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[tkitna]

Ringo - Ringo

Finally getting around to Ringos 3rd studio album.  This is Ringos big one and most decorated effort of his career.  As usual, Ringo had a bunch of help from his friends, including the other three Beatles, and i'm not going to touch upon all of that.  Seriously, there are like 30 guest musicians here and i'm not giving a history lesson.  I'll probably mention a few names, but i'm going to try to base my reviews on the songs alone.  Lets get started.

1. I'm The Greatest - John wrote this and fixed it up a little before he gave it to Ringo.  Starts with a cool piano, drums, keyboard, and bass intro.  Ringos voice sounds like typical Ringo.  Love the rhythm guitar.  Sounds like George but might be John.  Who knows.  .30 second mark, Johns background vocals are awesome.  1:04 the nice background harmonies come in.  1:46 the typical Beatles reference that Ringo would beat to death for the remainder of his career.  Lol.  2:06 nice little guitar solo that has Georges tone written all over it.  Probably wrong.  Anyways its a great song, with a quirky atmosphere thats very entertaining.  Awesome start.

2. Have You Seen My Baby - This is a Randy Newman penned song and man does it boogie.  Starts with some whistling and then busts with guitar, hi hats and piano.  Big horns falling in right after.  .53 check out that percussion.  Boy is it nice.  1:07 that electric guitar.  Come on now.  1:44 wow that guitar.  2:23 piano takes a turn followed by nice guitar solo.  Just a nice little rocker that makes you tap your toes.  If you dont like this song, somethings wrong with you.

3. Photograph - One of Rangworms most famous offerings.  The intro is neat because it builds like something epic is coming up.  Not sure it ever equates to that, but you get the picture.  Immediately Ringo has background help with the vocals.  Makes it sound full.  :45 Ringos voice sounds good here with the subdued backgrounds.  Love the strings too.  1:02 some kind of percussion instrument starts tapping.  Woodblock?  1:24 horn solo with that percussion instrument.  All I can think of is the claves, but thats not it.  Oh well.  Another great song that you cant help but to sing to when you hear it.

4. Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) - George song here.  Weird toned guitar starts us with a country flare with Ringo even shouting Woo Hoo.  Bass drum with the 4/4 beat holding us down.  I was wrong about the country flare.  Its more like a nursery rhyme setting.  :28 think its George coming in and singing vocals with Ringo.  :38 the fiddle enters.  Its country.  Like a slower square dance tune.  :40 hi hat click on the 2 and 4 adds so much. 1:05 now we have full drums with the snare.  Accordion, banjo, we got the whole deal now.  1:35 nice little break.  All in all its a cool tune if not a bit redundant.

5. You're Sixteen - Another one of Ritchies big ones even though its a cover.  Paul helps him out on this one some.  Piano and drums come stomping in with Ringo giving a nice shout.  The background vocals and harmonies make this song in my opinion.  Just putting that out there.  Song has some nice snare work too.  Check out the little trill at the :50 mark.  1:09 Pauls supposedly kazoo solo.  Lol.  Its just a really fun doo-whop type of song.  Another I cant help but to sing along to.

6. Oh My My - Written by Ringo and Vini Poncia (who Ringo would work with again and later on would proceed to write some of the worse music the band Kiss would ever record).  There I go with the history lesson.  Back to the song.  One of my favorites.  Starts with the count in and then the piano starts stomping with the bass drum beat.  Love the horns and organ.  Bass guitar sounds good.  Not doing much but still sounds good.  1:14 that tuba or bassoon or whatever it is, is just fantastic.  Snare shuffle is genius.  1:50 love the female backgrounds.  Continues during the horn solo in the middle eight.  Awesome.  Great song that has me jiving along with it.

7. Step Lightly - One of the weaker efforts on the album.  Plodding guitar, drums, and keyboards open the song in an almost bluesy way.  Ringos voice doesnt sound great here.  :43 the drums come in.  There's some cool tones coming from the keyboard and some woodwinds here.  1:40 I think Ringo recorded a kid running around the room with one of those horse heads on a stick deals.  Strange.  In closing, the song is a plodder but its inoffensive enough.  I dont hate it.

