Ronnie Atkins - Subjugated

I have met Ronnie Atkins of the Pretty Maids. I was in Hamburg Germany seeing Avantasia, of which Atkins is part of, and after the show I hung around behind the Grosse Freiheit 36, and got to hang out with Mr. Big’s Eric Martin and later briefly Ronnie Atkins. This happened back in 2013 during Avantasia’s “The Mystery of Time” tour, I talked about it on here: https://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.com/2013/05/welcome-to-avantasia-european-adventure.html

Martin was a very friendly fellow, Atkins not as much, but I respect that, he had just finished rocking out. He gave me a simple instruction, buy The Pretty Maid’s new album “Motherland,” and since he was awesome in concert and was cool in person, I felt like I owed it to him to buy it. It was a great album; I am glad I listened to Atkins and then listened to more of his music. I wrote about it in 2014: https://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.com/2014/09/pretty-maids-motherland.html

Since then, I have been getting more familiar with The Pretty Maids backlog, there is a lot of good stuff from the Danes.

So, times goes by, when you and I bathed in eternal summer’s glow, then we reached everyone’s least favorite year 2020. By now possessing many years of listening to The Pretty Maids, when I saw Ronnie’s face on my recommend playlist, I natural assumed there was a new Pretty Maids album and since their last one was so good, I click immediately. However, Atkins has done something different, he has released his first solo studio album “One Shot.”

I was impressed with the consistent quality from track to tack on The Pretty Maids “Motherland,” Ronnie Atkins’s “One Shot” delivered similarly. This is worthy of note because time has few favorites, and my limited perspective is leading me to believe that Atkins has perhaps become a superior song writer in time. People run out of ideas, some stretch their imagination past the point of new creativity, some people defy this, but they are few. I present Ronnie Atkins, getting better with age.

Mind you, I have not fully explored The Pretty Maid’s entire back catalogue yet, so I may be in for a wonderful surprise as I dig deeper.

My casual research, which is all I can provide for this amateur blog, a solo album was never a planned destination for Atkins, but something to due with his health resulted in him revisiting the concept. Whatever the motivations, I am very happy with the result. Honestly, I still feel like I owe it to Atkins to tell everyone how great this new album, mostly because it is great, but also, I met the guy, he was cool.

Now that I have listened to the entire album of “One Shot” numerous times it is time for me to point out the single track I appreciate uppermost. I choose “Subjugated.”

I am a sucker for a simple but powerful chorus and Atkins has put together a good one on this song:

“I don't want to be,
I don't want to be subjugated.
All I want to be,
All I want to be,
I want to be me.
I don't want to be,
Wan to be intimidated,
Just got to break free.”

You know how we all kind of mumble the words along until we learn the lyrics, well the awesome power of Atkins’s voice sallied me away to mumble and bop my head along. Then I noticed some of the words, and I begin to relate.

No one wants to be subjugated, and the term can carry an intensity that may or may not be appropriate for this song. Because other than that single word the rest of the song falls in line with the idea of standing up to others.

There are only two versus, here is the first:

“I've been backstabbed,
I've been double-crossed,
Mistreated and misused,
Been a witness to your greed and grandiosity,
Now my trust in you is as worn-out as the soles of my shoes.
Had enough of blatant lies and in transparency,
And you know,”

If you have not been backstabbed, double-crossed, mistreated, and misused in your life, all I can say is, you have been damned lucky.

The second verse:

“I've been hurt and disappointed,
I felt bitter and betrayed.
I've been let down from your ego and dishonesty,
All your self justification,
Do you ever feel ashamed?
You intimidate to cover your fragility.
And you know,”

Again, I assume everyone who must live in the real world, is familiar with being hurt, disappointed, bitter, and betrayed.

But here is the mystery for me, is Atkins related a personal tale or maybe something political. On the personal level this song could be about an individual, lover, friend or something in that vein, or maybe business? Everyone’s new favorite country musician Sturgill Simpson wrote an awful lot about the corporate ugliness and treachery in his magnum opus “Sound and Fury.” It is possible Atkins after so many active years of singing and song writing, could have run into something similar.

