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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