Ringo | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 2 November 1973 | |||
Recorded | 5 March – 26 July 1973 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Rock, pop [1] | |||
Length | 37:07 | |||
Label | Apple | |||
Producer | Richard Perry | |||
Ringo Starr chronology | ||||
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Singles from Ringo | ||||
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Ringo is the third studio album by English musician Ringo Starr, released in 1973 on Apple Records. It peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (kept from the top by Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ) and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, it reached No. 1 on the RPM national albums chart.
The album is noted for the participation of all four former Beatles, and for its numerous guest stars, something which would become a signature for Starr on many of his subsequent albums and tours.
Starr released the standards tribute Sentimental Journey and the country and western Beaucoups of Blues in 1970. He issued the singles "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back Off Boogaloo" [2] over 1971–72, both produced by and co-written with his former Beatles bandmate George Harrison. [3] Both of these singles were big successes and would ordinarily have inspired albums to support them, but Starr declined to follow through, preferring to concentrate on acting during this period. [4] In early 1973, Starr decided that the time was right to begin his first rock solo album. He had already used Richard Perry to arrange one of the tracks on Sentimental Journey, so he asked him to produce the sessions. [5]
Recording started on 5 March 1973 [6] upon Starr's arrival in Los Angeles [7] at Sunset Sound Recorders. [8] [9] Sessions were produced by Richard Perry. [7] Starr sent word to his musician friends to help him in his new venture and they all responded positively. Taking part in the sessions were Marc Bolan, four members of The Band (except Richard Manuel), [5] Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Nicky Hopkins, Harry Nilsson, Jim Keltner and James Booker. [8] Additionally, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison all appeared on and composed material for Ringo. [6]
"Photograph" had been written on 15 May 1971 while on a sailing holiday with his wife Maureen, Harrison and Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, and Cilla Black. Starr and Harrison wrote the song with input from the others. [8] The song was first recorded in late 1972 with Harrison as producer, during the sessions for Harrison's Living in the Material World album. [10] The song was remade five months later, produced by Perry for its appearance on Ringo. [10] Harrison and Mal Evans were sharing a living space in Los Angeles when they wrote "You and Me (Babe)" after Evans asked Harrison to add music to a song which he was working on. [10]
Just like that; no planning. The three ex-Beatles recorded one of John's songs. Everyone in the room was just gleaming… it's such a universal gleam with The Beatles. [8]
– Richard Perry, recalling the session for "I'm the Greatest"
Harrison dropped by on the sessions on 10 March to see what kind of material Starr had recorded up to that point, [8] [9] saying that he was "knocked out by what you've done". [8] He returned on 12 March and laid down backing vocals. [8] [9] Starr, John Lennon, and Harrison appear together on Lennon's "I'm the Greatest", [2] which was recorded on 13 March. [nb 1] [8] [12] Ten takes of the song were recorded in a session lasting approximately 18 minutes. [8] Both Lennon and Harrison were in Los Angeles for business matters with Capitol Records. [7] Lennon returned to New York on 14 March. [8]
British music magazine Melody Maker reported on 17 March that the session was a Beatles reunion. "Rumours flashed through Los Angeles this week that three of the Beatles have teamed up for recording purposes. John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are all in Los Angeles with Klaus Voormann, the bassist rumoured to replace Paul McCartney after his departure from the group." [9] Also recorded during this month was Randy Newman's "Have You Seen My Baby?"; [nb 2] it features overdubbed guitar by Bolan which was added at A&M Studios. [13] This group of sessions lasted until 27 March. [8] The next day, Starr and Perry flew to England. [8] More work on the tracks was done at Burbank Studios, The Sound Lab, and Producers' Workshop. [8] On 16 April, [9] Starr went to Apple Studio in London to record "Six O'Clock" with Paul McCartney [14] and his wife Linda, [8] as drug arrests kept McCartney from entering the US. [12] McCartney played synthesizer and piano and sang backing vocals on the track. [5] [15]
