Year : 2021
Style : Hard Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 204 mb
Bio:
RICKY WARWICK has been a very busy man lately. Over the past year, he has co-written and recorded the second album for Black Star Riders (the UK top 20 album ‘The Killer Instinct’) and toured extensively to support that release. In addition, he has recorded not one but TWO new solo albums to be released on a 2CD pack on Feb 26, 2016 through Nuclear Blast Entertainment.There's the funny titled "When Patsy Cline Was Crazy (And Guy Mitchell Sang The Blues)" and "Hearts On Trees", the first in full-rock mode, the other acoustically based.We have the two sides of Ricky Warwick here, and whichever way you look, it’s incredible...Perhaps it’s all down to making up for lost time, maybe Ricky Warwick is driven to keep working because he knows what it was like when he was in his wilderness years after The Almighty broke up and before the whole Thin Lizzy / Black Star Riders roadshow. Possibly that’s why when he’s not fronting one of the best hard rock band currently on the planet, he’s (usually) criss-crossing the country playing acoustic shows, and in his downtime, making brilliant solo albums.These are his fourth and technically they aren’t new at all, having first seen the light of day via the Pledge Music site about a year ago, but "When Patsy..." – the rock side – and “…..Trees” – it’s acoustic counterpart – were, quite simply too good not to get a full release (and with bonus tracks).Warwick’s solo albums have always allowed him a more personal expression. That’s even more true here, as most of the songs are written with his childhood friend Sam Robinson, meaning even on “"When Patsy Cline Was Crazy...” songs like the title track and “Toffee Town” are made from real shared experience.He’s able to call on plenty of his more famous mates too, Andy Cairns (Therapy?) co-wrote and supplies backing vocals on the superb “Celebrating Sinking”, Ginger Wildheart does likewise on the angry of “Johnny Gringo’s Last Ride” and Billy Morrison (Billy Idol Band) is the drummer and on the heads down ebullience of “If You’re Not Gonna Leave Me (I’ll Find Someone Who Will).”The bands that have been the pillars of his career are represented in spirit too, “Son Of The Wind” is shot through with the same aggression and determination as The Almighty used to be, while the closing “Yesteryear” is the type of magnificent stuff that Black Star Riders have made their own recently. “Hearts On Trees” on the other hand, is in many respects a continuation of the folksy stylings of his previous solo album. This more acoustic affords the opportunity for darker reflection,”Presbyterian Homesick Blues”, for example, concerns a nation paralysed by religion, the stunning “Tank McCulloch Saturdays” casts the singer “walking down the Newtonards Road” and “Way Too Cold For Snow” is a heartbreakingly claustrophobic examination of a broken relationship.Many of the cuts on “Hearts On Trees” are character driven. The title track (featuring Def Leppard's Joe Elliot – who helped Ricky make his first solo record when times were really tough), and "Schwaben Redoubt” is a wonderful duet with Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers) and sees two Irishmen a long way from home.But it’s “Said Samson To Goliath” that really catches the eye here, and proves if nothing else that if he’d fancied carving a career out as a singer-songwriter then Warwick could easily have been the Northern Irish Steve Earle with “The Year Of Living Dangerously” (a song that almost shares its title with one of Earle’s).The choice of cover gives away the mindset here, “Psycho” originally written by traditional blues man Leon Payne, is dark desperate and unsettling – it’s also very, very good.Apart from the mentioned, this double record boasts an array of acclaimed musicians with guests such as Damon Johnson (Thin Lizzy / Black Star Riders), Nathan Connolly (Snow Patrol), and Richard Fortus (Guns ‘N’ Roses / The Dead Daisies).It takes real talent to pull off a double album. Most can’t, and you end up wishing they’d made one very good record and cut out the flab. There’s none of that here. Really there’s a simple test. If they were stand alone records would they make the grade? Absolutely. Which is best? That’s tougher. Better to say that the pair together are hugely ambitious, but that ambition, whichever one of the albums you choose, it’s hard to find a single thing to fault. For Ricky Warwick these albums are a (solo) career high. Brilliant stuff.
Album:
“The true spirt of rock n’ roll is a relentless pursuit that consumes me on a daily basis. Chasing after it, making this record was a race well run” - Ricky Warwick.Following 2016’s lauded ‘When Patsy Cline Was Crazy... And Guy Mitchell Sang The Blues’, Warwick is getting ready to unleash his 5th solo album in 2021. Titled ‘When Life Was Hard And Fast‘, it was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Keith Nelson (ex-Buckcherry), who also co-wrote the majority of the songs on the record with Warwick. Also, once again, Warwick tapped some of his closest friends for guest appearances on the record, including Andy Taylor (Duran Duran & Power Station) Luke Morley (Thunder), Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Dizzy Reed (Guns n Roses). Ricky also duets with his daughter Pepper on the song ‘Time Don’t Seem To Matter‘.For those intrigued by the album cover, it depicts a crash scene from the famous Ards TT Motor Car Race in County Down Northern Ireland. The race ran from 1928 until 1936 was watched by over 250,000 spectators annually. The embankment in the photograph that the spectators are on is actually a field belonging to Ricky’s Great Grandfather’s Farm, which he grew up on for the first fourteen years of his life.
Line-Up:
Ricky Warwick - vocals, guitars - See also: The Almighty, Black Star Riders, ex-(sic), ex-Circus Diablo, ex-Thin Lizzy
Gary Sullivan - drums
Robbie Crane (Black Star Riders) - bass
Mark Gemini Thwaite (The Mission) - guitar
Tracklist:
CD1: When Life Was Hard And Fast
01. When Life Was Hard and Fast
02. You Don't Love Me
03. I'd Rather Be Hit
04. Gunslinger
05. Never Corner A Rat
06. Time Don't Seem To Matter
07. Fighting Heart
08. I Don't Feel At Home
09. Still Alive
10. Clown Of Misery
11. You're My Rock 'n Roll
CD2: Stairwell Troubadour
01. You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) (DEAD OR ALIVE cover)
02. Ooops!...I Did It Again (BRITNEY SPEARS cover)
03. Summertime Blues (EDDIE COCHRAN cover)
04. 1000 Dollar Car (BOTTLE ROCKETS cover)
05. Cocaine Blues (JOHNNY CASH cover)
06. I Don't Want To Grow Up (RAMONES cover)
07. I Fought The Law (THE CLASH cover)
08. Burning Love (ELVIS PRESLEY cover)
09. Jesus Loves You...But I Don't (THE ALMIGHTY cover)
10. Wrathchild (IRON MAIDEN cover)
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