Years ago, I went to see Black Star Riders in Leamington Spa. Someone near me spent a good portion of the gig shouting for Thin Lizzy songs, even though BSR were, quite deliberately, only playing about one at the time.
Eventually Ricky Warwick fixed him with the sort of glance only Ricky Warwick can manage.
“Mate,” he said, “I’ve been doing this a long time. I know how to construct a set.”
There’s a bit of that about “Fire & Vengeance”.
Because you can think you know what Ricky Warwick does. The Almighty have been part of his – and my – life for the best part of 40 years. There’s Black Star Riders, there’s Thin Lizzy and there are The Fighting Hearts. Yet it’s easy to forget that his first solo album came out 23 years ago.
In other words: he knows how to construct a record too.
The title track isn’t The Almighty. Think BSR if you want, but the truth is Warwick is simply a natural at this. A brilliant rock ’n’ roll singer and songwriter doing what comes instinctively.
“Hellbent & Heaven Sent” illustrates why this being a solo record – not even billed as The Fighting Hearts – matters. It allows him to explore everything he loves, and here the punk influence bubbles wonderfully close to the surface.
Given Warwick seemingly knows everyone in rock ’n’ roll, getting Phil Collen involved for “Seek Zen Destroy” is presumably no bother. It has a loose, Stones-ish feel, but “When The King Falls” heads somewhere completely different. Warwick has always been a heartbeat away from being a proper troubadour, and the acoustic guitar comes out as he asks: “How did you get so lost, hanging round with all those frauds?” Given the authenticity Warwick has always possessed, the contrast is stark.
“You Just Lie” proves that, at heart, he remains a magnificent rock singer, but there’s always something different happening around the edges here.
Perhaps turning 60 this summer has made him more reflective, because “The Angels’ Share” feels that way. There’s something Celtic in the ether too, even as “the light still shines on Graceland’s hill”.
Then come “Last Chance To Dance”, and two words will suffice: Thin Lizzy. Warwick got to front his favourite band and, since Phil Lynott, nobody has channelled that spirit better.
That Celtic thread becomes even stronger on “Sweet County Down”. Warwick has moved back to Ireland and his love for home pours from every note. “Call me home,” he sings. You suspect he means every syllable.
“Tumbleweed Town” is a highlight buried towards the end, turning the boredom and claustrophobia of small-town existence into an incredible chorus, while the guitar has something of The Cult about it.
“If You Think Your Country Needs You…” might contain the heaviest riff on the record, but it’s the line “I’ve been working my whole life so I can afford to die” that lands hardest. Working-class existence distilled into a few words. Warwick has always been superb at that.
And then the bonus track, “Never In Doubt”, proves something else: even your rock ’n’ roll heroes ultimately just want to be Johnny Cash.
Warwick used to tell a wonderful story at his acoustic shows about the period after The Almighty first split. At one of his lowest ebbs, he went to a party with Ronnie Wood and Joe Elliott before being dropped off in a limo at the Job Centre.
That mixture of absurdity, struggle and survival seems important here. There has always been a sense that music is the thing holding everything together for Ricky Warwick.
Now 60, everything he has learned, everything he has lived through and every strand of music he loves seems to be contained in “Fire & Vengeance”.
Last year’s “Blood Ties” was superb. This is better.
There might not be a harder-working man in rock ’n’ roll, but more importantly, there aren’t many better songwriters either.
“Fire & Vengeance” might just be the finest solo record Ricky Warwick has ever made.
Rating: 9.5/10