As for politics, I do not know. My contempt for everything political grows with each passing day, so Atkins could be trashing on any political identity, and I would probably agree with him that they are awful.

The connection for me and this song, other than Ronnie Atkins, the song “Subjugated” and the entire album “One Shot” being awesome, is the personal level naturally. The human condition unites most of us and the simple request that “all I want to be is me,” is strangely disrespected all the time. I cannot be the only one who runs into that.

Great stuff Ronnie, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Pretty Maids - Motherland

I had never heard of the Pretty Maids up until last year, or if I had I had forgotten them entirely. It could be because Pretty Maids found their biggest commercial success in the late eighties early nineties when I was still very young. It could be Pretty Maids never got very popular in North America, in fact outside of Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Spain, Pretty Maids are not altogether popular anywhere. It could also be just something as simple as me not paying as much attention to Denmark’s rock scene as much I should be.

Bad ass, Ronnie Atkins

I first became acquainted with Pretty Maids when Ronnie Atkins hit the stage in Berlin during the last Avantasia tour, which as you know was a big deal for me since I went to Berlin and Hamburg to see it. I had no idea who Ronnie Atkins was but when I first saw him and he started killing it on the microphone, I knew right away he was a badass. After the show in Hamburg (best day of my life) I had the good fortune of meeting Eric Martin of Mr. Big and after a delightful half hour or so of hanging out with him he promised get somebody else to come hang out with us in that back alley behind the Grosse Fahrenheit 36, and that somebody was Ronnie Atkins. Mr. Atkins was not as enthusiastic about hanging out with us as Eric was but he was undeniably a really cool guy. My new found Dutch friend Fabion asked him if he would be touring with Avantasia in South America later that year and he told us no. Pretty Maids would be on tour, presumably in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Spain, and that was the priority, which is fair. I asked him about the new album “Motherland” since Eric Martin had mentioned it was really good, after a joke about how Eric had not even listened to it yet despite being given a copy by both Ronnie and his son, he informed me, quiet strongly, that it would be in my best interest if I bought a copy and listened to it.

And so I did.

And it was amazing.

Like so many central European metal bands I am late to the party discovering Pretty Maids greatness. It is a great challenge for all musicians to remain inventing and productive after many years and many albums, and with that in mind it is a delightful surprising just how good “Motherland” is. Ronnie Atkins and guitarist Ken Hammer started the band back in 1981, so being able to produce a great album after thirty plus years is incredibly impressive. For me this was the first big introduction to Pretty Maids and it made me very eager to investigate their earlier works and very quickly Pretty Maids became yet another band to add the song list on my computer, on my MP3 player and in my life.

The big single off of “Motherland” is “Mother of All Lies,”

Mother of All Lies

There are many tracks from “Motherland” that have a political commentary of some kind and I respect the nature of Ronnie’s messages. Too often bands that fancy themselves insightful in regards to politics come off as juvenile or wimpy, and there is nothing immature or meek about Aktins and Hammer. My favorite track on the album is the title track. Unlike some of the more critical theme that prevail throughout a majority of the album the title track is rather positive, in fact in contrast to the foreboding concerns in their political oriented songs “Motherland” is patriotic. The chorus is:

“I praise you,
I'll never ever betray you,
Pledge my allegiance to save you,
You are my soul you're my,
Motherland.”

The motherland land for Atkins and Hammer would be Denmark, so this could be a song about their loyalty to that nation, and I would not blame them, Denmark is pretty cool. It could be a generic song about family, heritage and home, a theme song for all people from all lands maybe. It could be satirical, in light of the other challenging songs of nation’s governance, perhaps “Motherland” is showcasing the foolishness of nationalism, but I doubt it.

Here is what we do know “Motherland” is a hard rock song with a very busy lead guitar with simple and heavy rhythm drums and bass, and powerful vocals. We also know there is something very natural and instinctive in loyalty to one’s family and tribe and with that there is something very powerful and motivating to fight and protect those you love and the ideals you believe in. Hence why “Motherland” has such a great energy about it and why I said it could be a generic song about family, heritage and home for anybody, because very nearly all of us have all three of those things and most of everyone is proud of who they in and in turn where they came from. More important than all that, “Motherland” kicks ass, and isn’t that what is really important?

