David Byron - On The Rocks (1981) Ken Hensley - Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf (1973) [2LP on 1CD]

Year: 1981 / 1973 (CD 2000)
Label: CD-Maximum (Russia. bootleg), CDM 198-59
Style: Hard Rock, Rock, Pop Rock
Country: England
Time: 77:05
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 506 Mb

The rise to fame and tragic demise of the late David Byron has been well documented in the years following his alcohol related death in 1985. In a nutshell, after fronting the British rock band Uriah Heep for ten albums and countless tours the charismatic front man was ousted from the group in 1976 and never really recovered from it, both personally and professionally. Without strong songwriting partners like Ken Hensley and Mick Box from Heep for Bryon to lean on his solo career unfortunately never reached the heights he had achieved with Heep.
(full version: seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=9441)
Ken Hensley is mostly known as the legendary former keyboard player for heavyweight British hard rockers Uriah Heep (also a member of The Gods, Toe Fat,and Blackfoot), but he's also kept up a pretty busy solo career since this debut from 1973. Recorded right around the time that Heep released their classic Uriah Heep Live album, Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf avoids much of the bombast & heaviness that was associated with his main band, and showed just how clever a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Hensley really is. Playing all the keyboards, guitars, and handling the vocals, Hensley's almost one-man show was supported by two of his bandmates in Heep, drummer Lee Kerslake & bassist Gary Thain, as well as some additional bass courtesy of Dave Paul.
(full version: https://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=16208)

01. Rebecca (04:01)
02. Bad Girl (04:52)
03. How Do You Sleep? (06:09)
04. Little By Little (03:54)
05. Start Believing (04:04)
06. Never Say Die (04:25)
07. King (03:40)
08. Piece Of My Love (06:48)
09. When Evening Comes (04:36)
10. From Time To Time (03:37)
11. King Without A Throne (03:54)
12. Rain (03:16)
13. Proud Words (03:16)
14. Fortune (05:18)
15. Black Hearted Lady (03:38)
16. Go Down (03:11)
17. Cold Autumn Sunday (05:30)
18. The Last Time (02:47)

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David Byron - Take No Prisoners (1975) Ken Hensley - Free Spirit (1980) [2LP on 1CD]

Year: 1975 / 1980 (CD 2000)
Label: CD-Maximum (Russia), CDM 198-61
Style: Hard Rock, Rock, Pop Rock
Country: England
Time: 75:42
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 518 Mb

This 1975 album was the first solo outing for David Byron, the lead singer for Uriah Heep. It isn't a big surprise that a good portion of the album sounds a lot like the group that gave him his day job: sturdy organ-driven hard-rockers like "Silver White Man" and "Hit Me With a White One" would not be out of place on a typical Uriah Heep album from this period. The fact that every then-current member of Uriah Heep makes at least one appearance on this record further aids this deja vu feeling. What is surprising about Take No Prisoners is how solid and consistent it is for a between-albums solo venture. The album begins powerfully with "Man Full of Yesterdays," a mid-tempo rocker with a moody, dramatic arrangement that blends an emotional Mellotron-driven sound with autobiographical lyrics.
From there, Byron deftly blends his Heep-styled rockers with a variety of roots rock and soul experiments that blend in well with the other, more traditional material: "Steamin' Along" tackles funk with surprising deftness while "Saturday Night" adds a likable country-rock element to its amped-up rock & roll attack. "Love Song" proves that Byron could do a straight ballad with surprising sensitivity and further benefits from a lovely arrangement built on a gentle harpsichord sound. Plenty of sharp rockers are interspersed between these experimental tracks, the best being "Midnight Flyer," a cleverly arranged rocker that alternates spooky, mid-tempo verses with a scorching chorus to create an exciting burst of hard rock. Overall, Take No Prisoners lacks a breakout single or the kind of genre-expanding elements that will win over the casual listener, but it is a well-crafted album that will definitely find favor with Uriah Heep fans.
(allmusic.com/album/take-no-prisoners-mw0000599761)
This album, released around the time of Hensley's departure from Uriah Heep, is a much different affair from his previous solo work. Instead of going for a traditional rock sound close to Uriah Heep, Free Spirit utilizes a ‘stylistic shotgun' approach that touches on a number of different styles including synth-pop ("Do You Feel Alright"), disco ("Inside The Mystery"), and even pure pop ("The System"). The end result is an album that offers some strong songs, but lacks the cohesion and consistency necessary for a good album. Some of the experiments work surprisingly well ("Inside The Mystery" effectively contrasts funky, danceable verses with a stately guitar-driven midsection), but others fall flat. For instance, the bouncy keyboard pop that drives "The System" does not sit well with its hard-edged cynical lyrics.
The rockers at the songs that work best on Free Spirit: "Brown Eyed Boy" is a punchy hard-rocker built on hard-driving drumwork from Deep Purple's Ian Paice and "Telephone" draws much strength from a well-judged combination of poppy background vocals and chugging guitar riffs. The ballads, usually a highlight of Hensley's work, also work nicely on this album: the best example is "Woman," which contrasts moody keyboard-driven verses with pulsating, guitar-fuelled instrumental breaks. All in all, Free Spirit's lack of a coherent style will probably turn off the casual listener but there are enough strong, well-produced tracks on this album to make it a worthwhile listen for any fans of Hensley or Uriah Heep.
(allmusic.com/album/free-spirit-mw0000846600)