8. Six O'Clock - Written by Paul and Linda.  Kind of begins with a 'When I'm 64' vibe but with Ringo singing instead.  Not going to lie, its not great.  It then builds and flows into the usual melodic pop stuff that Paul writes in his sleep.  I'm a Paul guy and dont get me wrong, I love melodic pop, its my forte, but this brings the record down.  It has no edge like the John and George offerings.  Take the futuristic keyboard effects at the 1:00 mark.  Thats puke worthy to me.  The song is just lame and boring and the weakest on the record.  Believe it or not, there's an extended version bonus track of this song.  No thanks.

9. Devil Woman- Now we're getting back into the flow.  A Poncia tune that starts with a good drum beat and percussion followed by guitar.  Piano comes in at the :11 mark.  Ringo does a lot better in the faster, rocking tunes than the slower deals.  Pretty obvious huh?  Horns are nice.  1:34 nice guitar solo.  Just a good, faster, thumping tune.  Not much else to say about it.
 
10. You And Me (Babe) - George song with Mal Evans getting a credit.  Lol.  Wonder how much input big Mal had here?  Anyways, the intro is eerily familiar to 'Oh My My' except its slown down and its keyboards, guitar, and drums.  Its somewhat of a plodder.  1:00 jamaican drums.  Yeah baby.  1:38 the strings are nice.  George has some nice guitar work during the middle solo.  Not much else here.  This is the pretty boring and probably the 2nd least favorite.  Not awful, just not good.

Bonus Tracks

It Dont Come Easy - Ringos most famous song ever.  I'm a little bit embarrassed to tell this story, but i'm going to.  I was never familiar with this song until I was about 18.  Doesnt seem possible, but its true.  I was at a bar called Sandys shooting some pool one afternoon.  I went to the jukebox and saw Ringo had a couple songs on there.  This was one of them of course.  I played it and instantly fell in love with it.  I probably played it 6 times before I left.  How the song escaped me for that long is beyond me.  I was a Beatle freak since I was 7 years old and first heard this 11 years after. Crazy.  No need to review the song.  We have all heard it and its awesome.

Early 1970 - A quirky, country styled tune.  Heavy on the steel guitar.  When it breaks into the chorus, it goes more towards rock with I believe, Georges slide playing.  :55 shifts into double time.  1:37 Ringo explains his limitations with other instruments.  Very cool and recommended to check out.  Touching song as its about his feeling towards the other three Beatles.  He says he can barely play the guitar and piano and cant play the bass at all, but when he goes to town, he wants to see all three.  Emotional.

Down And Out - More of Georges patented slide guitar.  This is another straight ahead 4/4 rocker with horns and so forth.  Alright Gary at the 1:00 mark with the piano solo.  George takes a nice solo at the 1:45 mark.  Good song overall.


Ringos big boy.  I'll be honest, I havent broken it out in years.  Its kind of like 'Band On The Run' and albums of that ilk, you know they are good, but you always search for something else to listen to.  Like its a given I guess.  Personally, Ringo Rama is my favorite Ringo solo record.  Is it better than this one?  Hell no.  I might enjoy it more, but lets be honest, this album is awesome.

[Moogmodule]

Great review of a terrific album. Will get on and do mine.

[Moogmodule]

Well had a full listen to this last night for the first time in ages. First impression was what a cohesive album it is. Lots of piano driven tunes that generally fit well together. They’ve all been written or chosen well to fit Ringo’s limited range.

I'm The Greatest - great kick off to the album with this John song which, as the story goes, is the only post beatles song to feature three Beatles (before anthology) and was the spark for rumours of a Beatle reunion. It’s a fun, very John track which Ringo carries off perfectly. His cry at the end that “I’m the greatest and you better believe it baby” sounds like he means it.

Have You Seen My Baby - a terrific second album track. After the jerky rhythm of I’m the greatest this settles into a nice groove.  Randy Newman also tends to write songs that are suitable for his limited voice. So it’s perfect for Ringo.

Photograph - not much needs to be said on this. The first no 1 hit from the album (but Ringos third consecutive Top 10), brilliant song that would always make my top ten Beatle solo songs. After the sardonic quality to the first two songs this brings a bit of emotional gravitas. You don’t get many better starts to albums than these first three tracks.

Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) - a slight dip with this inconsequential but nevertheless fun song. Definitely sounds like a barn dance or something and must be one of the most atypical songs George wrote. Seems that working with Ringo lightened George up. He did good stuff with him.

