Ron Gragg - Rest In Me

Hear The Track Here

I have by now reviewed a goodly chunk of the work of American based Christian Rock musician Ron Gragg and, for the most part. enjoyed the experience - which is not always the case with Christian music. It helps that Ron is an accomplished guitar player, and a fairly decent songwriter into the bargain but - for me - where Ron really scores is in his song ideas and his lyrics. Never one to shirk an issue when he can take it head on, Ron's work demands a bit of thought - moreso if you happen to be a Christian. When I reviewed my last Ron Gragg track - Time (The Time Project) (April 2010) - I bemoaned how the home produced sound tended to detract from the solid performance.

Similar problems dog Rest In Me and not ones that I can actually ignore, and that's a shame because I really hate to diss someones work - being only too well aware of how difficult it is to get this down at all. Like Time, Rest In Me is a good song struggling to be heard and I think two problems stop that from happening. Problem one is the really swishy sound that this track swims in, as well as the looseness of the arrangement (most noticeable on the guitars IMO). Problem two is that, for some reason, Ron's voice never quite fits right in the mix. This didn't, to my knowledge, happen on Time and I wonder if its a by-product of the songs structure.

So while I think this is a track that may well be worthwhile to fans of Ron and/or Christian Rock music, I personally have heard this musician do much, much better. That's not to say this is a bad track, it isn't which makes it all the harder to say these things but for me this track just didn't work and I'm not sure why that is. To be sure, the sound and arrangement problems are a big, big factor, but so are the odd little glitches that you only notice when you become used to the track. There again, out of the ten tracks I have reviewed, I've pretty much said the same thing every time. Nice song but something more is needed when the competition for ears is so incredibly fierce.