01. Man Full Of Yesterdays (05:38)
02. Sweet Rock N' Roll (02:50)
03. Steamin' Along (05:11)
04. Silver White Man (03:30)
05. Love Song (02:58)
06. Midnight Flyer (05:56)
07. Saturday Night (02:17)
08. Roller Coaster (04:00)
09. Stop (Think What You're Doing) (04:16)
10. Hit Me With A White One (03:55)
11. Inside The Mystery (04:38)
12. New York (02:25)
13. The System (02:34)
14. When (03:48)
15. No More (04:37)
16. Brown Eyed Boy (04:05)
17. Do You Feel Alright (02:52)
18. Telephone (03:10)
19. Woman (03:23)
20. New Routine (03:27)

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David Byron - Baby Faced Killer (1978) Ken Hensley - Eager To Please (1975) [2LP on 1CD]

Year: 1978 / 1975 (CD 2000)
Label: CD-Maximum (Russia), CDM 198-61
Style: Hard Rock, Rock, Pop
Country: England
Time: 78:24
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 518 Mb

David Byron - Epping, Essex, England (29 January 1947 - 28 February 1985). Ken Hensley - Plumstead, London, England (24 August 1945 - 4 November 2020).
---After David Byron was fired from Uriah Heep in 1976 he formed Rough Diamond whose album the following year was as dire as it was predictable. The rest of his alcohol-fuelled decline was just a matter of time, apparently.
Not quite. In 1978 he teamed up with producer and songwriter Daniel Boone who tried to reinvent Byron as a singer beyond his heavy metal confines. The title track, Only You Can Do It and Heaven Or Hell are catchy pop songs with synthesizers and electronically treated vocals that reek of ELO. Rich Man’s Lady and Acetylene Jean are smooth rockabilly. Then there’s the electro-disco of African Breeze, complete with tribal rhythms.
In retrospect, Baby Faced Killer is a brave album that’s flawed because it tries to do too much too soon. If it had focused on developing just one of these styles it might have succeeded as Byron’s voice was certainly adaptable and the production was sleek and brimming with ideas.
(loudersound.com/reviews/david-byron-baby-faced-killer-album-review)
---At first it might seem like Eager To Please is a heavy metal album in the vein of Hensley's day-job group, Uriah Heep: "Eager To Please" boasts a barrage of dramatic power chords and "Stargazer" is built on a chugging electric guitar riff that is pure hard rock. However, this is illusion is dissipated by the rest of the album, which includes several songs in the moody and subtle style of Hensley's previous solo outing, Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf. Eager To Please is a more ambitious and studio-crafted affair than that album, even featuring full-blooded orchestral arrangements on some of its tracks, but it still relies on the same song-focused approach. Highlights this time out include "Through The Eyes Of A Child," a tale of lost innocence that highlights a heart-rending vocal from Hensley against a heart-tugging backdrop of strings, and "House On The Hill," a nostalgic acoustic tune with an intoxicatingly dreamy melody. "Take And Take" is another strong track, a mid-tempo rocker that effectively conveys the strong emotions in its lyrics through a potent combination of slide guitar and soaring background vocals. The only real problem with Eager To Please is that its combination of hard rock and soft rock lacks cohesion and makes this outing feel more like a collection of songs than a fully-coherent album. Despite this quibble, Eager To Please still offers a strong, thoughtfully-crafted batch of songs that show off the range of this oft-underrated songwriter. It is a necessity for Uriah Heep fans and is very likely to appeal to other fans of well-produced 1970's classic rock.
(allmusic.com/album/eager-to-please-mw0000849801)

