by Ken and Jack Williams from the 1976 release Firefly. Interestingly, Ken’s keyboard interpretation of this version is at times reminiscent of early Lucifers Friend material which, of course, was his former bandmate John Lawton’s band before he was recruited for the aforementioned Firefly album.

‘The Cold Sacrifice’ holds the line perfectly before rolling into ‘The Silent Scream’; which is the minor masterpiece on the album. Simple and, again, vaguely familiar, it’ll be rattling around in your head long after the album has finished. ‘Cover Girl’, where the tempo is subdued, is a welcome addition and this follows through with the gentle sound of Ken’s unique and sometimes haunting vocal delivery on ‘Light The Fire’.

The opening bars of the seventh track ‘Stand’ is, again, hugely reminiscent of late seventies Heep and, had John Lawton and Mick Box guested on this and added their ever so unique magic and sound it, one might never have known it was not from the keyboardist's former band. Interesting thought anyway.

The amazing vocals at the end of this track definitely leave you wanting more. Sounding like Glenn Hughes, whoever it is should be fronting their own project as soon as possible. Next follows ‘Suddenly’, which is actually the last track on the album save an alternate version of track eight. I found ‘Suddenly’ lyrically prophetic regarding Ken’s recent passing. It's a haunting way to end the album after having personally known the man for over forty years.

No, it’s not the best album that Ken has ever released over his hugely productive career, but it’s likely his best since his epic 2007 collaborative effort Blood On The Highway. There's not much he was going to do that was ever going to beat that gem anyway.

Considering the album was largely put together in a restrictive lockdown environment, to say the least, this is a fantastically good effort all in all and it allows Ken’s musical journey to continue for fans even though he has now departed our world. Hats off to all involved, especially Vladimir with his lyrics. This is an album that grows on you the more you listen to it and is a wonderful addition to the music of the legend that is Ken Hensley.

Let’s hope he has recorded more that remains unissued and that later appears as My Book of Questions! and possibly more questions after that.