Ricky Rat has been kicking around dishing up punk rock n roll and power pop for a long time. He’s served his time with his band the Trash Brats spitting out punk rock mashed up with Glam Rock in the late eighties to early naughties then he served as the gunslinger and backup comrade to Rock and Roll lifer Kevin K crisscrossing Europe and the US of A for a few decades before he got to play with Cheetah Chrome for a couple of years with his version of the Dead Boys. What happened next happened to us all – Covid!

Oh, A decade ago he released the excellent ‘Songs In C Major Love’ that sort of wrapped up everything he’d done to that point and given it his own seal of approval by singing the songs as well as writing them and playing them. Quite how it’s taken him a decade to follow up that beauty only Ricky could answer. But Hell, here we are mid-2022, and ‘Ghost Of Isolation’ is with us released on i94 Recordings it’s ten power poppin’ punk rockin’ tunes full to burstin’ with passion and a love for his chosen craft.

During lockdowns, Ricky was writing and videoing a song a day for about 150 days straight! which has been cut down to an acceptable album length and the content of ‘Ghost Of Isolation’ well, nine new songs and a Jimmy Cliff cover (we’ll get to that later). We kick off with the rollicking title track that’s got an air of optimism and a spring in its step. From the punchy rhythm to the chorus it’s like a gentle sigh of relief that better things are coming and this is the soundtrack.

The album is packed with melodies and upbeat tempos and even when the song might be about loneliness or loss of love it still has an optimistic delivery. ‘Lakepoint Nights’ reminds me of the Role Models and that songwriter punch of power pop that makes you want to sing along on top of your voice without a care in the world. Because nothing matters more than being in that moment. A great skill to have as real life flys by its just you – the song and the moment. Perfect!

The dreamy qualities of ‘Bottom Of My Heart’ and its blue-collar Detroit countrified rock n roll is a song David Johansen would have killed to write when he reformed the Dolls and that solo is killer. It’s gritty and wistful and a sidestep from the edgy overdriven punk rock, also the duet style really pays out in earworms that take root and demand to be heard over and over. I have to say that as much as I loved Ricky’s debut solo album this one is a real step up in quality, musicianship, and arrangments, its got a great flow to it from top to bottom from the up-tempo rockers like ‘I Can’t See Shit’, ‘Laughing Stock’ to the more gentle numbers like the excellent ‘Glow Of Gabriels’ which is a particular high point. Even the Jimmy Cliff cover sounds like it was written for the Stones in the mid-70s with a great swirling keyboard adding texture and depth.

‘When We Were The Boys’ is a great autobiographic Rock n Roller (like much of this album) it’s universal and personal and plays like the chapters from Ricky’s life story spilled over the grooves of a record. Then a piano comes in to signal the swan song ‘Singing With The Angels’ that isn’t a ballad or picked acoustic outro but a barnstormer that makes you puff out your chest and punch the air because you’ve been lucky enough to hear what is a stonking album.

Never a chore and always a pleasure, listening to what Ricky Rat has put on tape is an adventure through Rock n Power Pop and Trashy Glitter of the highest quality and long may it continue. Check it out for yourself and when you do pick up a copy tell him RPM Sent y’all!

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Author: Dom Daley