{"id":15836,"date":"2021-06-26T05:00:32","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=15836"},"modified":"2021-06-20T20:14:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T20:14:38","slug":"rich-ragany-the-digressions-beyond-nostalgia-heartache-story-highway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=15836","title":{"rendered":"Rich Ragany & The Digressions \u2013 \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 (Story Highway)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s been a long time coming. That\u2019s not a phrase I\u2019d normally use when talking about a new album from Rich Ragany, the Canadian singer\/songwriter who between 2015 \u2013 2017 released three superb records with his then band the Role Models before in 2019 releasing his debut solo record the also most excellent \u2018\u2026Like We\u2019ll Never Make It\u2019. A record which in turn helped pave the way to this, his latest band venture with The Digressions. Prolific really should be Rich\u2019s middle name, and if he\u2019d had his way 2020 probably would have seen the release of his first album written with his new band\u2026but then a little something got in the way of things. So, as the world at large felt like it was grinding to halt, Rich seized the opportunity with both hands to make his most idiosyncratic record to date.<\/p>\n

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Just listen to what the man had to say when asked to describe the dozen tracks he and his bandmates have come up with for \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 and you can hear the confidence he exudes right now\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis album means so much to us … it\u2019s about finding strength and celebrating life throughout heartbreak and loss. The cyclical renewal in life. The acceptance of love and joy, despite the bruises. The shards of sunlight cutting through the hangover drapes. Hope you like it… we loved making it. \u201c<\/p>\n

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Normally when I\u2019m chatting with Rich on social media it\u2019s about our mutual love of obscure NWOBHM bands and what he does as a day job kind of takes a backseat, but here (for once) he\u2019s only talking about the day job and how much he loves what he\u2019s doing with the Digressions.<\/p>\n

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He\u2019s got very good reason to love his band too, not only because with Gaff and Kit Swing on guitars, Simon Maxell on drums, Ricky McGuire on bass and (producer) Andy Brook on keyboards it\u2019s probably the most diverse, yet cohesive, set of musicians Rich has ever worked with, but also because \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 is without doubt his finest hour yet as a songwriter\/storyteller. Yes, of course the punk rock influences of his past are still very much there at the bedrock of it all, but with \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 Rich has transcended the bravado of those much-treasured Role Models albums, and the tenderness of his solo venture to come out the other side of the global pandemic sounding like he\u2019s discovered himself as a writer all over again.<\/p>\n

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With that in mind, I\u2019m actually not going to skip from track to track here, as \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 is an album in the most traditional of senses, one that demands you listen to it from start to finish. From the soaring \u2018Sometimes You Can Hear The Voices\u2019 with its glorious mid song coda and Ronson-esque guitar work through the joyous lead single \u2018Heartbreakers Don\u2019t Cry\u2019 to almost doo-wop vibe of \u2018This Is How You Spell Tonight\u2019 this record is Rich Ragany & the Digressions truly seizing their moment, and in turn releasing the definitive Canadicana record.<\/p>\n

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When RPM\u2019s head honcho Dom Daley tempted a few of us old Uber Rockers out of retirement to once again write about new music, it was (for me at least) all about being able to enthuse about albums like this. Ones that come at you from slightly left of field and in the process leave you breathless. I mean I can probably count on one hand the albums I own with a banjo on them, but that number will be doubled once I get my pre-ordered red vinyl record of \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 through the post in late August and you only have to hear the awesome \u2018Fade In Blue\u2019 once to fully understand what I\u2019m on about here.<\/p>\n

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What makes \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 such an essential record for yours truly is the strength in depth that comes with repeated listens (that\u2019s why picking out single tracks feels like such a crime), and with the added vocals of Kit Swing Rich has finally found the perfect counterpoint from which to hang his superglue strength melodies. Once heard, never forgotten, \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 is the definitive soundtrack to 2021 an album chock full of musical twists and turns that will live long after we have all left this planet, and that folks really is the mark of a truly great record.<\/p>\n

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Pre-orders for \u2018Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache\u2019 are open now via the link below, and as Shades Records once used to proudly say in all their ads\u2026this one really is BUY OR FOAD!!!!<\/p>\n

Buy\u00a0Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s been a long time coming. That\u2019s not a phrase I\u2019d normally use when talking about a new album from Rich Ragany, the Canadian singer\/songwriter who between 2015 \u2013 2017 released three superb records with his then band the Role Models before in 2019 releasing his debut solo record the also most excellent \u2018\u2026Like We\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15836"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15840,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15836\/revisions\/15840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}