Album review: RONNIE ATKINS – Make It Count

Frontiers [release date: 18.03.22]

When Denmark’s Paul Christensen founded the Pretty Maids with Ken Hammer, he changed his name to Ronnie Atkins. And this despite assurances that his birth name sounded pretty cool.

None of this matters now, he lives on borrowed time, and is using it to create some of the best rock’n'roll of his career.
Like 2021′s One Shot, his first post-diagnosis album, Make It Count is reflective and thoughtful, and occasionally angry. It’s also very melodic, and is exquisitely crafted by producer, Chris Laney.

Pocket sized polemics, ‘Rising Tide’ and ‘Blood Cries Out’ are worthy of early mention. Each one, charged with electrifying currents of emotion, sees Atkins grapple with subjects that work hard to wriggle out of reach, but he holds fast. The subject matter is clearly signalled by the song titles.

‘I’ve Hurt Myself’, slick AOR mixed with pop; ‘Unsung Heroes’, a salute to the real heroes of the Covid years, and the powerful title track are massive pieces of composition and production, each painted on to its own unique canvas by Laney’s grand production. At times they seem like key songs beamed down from the AOR genre’s eighties heyday, flushed with success and ready for more.

The insightful, beautifully balladic ‘Remain to Remind’ is a simple song, sturdily tuneful, magnified by Laney’s kitchen sink production. It pairs neatly with the simpler, more subdued ballad, ‘Let Love Live’. The title is self explanatory. It’s a ballad that could be worked up into a showstopper in any other conditions, but Laney and Atkins keep it cool, focusing on the song’s illustrative lyrics. It’s initially underwhelming, but soon becomes sublimely exhilarating. Less is more.

Elsewhere, we might find the totality of Laney’s richly textured, detailed arrangements a bit much to take in one sitting. But we’ll enjoy coming back for more. ****

review by Brian McGowan

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SKY VALLEY MISTRESS Too Many Ghosts (New Heavy Sounds)

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