Ricky Warwick
When Patsy Cline was Crazy & Guy Mitchell Sang the Blues / Hearts on Trees
Nuclear Blast
2016
You got to terribly appreciate when people take a chance to do what they desire, what they feel like is important. Ricky Warwick has tasted some success with The Almighty and while he still sort of tours with them on occasion he seems to have fairly much dedicated himself in doing Black Star Riders, the Thin Lizzy offshoot band, after he and the guys from Lizzy decided that it would be wiser to use that name only sporadically for select shows, rather than to carry on… they’ve come up with a couple of fairly decent albums, with a few really good songs and a few not that interesting ones, but still you know they have a good reason as any to be out there, living the life…
Despite all that, Ricky, before joining that gang, was doing a bit of a solo thing, aided by Joe Elliot from Def Leppard, handling his production etc., some acoustic stuff, really Frankie Miller inspired stuff, obviously not as rough sounding, but you get the vein of folk-rock acoustic, he was going for.
Despite being decidedly low-key the solo albums he did are quite honest and heartwarming. And despite probably being busy enough with BSR, Warwick didn’t want his pet project to go down either, so having written a bunch of songs he sort of reached out to the fans to fund him directly which he did, only to have Nuclear Blast picking the albums up (probably because of the BSR affiliation), which is a little unlikely, but should get em some better exposure…
The 2 albums are bundled into one double set by NB, as the more orthodox hard rock inspired “When Patsy Cline Was Crazy & Guy Mitchell Sang the Blues” and the rather acoustic “Hearts on Trees” now also given each a bunch of outtakes, demos and alternative versions as bonuses. These songs written by Warwick himself and his friend Sam Robinson, include stories of him growing up in Belfast and stories told by family and friend poetically given in a way everyone could associate with them, no matter his geographical location. Also in the duets aid come a host of known musicians such as Joe Elliot (Def Leppard), Damon Johnson (Thin Lizzy, Black Star Riders), Andy Cairns (Therapy?), Billy Morrison (Billy Idol), Nathan Connolly (Snow Patrol), Ginger Wildheart, Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers), Richard Fortus (Guns N Roses, Dead Daisies), Mark Thwaite (The Mission, Peter Murphy) making this some lower key, friendly affair that breezes with authenticity and feeling.
The “Patsy Cline” album is very early-mid Lizzyesque, in the way it feels, only a little freer flowing with a ton of nice tracks including… “Celebrating Sinking”, the title track, “That’s Where the Story Ends”, “If You’re Not Gonna Leave Me (I’ll Find Someone Who Will)”, the awesome “Yesteryear” that feels like someone pulled out of Lizzy’s “Nightlife” and a bunch of interesting demos and an alternative version of “Tank McCullough Saturdays” that actually is the second track on the “Hearts” album albeit in a totally acoustic way…
“Hearts on Trees”, the title track, is quite a nice folk rocker and there are a bunch of really poignant numbers like the totally fragile and lovely “Way too Cool for Snow”… “82” and a few more… “Schwaben Redoubt” is a really fast little “Irish” number that’s really quite cool too, even if it feels a little out of place and better suited sitting on a stool down at a pub… drinking 80shilling. “Hearts” also boasts some 5 bonuses that further expand it into an almost hour long affair. While the “electric” album is a bit closer to the “rocker”, the acoustic one has its moments too and the combination of the two is a win-win situation for the listeners.
Pretty decent album that I might have not enjoyed as much as “Belfast Confetti” but I could still sort of recommend to all them “bleeding hearts” putting their hearts on the line and not trying to put people out of their homes. Honest and hearty, free and easy...
Despite all that, Ricky, before joining that gang, was doing a bit of a solo thing, aided by Joe Elliot from Def Leppard, handling his production etc., some acoustic stuff, really Frankie Miller inspired stuff, obviously not as rough sounding, but you get the vein of folk-rock acoustic, he was going for.
Despite being decidedly low-key the solo albums he did are quite honest and heartwarming. And despite probably being busy enough with BSR, Warwick didn’t want his pet project to go down either, so having written a bunch of songs he sort of reached out to the fans to fund him directly which he did, only to have Nuclear Blast picking the albums up (probably because of the BSR affiliation), which is a little unlikely, but should get em some better exposure…
The 2 albums are bundled into one double set by NB, as the more orthodox hard rock inspired “When Patsy Cline Was Crazy & Guy Mitchell Sang the Blues” and the rather acoustic “Hearts on Trees” now also given each a bunch of outtakes, demos and alternative versions as bonuses. These songs written by Warwick himself and his friend Sam Robinson, include stories of him growing up in Belfast and stories told by family and friend poetically given in a way everyone could associate with them, no matter his geographical location. Also in the duets aid come a host of known musicians such as Joe Elliot (Def Leppard), Damon Johnson (Thin Lizzy, Black Star Riders), Andy Cairns (Therapy?), Billy Morrison (Billy Idol), Nathan Connolly (Snow Patrol), Ginger Wildheart, Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers), Richard Fortus (Guns N Roses, Dead Daisies), Mark Thwaite (The Mission, Peter Murphy) making this some lower key, friendly affair that breezes with authenticity and feeling.
The “Patsy Cline” album is very early-mid Lizzyesque, in the way it feels, only a little freer flowing with a ton of nice tracks including… “Celebrating Sinking”, the title track, “That’s Where the Story Ends”, “If You’re Not Gonna Leave Me (I’ll Find Someone Who Will)”, the awesome “Yesteryear” that feels like someone pulled out of Lizzy’s “Nightlife” and a bunch of interesting demos and an alternative version of “Tank McCullough Saturdays” that actually is the second track on the “Hearts” album albeit in a totally acoustic way…
“Hearts on Trees”, the title track, is quite a nice folk rocker and there are a bunch of really poignant numbers like the totally fragile and lovely “Way too Cool for Snow”… “82” and a few more… “Schwaben Redoubt” is a really fast little “Irish” number that’s really quite cool too, even if it feels a little out of place and better suited sitting on a stool down at a pub… drinking 80shilling. “Hearts” also boasts some 5 bonuses that further expand it into an almost hour long affair. While the “electric” album is a bit closer to the “rocker”, the acoustic one has its moments too and the combination of the two is a win-win situation for the listeners.
Pretty decent album that I might have not enjoyed as much as “Belfast Confetti” but I could still sort of recommend to all them “bleeding hearts” putting their hearts on the line and not trying to put people out of their homes. Honest and hearty, free and easy...