Ron Gragg - Fools... An Apologetic

Hear The Track Here

By now Ron Gragg and I have become quite familiar, this will be the fifth track of his I've reviewed and considering he considers himself a 'Christian' artist, that's not bad going. Its not that I am an atheist, far from it, I just don't like other people trying to force their views on me - something I have had a problem with all my life. I know none of this should matter when reviewing music but the reason I it does is because Christian musicians do tend to bring their faith (and zeal) to the proceedings too. I know it turns a lot of other people off too, and its a rare Christian artist who can sidestep that particular stridency, and surprisingly enough Ron Gragg is one of them.

Unfortunately where it all gets curly at the corners is something that afflicts most home producers, and this is not something I haven't said before, sound quality and - even more telling - a tendency to over-arrange. Fools... to my mind anyway suffers from both these problems and will I fear detract from the impact of the track. Certainly did to me anyway. Ron Gragg is actually an excellent musician as this track amply testifies once you get past that thin sound and the often loose arrangement.

The track is a lyrical ode to the Almighty and as such, fairly standard for the course. Where it deviates is in the Clapton-ish feel to the music, and more especially the vocals; the echo of the mighty Eric is all over that. In fact what saves the track for me is that vocal and I do think that the track needs a re-think; tightening up that arrangement and fattening some of the sounds would do wonders for it. There again, Ron may well be one of those people who, once uploaded, never touch the track again, in which I'd have to say you should really like Christian Rock to get anything from this track. If you wanted to see what Ron is really all about I would recommend you have a listen to Nothing But The Blood (August 2008).