RIP Ken Hensley

[Steve Haynie 12,190]

Ken Hensley died yesterday.  He was one of the guys who made an organ a heavy rock instrument when he was in Uriah Heep.  I got to see him when he was with Blackfoot.  For a while he worked for Ampeg. 

[BruceM 1,502]

I was just thinking about Uriah Heep recently, and lamenting the fact that I didn't have any of their music handy. Luckily, my local library had a copy of Demons and Wizards, so I listened to that CD in its entirety a couple of weeks ago. I was really into that album when I was a teenager, and it sounded good last month, too! RIP.

[Willie G. Moseley 3,501]

Salisbury was, for me at least, a definitive British hard rock album from the early '70s (along w/ Mott the Hoople's Brain Capers and couple of others). "Time to Live" had some great power chords, and the ambitiously-orchestrated title track (clocking in at over 16 minutes) was well done, IMO. Later albums were more popular but I always found myself returning to this one.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Willie G. Moseley

[DaveH 2,429]

I saw them on their Abominog tour. Nashville, opened for Judas Priest. 

[The Shark 5,533]

So, my first concert was Heep and Kiss in Lakeland in 1976.  It was the concert where Ace was shocked and tumbled down the stairs during Detroit Rock City.  They abruptly stopped the concert for about twenty minutes and they came out and started over!  But that night was, more importantly, when I got to see Uriah Heep.  I had become a "member/rube" of Columbia House Record Club in early 1976.  I remember that I got "The Best of Uriah Heep" as a free album for buying three other popular albums on the Columbia House list. I knew almost every song they played that night.  Ken's keyboards and Mick's guitar were killer.  The Claire Brothers mixing the sound didn't appear to have marching orders from Kiss to "squash" Heep as I heard they were prone to do.  Sure, Kiss were fantastic.  But Uriah Heep left a mark on me that night.  The four best keyboardists I've ever seen were Ken, Jon Lord, Rick Wakeman, and Geoff Downes.  Some guy named Jan was good too.   

[gorch 5,477]

Uriah Heep were a bit ahead in time for me. Although they are common to my ears, I always thought they were a bit dark sounding. The Greatest Hits album got low spinning time though.

[tomteriffic 2,855]

Ken's "Proud Words ON A Dusty Shelf" got scads of airplay in St. Louis.  He lived there for quite a while and owned a recording studio there.  RIP

 

[m chops 378]

In high school we covered Gypsy,  I still love that song. Our keyboard player was incredible - we covered ELP with aplomb. 

Edited November 17, 2020 by m chops

[tomteriffic 2,855]

22 hours ago, m chops said:

In high school we covered Gypsy,  I still love that song. Our keyboard player was incredible - we covered ELP with aplomb. 

Who is Aplomb? Never heard of him. 😅