You're Sixteen - Ok we now think that a thirty plus year old man singing about a 16 year old girl is a bit problematic. But ignoring the dodgy lyrics,  this track grooves along beautifully. Arranged by Paul and with his kazoo solo (might be a fake kazoo I think) adding some Beatle quirkiness. This was Ringo’s second US no 1 from the album, a feat only he of the ex Beatles achieved. I remember this being played on the radio constantly.

That ends a gold standard first side. All songs have merit and there are several Ringo classics.

Oh My My - another fun up beat song delivered perfectly by Ringo, and another top 10 US hit. As Tkitna alluded to, this is probably the height of Vini Poncia’s art. He worked a bit with Ringo after but didn’t ever pull off one like this again (Kiss’s I was Made for Loving You might get others vote as his best song, but not mine)

Step Lightly - this one is a bit slight. Nothing too wrong with it but considering the quality of songs to date on the album sticks out a bit.

Six O'Clock - this one seems a bit out of character on the album. But it’s a catchy tune with a made to sing along with chorus. No too sure about the synth that comes in. Strange choice. Overall maybe would sit better on a different album.

Devil Woman- an ok upbeat track but the album is beginning to lose that effortless quality. Sounds a bit more try hard. And really Ringo “ the only way I’ll get you is to get you in bed”?. With all due respect to Richie, is he really saying all that’s needed to tame a devil woman is a bit of the Starr love machine? Maybe he has more than just drumming magic in those hands but he’s not normally so outspoken about it.

You And Me (Babe) - a pleasant track but ends the album a bit flatly. A fade out more than a Big Bang. It did provide the accompaniment for Ringo’s spoken word outro thanking everyone which literally makes it sound like a throwaway song to farewell a crowd after all the good tunes have been done and the band is starting to pack up.

That ends the album. Side two didn’t quite keep up the quality of the first side, which would have been difficult, but it doesn’t offload a bunch of clunkers either.  This albums status is justified. Ringo kept it going with Goodnight Vienna but after that began his slide to commercial irrelevance. Still, many artists have built long term careers and continued celebrity on one smash album (paging Meatloaf). So no reason why Ringo shouldn’t. I’m going to play this album more often. It’s simply a great listen. And perhaps the last time we got Beatles working together to this degree.

Bonus Tracks

It Dont Come Easy - another great track. Written with George (some suggest completely written by George and simply gifted to Ringo)  although George didn’t take credit. That brings up an interesting trivia point. Ringo’s first three top ten US hits were all written with George (Back off Boogaloo being the other which Ringo has given George belated credit on) although only Photograph was at the time credited as a co write. If the these had been credited it would have meant that the Harrison/Starkey songwriting partnership would have produced three songs, all top ten hits including a No 1. A batting average any songwriting pair would have put on their resume.

Early 1970 - a cute B side showing that Ringo simply loved all three of his buddies. It was nice he kept good relations with John and George throughout (that little thing with George and Maureen aside) and he repaired the early 70s rocky relations with Paul who gets the most uncertain call out in this song (I wonder if he’ll play with me). Ringo just genuinely seemed to want to be mates with them.

Down And Out - straightforward rocker. Carried off well. Nice slide guitar presumably from George.

[tkitna]

Fantastic review Moog.  Like you, i'll probably play this album a tad more.  It was a nice trip back to memory lane.

[Mr Mustard]

Two false starts with the "embarrassing"(according to John) one he did for his mother, then the self indulgent country & western sobfest.... and bingo! Ringo's eponymous third-time-lucky offering set his solo career alight - with a little help from his friends, of course.

I'm The Greatest kicks things off with a wonderful slice of cocksure Lennon egotism. Ringo hits the ground running with this one - great fun and supportive backup vocals and piano from John. George weighs in on guitar and two of the gallery of de facto "fifth Beatles" (Klaus and Billy P) complete the lineup. There had never been such a high fab-quotient on record since the break up, so a promising start and hopes were high. The pugnacious track does not disappoint and Ringo handles it with great aplomb - an excellent choice with which to set the ball rolling.

Have You Seen My Baby maintains a solid groove. Simple enough for Ringo to get his vocal chords around but with some deceptively clever proto-disco vibes going on in the background. It's a feelgood number that bounces along pleasantly and gets the foot tapping.

