RICKY WARWICK (Black Star Riders) – When Patsy Cline Was Crazy / Hearts On Trees (2016)

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.

CD 1: When Patsy Cline Was Crazy…
01 – The Road to Damascus Street
02 – Celebrating Sinking
03 – When Patsy Cline Was Crazy…
04 – Toffee Town
05 – That’s Where the Story Ends
06 – Johnny Ringo’s Last Ride
07 – Gold Along the Cariboo
08 – The Son of the Wind
09 – If You’re Not Gonna Leave Me
10 – Yesteryear
BONUS TRACKS:
11 – Ghost Town Road
12 – The Whiskey Song
13 – Tank McCullough Saturdays (Electric Version)

CD 2: Hearts On Trees
14 – Presbyterian Homesick Blues
15 – Tank Mccullough Saturdays
16 – Psycho
17 – Hearts on Trees
18 – Said Samson to Goliath
19 – It’s Way Too Cold for Snow
20 – Schwaben Redoubt
21 – The Year of Living Dangerously
22 – Disasters
23 – 82
BONUS TRACKS:
24 – Love Owes
25 – I Can See My Life (From Here)
26 – The Ugly Truth (Bonus Track)
27 – Hell or Highwater
28 – Eight Bells (Demo)

Ricky Warwick – vocals, guitars
Gary Sullivan – drums
Robbie Crane (Black Star Riders) – bass
Mark Gemini Thwaite (The Mission) – guitar

PRE-ORDER
www.amazon.de/When-Patsy-Cline-Crazy-Mitchell/dp/B0186J91V0
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