THE LAST DANCE

Although it opens on a quite heavy/bluesy "Crying" which is not very much my cup of tea, this work do hold some very good songs which should be attractive for those of you who have appreciated his work while being with the Heep.

I have had quite a mix feeling about his solo work of which his live performances (with the help from some friends) have to be considered as the best achievements. At least I feel so.

The accent is definitely more on the rocking angle with "Letting Go", but again on the heavy side. One can appreciate the vocal abilities from the man, but it seems that these heavy keyboard lines that were the trade mark of the mighty Heep are just forgotten and leave the place for guitar riffs.

The rocking mood keeps on with "Give Me A Reason", but this time it is clearly more pop oriented. This song was apparently sleeping on the shelves for a long time before it found its place here.

One of the best piece of music featured on this album, is the beautiful and charming "Second Chance" which opens on a fantastic and soaring guitar break. Really captivating this one. Vocal part might sound a bit mellow, but again, Ken is performing quite convincingly in this duty (even if lyrics aren't brilliant during the chorus). Still, the guitar work is exceptional.

There are some let downs as well ("I Know Who You Are"), but these aren't that many and are quite rapidly forgotten. "The Voice Of Love" comes immediately on the rescue with its well balanced rhythm and great beat. One of my fave with "Second Chance" but in a totally different style.

The same feeling applies to the excellent and punchy "Give Them What They Want". Another excellent rocking song which relates to great old times, for sure (the contrary of "Who Knows" actually, which could have been prevented).

The balance between rock affairs and ballads goes on with the very good "Dancing": as its title would suggest, this is quite a good dancing song: wild rock music my friends.

The long closing and title track mixes those elements in a quite pleasant mood. Again, guitar work is excellent and by far the highlight. An excellent way to close this album.

I would say that it was quite a long time that Ken released such a good studio album. Maybe too many ballads are involved ("Did You" is another of those ones) to make it a four star album, but seven out of ten is my judgement.

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