The Gods featuring Ken Hensley

 This album offers nothing new to the blog, at least not now, although when it was released it did have tracks on it that were not available on their two official releases. This is a vinyl rip and does offer a good compilation of Gods songs for you to enjoy


Liner Notes

"The Gods were at London University. Ron White, EMI Records Director of Pop Repertoire, had asked me to investigate the band's potential.

The atmosphere was electric, the audience having already discovered the excitement generated by the band at two previuos engagements.
From the very first chord, the Hatfield-based band exploded, leaving no dought in anyone's mind that success for them would only be a matter of time.

Ken Hensley the bands spokesman, main writer and lead vocalist, thrashed out heavey chords on his C3, occasionally rocking the organ, distorting the inbuilt re-verb through his Leslie speaker.
Greg Lake slapped at his bass guitar, motionless, engulfed in a wall of sound.
Joe Konas, lead guitarist added heavy rhythm interspersed with fine counterpoint melody.
On drum, Lee Kerslake, Solid, Heavy and driving.

The formality of the 'studio test' was waived , and the band prepared to record an albm immediatley.
Before the actual recordings, Greg Lake left to form his own unit, later to become Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
He was replaced by a fine young bass player, John Glascock, who is now with Jethro Tull.The resultant album 'Genesis', was completed inside ten, three hour sessions at Studio 3, Abbey Road, at that time only recently converted from stereo to four track.A concept album," To Samuel A Son", was the next project to be completed.

Shortly after the release of this second album, Joe Kona emigrated with his family to Canada. John Glascock also crossed the Atlantic, to take up residence in California.
Ken Hensley formed a new heavy band called Uriah Heep, in which he was joined by drummer Lee Kerslake.

Uriah Heep's success speaks fo itself. Gold and Platinum albums on both ides of the Atlantic. It was only a question of time."

Side 1
Real Love Guaranteed (Konas/Hensley) 2.29*
Farthing Man (Konas) 3.30
Penny Dear (Konas) 2.35
Lovely Anita (Kerslake) 3.29
Momma I Need (Hensley/Konas) 3.35
Candlelight (Hensley) 2.31
Radio Show (Sugarman/Robertson) 3.12
Hey Bulldog (Lennon/Mccartney) 3.01*

Side 2
Maria (Bernstein/Sondheim) 3.58*
Yes I Cry (Konas) 2.40
Candle's Getting Shorter (Hensley/Konas) 4.28
Looking Glass (Konas/Hensley) 4.14
Somewhere In The Streeet (Hensley) 2.47*
Towards The Skies (Konas) 3.24
Misleading Colours (Konas/Kerslake) 3.38

*Mono Recordings

The Gods biography(taken from Prog Archives)

The GODS are most famous for introducing the world to Ken Hensley, the multi talented, main songwriter of URIAH HEEP's most famous period and an excellent solo career in his own right, but also housing Greg Lake and Mick Taylor in their ranks at some point in their relatively short lived history. However, they were arguably, alongside DEEP PURPLE's earliest work, the closest the UK came to VANILLA FUDGE.

Indeed, the FUDGE influenced The GODS hugely, but where The GODS scored was that they wrote more original material than VANILLA FUDGE did, the bulk of it coming from the pen of the already formidable Hensley, but also the guitarist Joe Konas.

The GODS' first release was a single for Polydor, with the line-up that would remain constant thereafter - Ken Hensley on keyboards and vocals, Lee Kerslake (who later joined URIAH HEEP) on drums and vocals, Joe Konas on guitar and vocals and John Glascock (who later joined JETHRO TULL) on bass and vocals. However, this made little impact. Nonetheless, they'd gained enough impact to be signed by Columbia, for whom The GODS made two albums- 'Genesis' in 1968 and 'To Samuel A Son' in 1970. Both were innovative affairs, with superb musicianship, with heavy guitar work, crunching organ and early mellotron use to the fore, plus bombastic harmonies and a pop sensibility in the mix. However, both albums made next to no impact. The closest they came to success was ironically a cover version of a lesser BEATLES song, 'Hey Bulldog'. However, arguably their finest work was another cover of the West Side Story nugget 'Maria', which was a tastefully elaborate yet melodic reworking of a standard with superb harmonies.

The band were more or less all present on an album released under the pseudonym 'Head Machine' which was called, subtly enough, 'Orgasm', but this sold nothing yet again, and the band's identity was masked under various pseudonyms in any case.

The GODS then dissolved, as Hensley, Kerslake and Glascock moved on to the heavy rock outfit Toe Fat led by 60s soul exponent Cliff Bennett, but Hensley soon had moved on to bigger and better things in one of the world's most loved prog/ heavy rock acts, URIAH HEEP, which at last allowed him full rein to showcase his talents. Kerslake joined him a few years later, and Glascock moved on to the prog act Carmen then JETHRO TULL, before sadly dying in 1979. Ken Hensley left HEEP in 1980 and has worked on albums on a session basis alongside his formidable solo career, and Kerslake remaind in HEEP untill ill health forced his retirement

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