ALBUM REVIEW: When Life Was Hard And Fast – Ricky Warwick
Given that he’s been a prominent figure in rock music since the late 80s, first with Glasgow outfit THE ALMIGHTY and more recently spending much of the last decade or so as both the occasional frontman of the reactivated THIN LIZZY and full-time in spin-off band BLACK STAR RIDERS, it can be easy to forget that Irish singer Ricky Warwick is also an accomplished solo artist in his own right, with a string of albums under his own name dating all the way back to 2003’s Tattoos & Alibis and, since 2014 releasing and touring alongside backing band The Fighting Hearts. Now, some 5 years on from the release of previous album When Patsy Cline Was Crazy (And Guy Mitchell Sang the Blues), we find Warwick set to finally unleash his fifth solo effort, the wistfully-titled When Life Was Hard And Fast.
There’s absolutely no time wasted before the metaphorical doors are absolutely booted off the hinges either, as title track When Life Was Hard And Fast kicks things off with an emphatic bang, wailing guitars and pounding drums proving a powerful backing to Warwick’s ever-reliable Phil Lynott-esque vocals. It’s this approach which Ricky Warwick made his name, and one that continues to serve him well yet again across the album, with hard-rocking cuts like Never Corner A Rat, Still Alive and Fighting Heart all crackling with live-wire energy thanks to a masterful production job by former BUCKCHERRY axeman Keith Nelson (who also co-wrote a large chunk of the album with Warwick), as well as punchy performances from drummer Xavier Muriel (also formerly of BUCKCHERRY) and Warwick’s BLACK STAR RIDERS bandmate Robbie Crane on bass.
It’s not just Warwick and his core band appearing across When Life Was Hard And Fast either. Thanks to a veritable smorgasbord of a phonebook, across the record’s just under 40 minute runtime, we’re treated to appearances ranging from regular collaborator Joe Elliot (DEF LEPPARD), to the likes of Dizzy Reed (GUNS N’ ROSES), Luke Morley (THUNDER) and even Andy Taylor (ex-DURAN DURAN) across songs that run the gamut from hard-rock ragers to anthemic power-balladry. They’re not the only guest appearances either, as Warwick’s manager Adam Parsons even pops up to drum on a rip-roaring cover of a long-time favourite of the Irishman, MINK DEVILLE’s 1977 B-side track Gunslinger in an early album highlight. Perhaps most notably though, Warwick’s youngest daughter Pepper guests on the heartstring-tugging ballad Time Don’t Seem To Matter, a track written for her and presented here in original demo form as both Warwick and Nelson felt they “couldn’t better the vibe and feel” of that initial recording. With a sparse, acoustic guitar-led arrangement and such a personal subject matter, the track had all the potential on paper of ending up as something quite sappy, but manages to completely dodge such trappings thanks to authentically emotional vocal performances from both Warwick family members, harmonising with each other to great effect and creating a genuinely memorable ballad.
That “couldn’t better the demo” approach found on Time Don’t Seem To Matter surprisingly rears its head a second time before the album’s close too, with penultimate track Clown Of Misery literally being a demo recording made on Warwick’s iPhone and sent to Nelson with the intent to improve later, before the pair simply elected to use the song in that raw form instead. By far the most bare-bones moment of When Life Was Hard And Fast’s 11 songs, to the point where you can even hear Ricky singing the melody for a never-recorded guitar solo, it’s further testament to the Irishman’s song-writing prowess, and proof that sometimes all you need in music is a guitar and an idea.
Closing out the record on a far less subtle note, a recorded phone call between Ricky and Keith with the former declaring “We’ve come a long way since Jerry Lee” leads into final track You’re My Rock ’N Roll – a final amped up blast of infectious 80s classic rock posturing powered along with stabs of distorted guitar and a chorus ripped straight from the AC/DC playbook of celebrating the hell out of all things rock. As a final cap-off to the album, it’s a practically perfect closer, and one that’s certain to leave fans of Warwick salivating for more – a particularly annoying thought given the presumed difficulties they’re about to have getting to hear these songs live for a while.
Regardless of all that though, put into the simplest of terms, When Life Was Hard And Fast is yet another triumph for Ricky Warwick and his ever-growing catalogue; a collection of wonderfully rousing rock anthems and ballads with some truly excellent choruses, a phenomenal backing band performance and excellently-utilised set of cameos. If you too pine for the titular days gone by that this album calls to mind, when this kind of classic rock music was king, then it’s more than likely that you’ll find When Life Was Hard And Fast a record more than deserving of your time.
Rating: 8/10
When Life Was Hard and Fast is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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