Album Review: Raquel Aurilia's "Holding on to Love"

"Jimmy!"  You say my name cautiously, as if you are unsure if it's me you're yelling at or a slice of uncooked bacon (applewood).  "The title.  Of this post?  You didn't capitalize the O or T in the words On and To.  Why, Jimmy?  Why?"

The answer is reasonable and simple and perfectly legal in Northern states of the Union.  The title of Raquel Aurilia's latest album is "Holding on to Love" and, if you look carefully at the printing on her album artwork, you'll see quite clearly that she did not choose to capitalize those two letters.  It's her record, so I'm going to place the blame - or reasoning - solely on Ms. Aurilia, who will be referred to as "Ms. Aurilia" for the duration of this paragraph.  She could have chosen to use capital letters, sure.  But we are in a recession.  Everything's expensive or hard to afford.  We're going though some tough economic times as a country.  Maybe, just maybe, Ms. Aurilia was being sensitive to those times.  "If I capitalize the O and T," she seems to be telling us, "it will be like I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.  And that's not the case."

Why, you may think, would she be able to be considered someone who can "do whatever I want, whenever I want (unquote)?  Do you know who she is?  No, she's not Mr. Potter's daughter.  Her father doesn't own this town.  He doesn't run the factory that employs your parents and all your friends' parents.  He's not the dictator or presidente or jefe with many wives, none of whom know each other.  You see, Raquel Aurilia is the wife of Rich Aurilia.  If you like baseball, and you probably do, otherwise you wouldn't be here today (or tonight), then you may have heard of Rich Aurilia before.  He was/is a Major League Baseball player.  Pretty good too.  In 2001, his best offensive season, he hit 37 home runs, led the National League with 206 hits, and stole a base.  Okay, I was taunting him there. He also hit .324 and had an on base percentage of .369.  What does a guy who plays in the big leagues for 15 years get for all his trouble?  How about a salary, accumulated over the years, of over $31 million.  Since Rich Aurilia is married to his wife, it's understood that she has had the opportunity to spend some of that $31 million.  And thus, a girl living with a guy who's amassed a fortune of that muh money is assumed to be a girl who can pretty much do whatever she wants.

And that's where Raquel Aurilia gets some credit.  Yes, I'm now talking about her album, "Holding on to Love," the aforementioned recording with the title missing two capital letters.  This 10-song collection includes 9 songs co-written by Ms. Aurilia.  Not one song is a baseball-themed song.  There is no cutesy version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."  There are no songs about her husband or being the rich wife of a rich man.  In fact, the only references to her husband and his baseball career are in the album's liner notes, where she thanks him "for his love, support and companionship on this journey," and in the logo for the record company she started, runs and owns, Shea Records.  The logo is a baseball with the number 35 smack dab in the center.  Rich Aurilia's uniform number was 35.

Ms. Aurlia's choice was to go about this album as a straight-ahead, female vocal album.  That's probably the only way to categorize it.  This isn't a rock album.  It's not jazz, smooth jazz, reggae, funk, classical or one full of showtunes.  It's a Celine Dion album without the over-the-top production.  It's Amy Grant without The Lord.  It's clean and sweet and perfect for listening to in the car with the kids.

And that's my one problem with the album.  I wrote about choices up above.  Listen to the album a few times and you may get a sense that only one choice was made: every song will be, basically, about the same theme - obtaining or losing love, and every song will be arranged in almost the same way.  If you're looking for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band variety, you're not going to get it on "Holding on to Love."

Is this bad?  Not necessarily.  This is, for lack of a better imagination on my part, an album put together for soccer moms by a soccer mom.  Raquel Aurilia posesses a sweet voice.  Her delivery and tone match well with the subject matter and arrangement of the songs.  She doesn't write or sing about cheating or sex or pimping.  And those subjects wouldn't make sense on this type of album anyway.  Fans of Metallica, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Marvin Gaye will consider "Holding on to Love" a very safe album.  For soccer moms, and many women, that's okay.  Just because there aren't any tracks here to provide the soundtrack for Mariano Rivera's march from bullpen to pitching mound doesn't mean it's not worth a listen or two on the drive from your house to the theme park.

This isn't an album of dance hits.  Each song is a mid-tempo track that, in 7 of the 10 cases, starts with a 2 or 4 measure intro and then the vocal begins.  There aren't guitar solos or large choirs singing in the background.  In a way, it's a sparse album because of this.  Harmonies are used only on occasion and background vocals, when used, are mixed low.  It is Raquel Aurilia's voice that stands out on every track.  Her backing band (Tim Pierce on guitar, Gardner Cole on bass, drums & keyboards) is truly a backing band.  Their achievement on the record isn't their flashy leads.  Their achievement is letting Aurilia's voice be heard.

The two best tracks, in this writer's not-so-humble opinion, are also two of the songs that sound different from the rest of the record.  "Walk Away," track 8 for those of you keeping score at home, begins with a light percussion beat.  Pierce's guitar an Cole's bass float in, leading us to Aurilia singing about her need to leave the relationship she's in.  The song builds well and features a few rocking guitar licks later on, accompanied by Aurilia singing a layered, but unison, backing vocal.  Lyrically, it's a simple message.  "Maybe tomorrow will be the day where I finally find the strength to walk away."  Hopefully, the character she is portraying in the song had a pre-nup before getting out of there.

The single, "Holding on to Love," just happens to be the album's title track.  It closes out the record and begins with an acoustic guitar intro before swapping sweetness for a minor swing, Aurilia singing about love loss and her belief that she will fall in love again.  "In time my heart will learn to breathe again... I know it will.  I'll find a way to let love in."  It's another song of positive empowerment (is there another kind?).  She's down but not out.  "As I walk away, even though I have to go, a part of me will stay Holding on to love."

If you like your music packaged with positive themes, sung with a gentle sweetness and performed with slick professional perfection, Raquel Aurilia's "Holding on to Love" is an album worth your recession-era dollars. After all, what's wrong with a little sweetness during one of the most turbulent times in generations?

You can listen to Raquel Aurilia talk about her life with Rich, her decision to become a recording artist, and the making of the album HERE.  Five tracks from "Holding on to Love" are featured in the interview, including the title track.

You can buy the record HERE.