Ringo - RingoFinally 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.