Ricky Warwick – Love Owes EP

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Trust Few Music
Produced by Ricky Warwick

In between the continuing and highly successful reunion of The Almighty and his new band Circus Diablo with Billy Morrison and Billy Duffy where he plays rhythm guitar, Ricky Warwick has found time to record five new solo songs, his first since 2005′s Love Many Trust Few.

Loves Owes EP is the first release on Ricky’s new imprint label Trust Few Music and the songs are a departure from the jangly rock of his two full-length albums to a much more straight forward acoustic approach. When not rocking as hard as possible with The Almighty, Ricky’s solo acoustic work is where he really excels and it’s very satisfying to finally have a mostly acoustic release.

The title track is one of the most Almighty sounding of any of Ricky’s solo material, with some swampy southern melodies a la Aerosmith‘s Hangman Jury, complete with harmonica, thrown in for good measure. I Can See My Life (From Here) is reminiscent of Neil Young‘s Rockin’ In The Free World, both in its main rhythm and the sentiment carried in the lyrics, but on a more personal level, while some of Ricky’s softest vocals considerably add to the sombre feeling.

Ghost Town Road is the only track to feature drums, bass, electric guitar and backing vocals as well as Ricky’s acoustic guitar, and is the one track which would fit best on Tattoos & Alibis or Love Many, Trust Few. It’s as good as anything from those albums, and he’s on top form with his everyday story-telling lyrics. It sounds a little like a Bryan Adams song, but with less sappy words.

An undercurrent of Western (the cowboy kind) guitar was present in Love Owes and I Can See My Life (From Here), and this becomes more prevalent in The Ugly Truth in a kind of Littlest Hobo theme tune way (Maybe Tomorrow by Terry Bush and John Crossen). Lastly Hell Or High Water plays a bit like an acoustic Almighty track, with the distinct air of defiance which characterises so many of their songs.

The Love Owes EP is Ricky’s best solo release to date. It’s believed this EP is a demo, of sorts, for his next album, and I really hope he continues the acoustic theme for the full-length effort. The Almighty have a 20th Anniversary tour first (live album, please?) and Circus Diablo have near-non-stop activity, so it could be a little while before Ricky gets the time to follow this up. This bridges the gap nicely, though.

“ swampy southern melodies ”

Tracklist: Love Owes / I Can See My Life (From Here) / Ghost Town Road / The Ugly Truth / Hell Or High Water

Written by Andy Lye
More: EPs, Non-metal, Ricky Warwick