“Motherland” great album and great song.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Avantasia - Invoke the Machine

Tobias Sammet has returned to the Avantasia project with the new album “The Mystery of Time – A Rock Epic.” This is the sixth instalment in the Avantasia journey. My first impression of the album is that it is not as glorious as the Scarecrow Trilogy, but what could be really? “The Scarecrow,” “The Wicked Symphony” and “Angel of Babylon” are three of the best albums to come out in the past decade. My only real complaint has to be the absence of Jorn Lande, who was just so powerful and important on so many of the best Avantasia songs up till now. While it is hard to imagine Avantasia without Jorn, variety is a good thing, and Avantasia more so than most musical endeavours is a living thing, over just three projects we have seen Avantasia changing and growing with new voices and talents being added the whole time. The huge assembled cast Tobias Sammet has gathered allows for a lot of flexibility. Further to this point my favorite thing about the newest Avantasia album is the inclusion of two new singers, Mr. Big’s Eric Martin and Pretty Maids’ Ronnie Atkins.

“The Mystery of Time” has yet to be released in the United States or Canada and no date has been set for its eventual release, so I was forced to pick up a copy while in Europe, oh yes I went to Europe specifically to see Avantasia. I think my two favorite songs on the album are “Invoke the Machine” which features Ronnie Atkins and “What’s Left of Me” which features Eric Martin. If I had to pick one of these two tracks to represent the whole album I would have to go with “Invoke the Machine” since it has a little more relation to the album’s overall narrative than “What’s Left of Me.”

Every Avantasia epic has had a story to it. “The Metal Opera” was a grandiose fantasy epic and I’m still trying to figure out all the details, “The Scarecrow” was a mysterious stranger’s voyage through the planes of reality, and now “The Mystery of Time” is a man’s inner conflict between knowledge and faith, or as Tobias puts it;

“So take the time to follow me into a small old English town during the Victorian era and join a young agnostic scientist by the name Aaron Blackwell as he is forced to explore the coherencies of time, God and science; torn between belief in his professional conviction, his spiritual intuition, love and a lodge of scientific occultists.”

A song title/chorus like “Invoke the Machine” suddenly carries a heavier meaning once we are familiar with the overreaching arc of the album’s story. This song, as far as I understand it, is a breaking moment for our protagonist Aaron Blackwell, the mysteries of time are unravelling before him and he is beginning to embrace this brave new world. To invoke the machine for answers is to side with science, which is also interesting because there is something of an emotional plea in this song, something we might typically associate with spiritual intuition. The visions of fantasy are replaced with new dreams inspired by new understanding, to this end, we invoke the machine. I also think it is kind of charming that he refers to a machine to understand time as a god machine.

Of course new found knowledge is something emotional. We often don’t think of it in such a light but there is something very nearly spiritual about science and technology, largely due to the fact there is something very emotional about learning and growing, and changing. The men we once were are not the men we are today and being civilized is the simpleton’s perspective to explain the difference, civilization is forged entirely on trans-generational knowledge, a giant leap in science and technology always changes everything. It’s clever what Tobias is saying in “Invoke the Machine” he is suggesting far more than he is initially leading on.

Anyway Ronnie Atkins rocks the house in this song and it is just a great heavy metal song. “Invoke the Machine” and the rest of the “Mystery of Time” album will always mean a little more to me than just deep introspective thoughts about science and emotion, it will always remind me of my trip to Europe where I beheld the glory of Avantasia in Berlin and Hamburg, where I made dozens of friends from all over the world. I had forgotten what it meant to be happy, truly happy. I have been settling for a second rate excuse for existence until those two wonderful nights in Berlin and Hamburg. Thank you Tobias Sammet for helping me find what I had lost. With my resolve I will remember forever.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly

P.S.

I actually met Eric Martin in the back alley after the Hamburg show and it was crazy nice, and for that reason I feel I should mention his contribution to "The Mystery of Time."  Here is the splendid ballad "What's Left of Me."