Ralph Atkinson - Don't Hold It Back

Hear The Track Here

It's been an incredibly short time since I met Canada's Ralph Atkinson with Building A Time Machine (September 2009) but the man has more than made up for it, stuffing those couple of years with tracks in just about every genre imaginable. Most irritating thing of all is they are all very good indeed, high quality production and performance and considering that Ralph does everything you hear is no mean achievement. If memory serves me right, there may be one or two tracks that didn't quite hit the post but - overall - Ralph Atkinson can be relied on to deliver music of a very high standard. A lot of what he does is, of course, rock based but this track promises 'old school soul/r&b'

Yeah yeah, owww get down indeed.

Now I'll probably pay for making the next comment but in all honesty I cannot stand the sound of the Fender Rhodes piano, which is strange considering the huge contribution it has made to modern music but God, the sound drives me nuts. It came to prominence in the 1960's soul scene, much like the Hammond B3, and has been a solid instrument ever since, which is why I guess Ralph is using the sound on Don't Hold It Back. Moreover, it's the prime instrument so given my earlier confession, it's surprising that we are both still standing. Although the overall 'easy' feel doesn't sit too well with me, I can certainly see what Ralph was about here.

Having grown up with the original soul/R&B surge, it's not going to go down too well if you don't have the soul voice to deliver it, and would probably be the first to say he can't do it. Nonetheless, outside of the obvious 'white' voice, the feel and tenor of the song is overwhelmingly soul of the old school and - credit where credit is due - Ralph actually does do a terrifically good job of putting that point across, despite the limitations. What sells this for me though is that Ralph was willing to try something so far out of his comfort zone and still come up with the goods. Not my kinda thing though, but there are plenty who do like this kind of stuff.

Recommended old school soul.