Album Review: Ricky Warwick - Blood Ties

As I have said before, timing is an element of success we don't often give as much due as we should. No matter how good an album might be, if we hear it at the wrong time, it isn't going to be able to reach us the way it might have at a different point in our lives. That has happened to me, as I'm sure it has happened to everyone. As I've been spending more time listening back to older albums rather than uninspiring new releases, a few examples of that phenomenon have come to mind. Having albums become new favorites is a welcome development, but they raise more questions about how much is still out there timing ripped away from me.

I say this because Ricky Warwick's new solo album is, in the words of the press materials, full of "big cathartic guitar sounds and life-affirming, often joyous assessments" of life. This is not the moment in time where such things speak to me at all.

When someone going through a hard time is told either that everything is 'a plan', or things work out if you want them hard enough, what they're actually being told is their pain is necessary, or is at least their own fault. It's a cruel thing to say, and the worst part is that the people who think they are doling out good advice have absolutely no idea what they're saying. Optimists are, in my experience, incapable of understanding that things don't always work out for everyone. Ricky's optimistic album is a nice triumph for him, but it rubs happiness in the faces of those who are not so lucky.

I don't know if it is a figment of my imagination, or if production trends have indeed changed in recent times, but this record takes the sound I've heard on the Black Star Riders albums and turns on extra reverb and echo. It gives the entire album a slight queasy feeling, as everything lingers just a millisecond longer than it should, and those big guitar sounds blur into a soft wash of noise. It means the whole thing lacks the bits you would expect from a record with punk roots.

The worst element comes in the duet with Lita Ford. When her vocals come in, the slurred rasp of her delivery is mixed with the heavy over-use of effects, so much so it sounds a bit like she is having a stroke while singing. That gets better as she pushes more power later on, but by then I've already decided I don't want to hear that tone again. It's not pleasant to listen to.

Over the rest of the album, Ricky delivers more songs that fit snugly into our expectations. While there are slight detours, like the strumming of the riff in "Don't Sell Your Soul To Fall In Love", the majority of the record is so indicative of Ricky's phrasing that there are a few times I get a sense of deja vu. That happened the last time I listened to one of his records as well.

That means the takeaway is the same as every other time; Ricky Warwick makes records that are enjoyable bits of melodic punky rock, but you probably only need to have one of them. I first heard the debut Black Star Riders album, and since then none of the following records Ricky has been associated has been able to outshine that one. They either lack inspiration, or they do the exact same thing. This record might have a bit of both factors.

To get back to the point I started out with, all of this needs to be taken into context. This is the wrong album for the wrong person at the wrong time. Maybe I would be more generous to the record if I was hearing it at a different time. We'll never know. All I can do is be honest, and explain why I'm thinking the way I am about it.