Blood On The Highway

The new Ken Hensley effort in more ways than one has a feel of a retrospective of his own experience and life as a musician over so many years. The songs show all sorts of ups and downs most musicians faced in the 70s both musically and comercially.
After seein Hensley live in Ogre, Latvia (some of the songs from this album were played there), I decided to check the album out. I must admit that it's stunning. At times there is a bit too much of everything on the CD (check out the package), but the whole album has a very good feel although being a little sad. The songs on the CD ((This is) Just the Beginning, Okay, I Did It All etc.) are of the highest quality ranging from melodic ballads to strong rockers 970s style). The Last Dance has already been published before but the song has it's way here and is a true gem. It remins you what great music Ken Hensley has made both as the member of Uriah Heep and as a solo act.

Primarily known as Uriah Heep's amazing keyboard and guitar player in the 70's, Ken Hensley also has several solo albums, of which Blood on the Highway is his partly autobiographical concept work telling the story of a rock star in parallel to WASP's The Crimson Idol and Savatage's Streets.

With an impressive list of guest musicians, the album has a diverse nature in terms of vocals, but the overall songwriting generally dictates a classic hard rock record with some cool vocal melodies, bluesy guitar work, and the occasional Hammond organ fans of Ken Hensley have come to expect from him. Jorn Lande, who has appeared on perhaps more than a dozen projects, guests on five of the songs, of which "(This Is) Just the Beginning" showcases his Coverdale-like throaty delivery in a dense composition of groove and dense keyboard work. As expected, his singing is godly -- he is among the greatest vocalists of our time without doubt. The second piece "We're on Our Way" has a more southern rock flair to it, and features a wonderful chorus as well as a charged guitar solo by Ken Hensley.

The title track is another blues-tinged rock tune with a great vocal melody that is then repeated by guitars. Lande's singing here is out of this world, but I think it's best to hear him in a band where he can exert his more original style like he did in Ark and Beyond Twilight (he'll hopefully be doing something different on the upcoming Ayreon album by the way). On the relatively upbeat "You've Got It", he goes for a more midtempo style while "Okay (This House Is Down)" sees him going for his unique ballad singing.

Original Uriah Heep singer John Lawton appears on the more daring "It Won't Last", one of the more original tunes on the CD while "Think Twice", a bluesy piano ballad, is sung by Eve Gallagher -- an amazing voice. Check the discreet synth effects in the background and how they heighten Gallagher's intense vocalization.

Besides the two brief instrumental "Doom" scenes, which are basically spoken parts that add to the concept, Ken Hensley also sings on a couple of tunes. Of these, "There Comes a Time" is very laidback and based on gently picked acoustic guitars. It also features a pretty string arrangement and moving alto saxophone in the middle. "Postscript" is less than half a minute long, and comprised of a sad vocal melody atop bluesy acoustic guitars; it is a good precursor to the emotive "I Did It All" -- after hearing the songs Hensley picked to sing himself one can tell why he asked Jorn Lande and Glenn Hughes to do the more challenging pieces.

Glenn Hughes appears on "What You Gonna Do" and "The Last Dance", which is essentially a reworked version from an older Ken Hensley album. "What You Gonna Do" is more heavily rooted in AOR territory, with its firm rhythms and 80's style vocal arrangement, not too unlike Hughes' recent solo material.

Truth be told, while Hensley is a monster musician on the Hammond organ, I do not think these songs have been written to perfection like the older Uriah Heep material. This disc is heavily vocal-based and at times leaves me expecting more meat in the musical department given Hensley's instrumental prowess. It would have been amazing if he incorporated more of his dexterous soloing as well as progressive arrangements. That said, it is still worth checking out -- it's a Ken Hensley album after all.

Blood on the Highway is not just another solo album from Ken Hensley, the keyboardist/guitarist/songwriter of the long running (and criminally underrated) band Uriah Heep. This album serves as Hensley's autobiography, a chance to tell the story of his rock & roll journey in the most suitable way - musically. Hensley is joined by a trio of very impressive guest vocalists for this project: Deep Purple's Glenn Hughes, former Heep bandmate John Lawton, and journeyman melodic rocker Jorn Lande. Occasional female vocals are provided by Eve Gallagher, who I must confess I'm not familiar with.

As a major fan of both Uriah Heep and Lande, there was pretty much no way I wasn't going to like this album. I was a bit surprised though, by just how much this album affected me. Anyone who has ever seen a VH1 Behind the Music episode should already know what to expect from this kind of story - the naïve but dedicated young artists gains success, blows it on substance abuse and/or band turmoil, and then finds a measure of redemption - but it's obvious that Hensley poured his heart and soul into this album. It may be a familiar story, but it's a poignant one, and the Almost Famous meets Still Crazy meets Bat out of Hell "rock opera" style really hammers the message home.

The presence of such powerful and diverse vocalists adds to the album's impact. If you're not familiar with Jorn Lande, who handles the majority of the vocals here, think David Coverdale with a dash of Ronnie James Dio and Phil Lynott. Lande gives a terrific performance, especially on songs like "We're On Our Way" and "Okay (This House is Down)", where really gets to cut loose. Glenn Hughes and John Lawton (plus of course Hensley himself) also give memorable performances that should please most classic rock fans.

While Blood on the Highway is easy to recommend to fans of Uriah Heep, Ken Hensley, Deep Purple, Glenn Hughes, and Jorn Lande, I'd also recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic and/or melodic rock.

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