Ron Gragg - Time (The Time Project)

Hear The Track Here

We are entering unfamiliar territory here. This is the second Time track I am reviewing this month, and that just odd. Two very different Times though you couldn't possibly imagine. Unread Pages and Ron Gragg are in entirely different musical fields, one into experimental and electronica, the other being a son of the soil, acoustic guitars and all. Room, of course, for every single one of them. I've been through a fair amount of Ron's tracks by now so I know that I am getting something thoughtful, if not technically perfect for sure its heart will be in the right place. Ron is a Christian and it follows that Time is also Christian Rock but like a lot of the better musicians in this genre, Ron never gets on the pulpit and bangs the drum. His faith is subtle, like Cam's Even Song, bringing the subject to the front of your mind without rhetoric or harangue.

Horse, water??? Get the picture?

Time (The Time Project) is the first of a series of tracks around the subject Ron is planning and I now understand what the word patchy can mean when applied to a piece of music. In it's defence, I should state that this is a current 'work in progress' and that things are probably going to get better and that's a good thing. So here I am talking as if this were not a good track but it actually is. It's a terrific song, and kept afloat by some nice guitar flourishes and a really excellent vocal from the man himself. Almost from the getgo, the vocal style was so like Eric Clapton it was scary, and it just got better the more I heard it. Definitely one of Ron's most assured vocals yet.

And then there is the other side of the coin. Ron, like a great many of us, produces all of this music at home, usually out of anything that comes to hand. The real problems right now on this track is the lack of a driving force, the percussion that is on it just doesn't cut the mustard. There is no doubt in my mind that Time is a great song struggling to get out but for that to come about I think the whole rhythm thing should be reconsidered. What this really needs is a kick ass drummer, and some backing vocalists to supply the honey. Then, believe me, it would give old Eric himself a moment's pause wondering whether he'd made a track in his sleep maybe... For a WIP, this is soooo worth a listen anyway.

Highly Recommended Christian Rock WIP (so cut it a small break). (Ed: very small)