Album Review: RICKY WARWICK - 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

Ricky's old band The Almighty were one of my favourite bands growing up. They were the first band I ever saw live (Donington '92), and made a string of fantastic, albeit very different albums that I've played to death over the years. Seriously, if you've never heard Crank, you need to check it out right away! Anyway, I've been following Ricky through the years with not only his solo stuff, but with [sic], Thin Lizzy, and Black Star Riders (the last two are kind of the same same thing, but anyway..), so I was keen to give When Life Was Hard And Fast a listen.

The over-all tone of this record is more 'Hard Rock-meets-Country'. It's more reflective than 'wanting to kick heads in'. Maybe Ricky has chilled with age? If I was cynical, I may believe that the music is in this vein to appeal to the vast numbers of fans he's picked up with Thin Lizzy/Black Star Riders. Regardless, Ricky is an accomplished song writer, and has released another high-quality record.

There are some great tracks here. Never Corner A Rat, is a scorcher. It's more Punk and aggressive than the rest of the album, and was warmly welcomed into my ears. Fighting Heart is a killer song too. If it had been released as a Thin Lizzy song a few decades ago, I have no doubt that it would have been remembered as one of their best.

Ricky Warwick is incapable of writing a crap song. That's a hard fact I learnt a long time ago and nothing has changed in that respect. When Life Was Hard And Fast nothing short of an absolutely solid album that will undoubtedly delight the bulk of his fan base. I certainly enjoyed it, but I can't help but compare everything Ricky does to The Almighty, and for me, there's no comparison.