David Byron - Baby Faced Killer (1978):
01. Baby Faced Killer (03:11)
02. Rich Man.s Lady (03:51)
03. Sleepless Nights (03:50)
04. African Breeze (04:13)
05. Everbody's Star (04:21)
06. Heaven Or Hell (04:44)
07. Only You Can Do It (04:05)
08. Don't Let Me Down (03:20)
09. Acetylene Man (03:20)
10. I Remember (04:11)

Ken Hensley - Eager To Please (1975):
11. Eager To Please (04:53)
12. Stargazer (03:49)
13. Secret (04:04)
14. Through The Eyes Of Child (02:18)
15. Part Three (03:48)
16. The House On The Hill (03:20)
17. Winter Or Summer (03:00)
18. Take And Take (03:44)
19. Longer Shadows (03:34)
20. In The Morning (02:36)
21. How Shall I Know (04:01)

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David Byron (Uriah Heep) - Take No Prisoners (1975)

Year: March 1975 (CD 2011)
Label: Lemon Recordings (UK), CDLEM 189
Style: Hard Rock, Rock
Country: Epping, Essex, England (29 January 1947 - 28 February 1985)
Time: 50:39
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 332 Mb

This 1975 album was the first solo outing for David Byron, the lead singer for Uriah Heep. It isn't a big surprise that a good portion of the album sounds a lot like the group that gave him his day job: sturdy organ-driven hard-rockers like "Silver White Man" and "Hit Me With a White One" would not be out of place on a typical Uriah Heep album from this period. The fact that every then-current member of Uriah Heep makes at least one appearance on this record further aids this deja vu feeling. What is surprising about Take No Prisoners is how solid and consistent it is for a between-albums solo venture. The album begins powerfully with "Man Full of Yesterdays," a mid-tempo rocker with a moody, dramatic arrangement that blends an emotional Mellotron-driven sound with autobiographical lyrics. From there, Byron deftly blends his Heep-styled rockers with a variety of roots rock and soul experiments that blend in well with the other, more traditional material: "Steamin' Along" tackles funk with surprising deftness while "Saturday Night" adds a likable country-rock element to its amped-up rock & roll attack. "Love Song" proves that Byron could do a straight ballad with surprising sensitivity and further benefits from a lovely arrangement built on a gentle harpsichord sound. Plenty of sharp rockers are interspersed between these experimental tracks, the best being "Midnight Flyer," a cleverly arranged rocker that alternates spooky, mid-tempo verses with a scorching chorus to create an exciting burst of hard rock. Overall, Take No Prisoners lacks a breakout single or the kind of genre-expanding elements that will win over the casual listener, but it is a well-crafted album that will definitely find favor with Uriah Heep fans.
(allmusic.com/album/take-no-prisoners-mw0000599761)

01. Man Full Of Yesterdays (05:38)
02. Sweet Rock 'N' Roll (02:50)
03. Steamin' Along (05:11)
04. Silver White Man (03:30)
05. Love Song (02:58)
06. Midnight Flyer (05:56)
07. Saturday Night (02:17)
08. Roller Coaster (04:00)
09. Stop (Think What You're Doing) (04:16)
10. Hit Me With A White One (03:56)
11. Steamin' Along (Single Edit) (03:22)
12. What's Going On (Outtake) (03:09)
13. Silver White Man (Alternative Version) (03:28)

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