Ron Vogel - Speed Of Light

Hear The Track Here

If you had told me a few years ago that I would like a musician who cited both Styx AND Boston as influences, I would have treated you to my patented Death Stare, melting your head clean off your shoulders. Hah, try and hear Styx with no ears!! My hatred of such bands is my own personal baggage and nothing we want to saddle Ron Vogel with. Ron Vogel is the one with the baleful influences and yes, I do like his music which, by the by, is nothing like either of those bands I no longer care to mention. There again, this from a reviewer who thought Blazing (November 2009) sounded a bit like Hawkwind, those pioneers of space rock with was a very, very close relation to prog-rock but grubbier. However tracks like Human (June 2010) and the excellent Our Way Home (October 2010) show that there is much more to this musician than an ego.

Along with being a pretty sharp songwriter, Ron is a very adept musician, turning his hand to a great many styles although it's obvious he's most at home with rock, and there are no prizes for guessing what Speed of Light is - and it ain't space rock. Folk rock (think American West Coast) got a bad rep for a long time and I think that is partly the reason why Americana raised it's head and thank God for that. What Speed Of Light is, more than anything else, is a terrific piece of Americana in every respect, vocally, musically and instrumentally. There again, that is a fairly common thing with this musician, I think almost all his tracks have scored no less that highly recommended, with Our Way Home being the sole Must Have (so far).

This, after all, is a musician who is not afraid to feature harmonica in his tracks, and that will always appeal to me. In my view, Ron seems to be maturing and growing in confidence with each track I hear, vocally in particular. His last track, The Forest (December 2010) was a close vocal harmony piece that was beautiful to hear, as indeed is Speed Of Light although in a very different manner. If you can imagine a cross between classic rock and pure American country music, then you'd be getting close to the musical treat that is contained in this track. Again, for a home musician, Ron's ability to get a clear, clean sound marks him out from the norm. Ron Vogel had a pretty good year last year in terms of musical gems and it looks like he's going to do the same this year too if Speed of Light is any indication.

Highly Recommended Americana.