Frontiers Records [release date 12.03.21]
Ronnie Atkins, founding member of Denmark’s Pretty Maids, bows out with his one and only solo album, One Shot. Ronnie has recently been diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer. So the album title is as much a philosophical statement as it is a challenge.
His solo material is clearly transmitting on the same wavelength as his parent band … a hard edged melodic rock that gained the ‘Maids the musical currency that remains intact today.
Supported by Kee Marcello, Pontus Norgren, Oliver Hartmann and others, producer/ arranger/ guitarist, Chris Laney, captures the analogue warmth and indeed the underrated sonic clarity of many hard rock recordings of the genre’s glorious past. Together with Atkins, they scale the heights of its mid eighties peak with ‘Real’ and ‘Frequency of Love’, both densely textured, stadium sized melodic rock songs, flamboyant fusions of pop and AOR.
It’s notable that Atkins’ voice has coarsened audibly over the years. This gives his vocals a lived in, been-round-the-block a few times authority, making songs like ‘Scorpio’ and ‘Before The Rise Of An Empire’, with their defiant, binary moral colouring, a much more compelling listen.
In roundabout fashion, the beautifully lyricised and orchestrated romanticism of ‘Miles Away’ and ‘One By One’, reminding us of the important things in life, lead us into the album’s two climactic tracks.
The immense ‘Subjugated’ is a bruising lyrical encounter, full of Dylanesque observations on life, and a refusal to bow down to authority. It is Ronnie Atkins’ history in a song. On the surface he is denouncing the erosion of our freedoms, but it’s as much a comment on the durability of his spirit, as it is a declaration of his beliefs and principles. It is one of many poignant moments on the album.
But the grittier, ‘I Prophesied’, just might be the one we remember most. It uses music as an emotional power. It’s disturbingly dark in places (“I See Angels Descending”), light in others, but is heartstoppingly melodic, and is ultimately life affirming. ****
Review by Brian McGowan
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.
Next session: Sunday 1 December
Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio
David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.
UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.
How to Listen Live?
Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)
Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”
Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.
More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com
Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024
ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)
PDF - you can delete unwanted sections