After finishing "Six O'Clock", Starr asked his chauffeur to buy some tap dancing shoes which Starr would use on "Step Lightly". [8] He then recorded "You're Sixteen" and "Step Lightly" with Nilsson; [12] McCartney also appears imitating a kazoo on "You're Sixteen". [8] This second block of recording sessions lasted until 30 April, and overdubs were added at Sunset Sound Recorders throughout July. [8] The album was mixed at Sunset Sound on 24 July. [8] [9]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B− [16] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [17] |
The Essential Rock Discography | 7/10 [18] |
MusicHound | 3.5/5 [19] |
Music Story | [ citation needed ] |
Q | [20] |
Record Collector | [21] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [22] |
According to a report in Billboard magazine in late September 1973, Ringo's release was delayed while work was being completed on the album artwork. [23] On 24 September, "Photograph" was released as the album's lead single in the US, backed by "Down and Out". [9] Starr filmed a promo clip for the song at his Tittenhurst Park residence, although the film's only screening was on a single episode of BBC TV's Top of the Pops , which has since been lost. [8] The single was issued a month later in the UK, on 19 October. [24]
Apple Records released Ringo on 2 November in the US, [nb 3] and on 9 November in the UK. [nb 4] Helped by the international success of "Photograph", [27] and speculation regarding the former Beatles working together on the same project, [28] the album reached No. 1 in Canada, [29] No. 7 in the UK, [30] and No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart, denied the top position by Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road . [31] Ringo peaked at No. 1 on America's other albums charts, however, [32] in Cashbox and Record World . [33] The album was certified gold in America on 8 November and in Britain a month after its release there. [24] Ringo was critically well-received also. [34] Loraine Alterman of The New York Times described it as an "instant knockout ... [a] sensational album". [35] [36] In his review for Rolling Stone , Ben Gerson said that, on one hand, Starr's limited artistry and the abundance of star guests made the album "rambling and inconsistent", yet in terms of "atmosphere", "Ringo is the most successful record by an ex-Beatle. It is not polemical and abrasive like Lennon's, harsh and self-pitying like Harrison's, or precious and flimsy like McCartney's, but balanced, airy and amiable." [37]
"You're Sixteen" was released as the album's second single, backed with "Devil Woman", in the US on 3 December. [24] In late December, on the 28th, "Photograph" went gold in the US. [24] "You're Sixteen" acquired gold status in the US on 31 January 1974, [8] and was released in the UK on 8 February, [24] reaching No. 4. [8] In the US, the singles from Ringo "Photograph" and Starr's cover of "You're Sixteen" both went to No. 1. [38] On 18 February, "Oh My My" was released as a single only in the US, backed with "Step Lightly". [nb 5] [24] After the singles became hits, Lennon sent Starr a telegram: "Congratulations. How dare you? And please write me a hit song." [5]
The original cassette tape and 8-track versions of the album, as well as a small number of early promotional copies of the vinyl album, contained a longer version of "Six O'Clock". [15] All of the stock copies of vinyl version of the LP, including both the original pressing and the 1981 LP re-release of the album, as well as reissues in various other formats over time, contained the shorter version of the song. [40] [41] The record label on the original stock pressing of the vinyl album incorrectly lists the running time of "Six O'Clock" as 5:26, which may have led some to mistakenly assume that the original pressing contained the long version of the song. The label on the reissued vinyl album correctly lists the running time as 4:06. [40] [42] At the time of release, various reviews and press articles of the day stated that the longer version was "snuck" onto the tape duplicating masters at the last moment; this may have been done for the benefit of 8-track versions of the album, to make program two of the tape (on which the song appeared) the same approximate length as the other tracks. Artwork for a quadrophonic version was produced, but was never released. [43] Additionally, the original artwork lists the second song, written by Randy Newman, as "Hold On" which was later corrected to "Have You Seen My Baby" in following pressings.