Photograph the monster hit around which the rest of this album's tracks orbit. It's gravity is irresistible and for me at least, as part of his canon of solo work, it's Ringo's "Imagine". Co-written with George it's hardly surprising that "Photograph" has such a magnetic, Beatley vibe to it, from the romantic lyrics to the singalong chorus delivered with such vocal gusto by the Starr himself, it is virtually impossible not to join in with him. Any "best of" solo Beatle playlist would simply have to make space for this one. The song rides upon a lovely rising/falling tempo, replete with strings, guitar and piano. Wonderful stuff, with Ringo in his element.

Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) tkitna says it's country; a square dance nursery rhyme which Moog likened to a barn dance. For me they are right: it's all of those things but primarily it's a sea shanty embraced with relish by Ringo.... don't forget he would later remind us "I was a sailor first..."
Catchy, fun and breezy I can detect George's hand in this one - surely a precursor to his pirate song and Monty Python affiliations? As usual though, Ringo makes it his own and whether he's at a hoe-down or a hornpipe dance on deck, he's having a ball and the infectious feel of the album is by this stage contagious. 

You're Sixteen tailor made for Ringo, this one is another one to singalong to and the party is by now in full swing. In true Starr-style, kazoo silliness merely adds to the fun in much the same way as similar bubble-blowing nonsense embellished "Octopus's Garden" a few years earlier. The elephant in the room of course has always been the lyrics - the more so in these more sensitive times and Ringo's advancing years. But it holds no more suspicious connotations for me than his singing about "Boys" did back in the early days. It's Ringo for goodness' sake... don't read too much into things!! and anyway there were more uncomfortable lines than this to come on side two....

Oh My My the fun continues with this tongue in cheek, typically humorous side two opener. Ringo plays around with knockabout lyrics set to yet another catchy melody with the obligatory singsong chorus. Okay it's all frothy, lightweight stuff but in Ringo's hands you can't help but love it. The horns, the backing vocals, the honky-tonk piano - all add to the bonhomie.

Step Lightly inevitably at some point the pace has to shift down a gear and here we encounter the first lull in momentum. Not unpleasant in itself, "Step lightly" rather plods (lightly) through the motions as Ringo catches his breath and re-charges his batteries. It's a water-treading exercise which even Starr himself seems to regard as padding ("I wish this song was yours instead of mine" he sings sardonically at the end of one verse). Instantly forgettable, but harmless enough.

Six O'Clock John and George's fingerprints have been all over this album from the start and now it's Paul's turn to shine. This one could have stepped right out of the grooves of "Red Rose Speedway". It's bona fide Macca and I do find myself wishing Paul had done his own version somewhere... as it is, it does rather expose Ringo's vocal limitations but he gradually gets to grips with it and eventually makes a good fist of it. He's always helped by a catchy chorus, after all. The synthesiser is a little jarring, but I'm quite proud of Ringo in that he was willing to have some more new-edge stuff filter in here and there...as I said earlier, there's a future nod to the disco sound (thanks to Vini Poncia) already germinating on "Ringo".

Devil Woman Ringo takes off the kid gloves and rocks. This one has a harder, funkier edge to it, with lusty lyrics and a suitably demonic, tribal beat. The line about wanting to beat up his lover are far more uncomfortable to listen to than any of the "You're Sixteen" innocence - especially since we now know how the boozy 1980s would end up unravelling for him. But it's a feisty number which injects a bit of fire back into proceedings before the wind-down...

You And Me (Babe) ... and here IS that wind-down, the pay off from Ringo to the great and the good who have willingly collaborated here in enabling him to shine. It barely registers as a track in its own right, being little more than the throwaway preamble to the name-dropping roll call. But despite the impressive guest list, it really IS Ringo's turn to bask in the spotlight.

Classically brief but uplifting product then from the man himself. It's been a blast - no soul-baring, no spiritual preaching, no bucolic, home-spun philosophy.
Help from all quarters but undeniably pure Ringo.
What a star! 

[Moogmodule]

Really enjoyable review Mr M.  I’d forgotten that offending line in devil woman. There’s a couple of lines you sort of go “huh” in that one.

[tkitna]

Great review Mr. M.  I'll try to get some more reviews up, but they are time consuming and tiring.