When Ringo was reissued for compact disc, the three bonus tracks included on it were all from singles: Starr's 1971 hit single "It Don't Come Easy" and its B-side "Early 1970", as well as the B-side to "Photograph", "Down and Out". [44] The CD was released in the UK on 4 March 1991, [nb 6] and in the US by Capitol on 6 May. [nb 7] [44] On some CD reissues "Down And Out" is inserted into the album as the fourth track (between "Photograph" and "Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)"). On the US CD, "You and Me (Babe)" begins crossfaded over the end of "Devil Woman," even though the original album, and the UK CD, had these songs separated by silence. The longer version of "Six O'Clock" was oddly not added as a bonus track to the reissue of this album, but rather to the reissue of Goodnight Vienna . [15]
Side one
Side two
1991 reissue bonus tracks
Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Certifications
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An instrumental version of the album was produced by David Hentschel and titled Sta*rtling Music. [59] Sta*rtling Music was the first release on Starr's label, Ring O' Records; released on 18 April 1975 in the UK, [nb 9] and four years later on 17 February 1979 in the US. [nb 10] [59] Just prior to the album was a single, "Oh My My", backed with "Devil Woman", released on 17 February 1975 in the US, [nb 11] and on 21 March in the UK. [nb 12] [59] The album, was re-released in the US on Capitol in October 1980. [nb 13] [60] A budget edition was released in the UK on 27 November by Music for Pleasure. [nb 14] [60]
Sir Richard Starkey, known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, usually for one song on each album, including "Yellow Submarine" and "With a Little Help from My Friends". He also wrote and sang the Beatles songs "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden", and is credited as a co-writer of four others.
English musician Ringo Starr has released 20 studio albums and 49 singles. Starr achieved international fame as a member of British rock band the Beatles.
"All Those Years Ago" is a song by the English rock musician George Harrison, released in May 1981 as a single from his ninth studio album Somewhere in England. Having previously recorded the music for the song, Harrison tailored the lyrics to serve as a personal tribute to his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon, following the latter's murder in 1980. Ringo Starr is featured on drums, and Paul McCartney overdubbed backing vocals onto the basic track. The single spent three weeks at number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, behind "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, and it peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. It also topped Canada's RPM singles chart and spent one week at number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary listings.
Ringo Rama is the thirteenth studio album by Ringo Starr, released in 2003.
Sentimental Journey is the debut solo album by the English rock musician Ringo Starr. It was released by Apple Records in March 1970 as the Beatles were breaking up. The album is a collection of pre-rock 'n' roll standards that Starr recalled from his childhood in Liverpool. As a departure from the experimental quality that had characterised solo LPs by George Harrison and John Lennon since 1968, it was the first studio album by an individual Beatle to embrace a popular music form.
Beaucoups of Blues is the second studio album by the English rock musician and former Beatle Ringo Starr. It was released in September 1970, five months after his debut solo album, Sentimental Journey. Beaucoups of Blues is very far removed in style from its pop-based predecessor, relying on country and western influences. A longtime fan of the genre, Starr recorded the album over three days in Nashville with producer Pete Drake and an ensemble of local session players. Beaucoups of Blues failed to chart in Britain but achieved moderate commercial success in the United States, where it reached number 35 on Billboard's Country Albums list and number 65 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.
Goodnight Vienna is the fourth studio album by Ringo Starr. It was recorded in the summer of 1974 in Los Angeles, and released later that year. Goodnight Vienna followed the commercially successful predecessor Ringo, and Starr used many of the same players, including Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Robbie Robertson, Harry Nilsson, and producer Richard Perry. The title is a slang phrase meaning "it's all over".
Blast from Your Past is a compilation album by English rock musician Ringo Starr, released on Apple Records in 1975. It is both Starr's first compilation LP and his final release under his contract with EMI. It was also the last album to be released on the Beatles' Apple label until it was revived in the 1990s.
Maureen Starkey Tigrett, also known as Mo Starkey, was a hairdresser from Liverpool, England, best known as the first wife of Ringo Starr, the Beatles' drummer. When she was a trainee hairdresser in Liverpool, she met him at the Cavern Club, where the Beatles were playing. Starr proposed marriage at the Ad Lib Club in London on 20 January 1965. They married at the Caxton Hall Register Office, London, in 1965, and divorced in 1975.
"It Don't Come Easy" is a song by the English rock musician Ringo Starr that was released as a non-album single in April 1971. It was produced by Starr's former Beatles bandmate George Harrison, who also helped write the song, although only Starr is credited. Recording for the track took place in March 1970 at Trident Studios in London, with overdubs added in October. Starr and Harrison performed the song together in August 1971 at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows in New York City, a recording from which was released on the live album of the same name. Starr has continued to perform it in subsequent decades with his All-Starr Band.
Ringo's Rotogravure is the fifth studio album by Ringo Starr, released in 1976. It was the last project to feature active involvement from all four former Beatles before John Lennon's murder in 1980, and the second of two projects following the band's 1970 breakup to hold the distinction. Following the end of his contract with EMI, Starr signed on with Polydor Records worldwide.
"Photograph" is a song by English rock musician Ringo Starr that was released as the lead single from his 1973 album Ringo. Starr co-wrote it with George Harrison, his former bandmate from the Beatles. Although they collaborated on other songs, it is the only one officially credited to the pair. A signature tune for Starr as a solo artist, "Photograph" was an international hit, topping singles charts in the United States, Canada and Australia, and receiving gold disc certification for US sales of 1 million. Music critics have similarly received the song favourably; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic considers it to be "among the very best post-Beatles songs by any of the Fab Four".
Stop and Smell the Roses is the eighth studio album by English rock musician Ringo Starr. Released in October 1981, it followed the twin commercial failures of Ringo the 4th (1977) and Bad Boy (1978). The album includes the hit single "Wrack My Brain", written and produced by George Harrison, but otherwise failed to find commercial success. It also includes contributions from Paul McCartney, Harry Nilsson, Ronnie Wood and Stephen Stills.
Old Wave is the ninth studio album by English rock musician Ringo Starr. It was originally released in June 1983, on the label Bellaphon, and is the two-year follow-up to his 1981 album Stop and Smell the Roses. The title is a play on new wave music.
"I'm the Greatest" is a song written by English musician John Lennon that was released as the opening track of the 1973 album Ringo by Ringo Starr. With Starr, Lennon and George Harrison appearing on the track, it marks the only time that three former Beatles recorded together between the band's break-up in 1970 and Lennon's death in 1980. Lennon wrote the song in December 1970 as a wry comment on his rise to fame, and later tailored the lyrics for Starr to sing. Named after one of Muhammad Ali's catchphrases, the song partly evokes the stage-show concept of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
"Back Off Boogaloo" is a song by the English rock musician Ringo Starr that was released as a non-album single in March 1972. Starr's former Beatles bandmate George Harrison produced the recording and helped Starr write the song, although he remained uncredited as a co-writer until 2017. Recording took place in London shortly after the pair had appeared together at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows in August 1971. The single was a follow-up to Starr's 1971 hit song "It Don't Come Easy" and continued his successful run as a solo artist. "Back Off Boogaloo" peaked at number 2 in Britain and Canada, and number 9 on America's Billboard Hot 100. It remains Starr's highest-charting single in the United Kingdom.
"Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond)" is a song by the English musician Ringo Starr from his 1973 album Ringo. It was written by George Harrison, Starr's former bandmate in the Beatles, and was one of several contributions Harrison made to Ringo. Recording for the song took place in Los Angeles in March 1973, with Richard Perry as producer. In addition to Starr and Harrison, the musicians on the track include Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of the Band, and multi-instrumentalist David Bromberg.
"Six O'Clock" is a song by the English rock musician Ringo Starr from his 1973 album Ringo. It was written by Starr's former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney and the latter's wife, Linda, who also participated in the recording of the song. It was the first time McCartney and Starr had worked together since the Beatles' break-up in 1970. Their collaboration reflected an easing of the tensions that had existed between the two musicians for much of that period.
Ring O' Records was a record label founded by former Beatle Ringo Starr in 1975. The label's formation coincided with the winding down of the Beatles' Apple Records and allowed Starr to continue supporting other artists' projects while maintaining his solo career. The label was shut down in 1978, having failed to achieve commercial success with a roster of artists that included David Hentschel, Bobby Keys, Graham Bonnet and Rab Noakes. Starr himself never recorded for Ring O' Records, although, following the expiration of his contract with Apple in January 1976, he signed with Polydor, which distributed his label throughout Europe. From 1977, Ring O' was distributed in some territories by Mercury Records.
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