Ringo Starr - Apple Years box set - a good idea?

I'd be happy just with something like this...

 

Great idea, Arnie. Given how long it might take for the Harrison and McCartney camps to get to these tracks in their own releases, I say Apple should do it on Ringo's set!

 

And that is why it should be an Apple box. This is the period when he was commercially viable and incorporates the songs that people remember. It would be much more marketable than a career overview where any casual fan would not be interested in 75% of the material. I can't quite get on board with the Classic Album Series approach either. A slimline box by all means but I think we need the full replica LP sleeves restores as per the new George Harrison reissues. The Ringo album in particular was a sumptuous package and the CD deserves that upgrade along with a full remastering of all four titles. I am not sure about including Blast. So much of it replicates songs already on the other albums. Better, I think to put the singles, B sides and stray tracks as bonuses on the individual CDs.

 

There's a recent video of Pete playing "My Bonnie" with a Beatles tribute band....... and he gives just the most awful, lifeless performance ever. I'm not sure he's up to the task anymore.

 

This is a great idea if it costs $25

 

A 1973 Ringo deluxe ala McCartney Archive Collection (but with more outtakes) would be freaking excellent.

 

The Harrison box set sold 2300 copies in its first week, even with all the Conan hoopla. Record companies have to make money on this stuff, you know.

 

After the Ringo album, Ringo Rama is my favorite.

 

It would probably be $19.00 or so.

 

The Harrison set is very overpriced and does not provide a lot of value for your money. The two "key" albums already have had deluxe remastered version in the not too distant past. The other discs, while welcome, do not provide a big insentive to buy the package. To sell it should have been either 1) priced around $50 or 2) packed with bonus material.

This really applies to any possible Ringo set. A simple collecton of his apple albums, nicely mastered, would be great if offered at a budget price ( $20 to $25). For a priemium package the box set would have to offer a treasure of interesting new bonus material.

 

One thing about minor solo-Beatle releases is that, even if they are not what you hoped they would be, and so are disappointing in that respect, still, in retrospect, I always find they are better than I fear. We see this over on the Harrison Apple Years thread, for example, where Dark Horse and Extra Texture are getting some surprised moderate praise. I would not claim that Ringo's solo career has been the equal of the others (someone has to be the least talented Beatle, and that, by consensus, is Ringo). What I would add to the comments already made here (he can be a passable singer, he's a beloved persona, he wrote some nice songs on more than one occasion) is this: as a former Beatle, he could get all kinds of favors that no one else of his talent level could even dream of: great studios! great players! great producers! lots of songwriting favors from the best in the business. That may not add up to classic, necessarily, but it goes a long way toward listenable! Not, okay, at a party, and maybe not to impress your date. But records with much to like on them and little to offend.

All that said, I think Stop and Smell the Roses is the only Ringo release I ever play between the end of the Apple years (1975) and Time Takes Time (1992). Those were some dark times indeed for poor Ringo.

 

I agree that a Ringo Apple box SHOULD be priced at the lower end of the pricing scale. BUT unfortunately that won't be the case, especially as APPLE doesn't typically set bargain prices for items. I'd be surprised if any RINGO Apple box goes for less than $50.

Arnie

 

No

 

Ringo's catalog is now available in Mastered for iTunes format although the copyrights suggest that Apple albums are the same remasters done in 90's.

 

I like Old Wave as well .

 

Well they're not all available. I'm not sure 'Stop and Smell the Roses' or 'Old Wave' has ever made an appearance on i-tunes. SASTR is, in my opinion, Ringo's great 'lost' album. It should rank among his top albums but sadly it is generally overlooked. Of course it was bedeviled by bad luck from the start. The original idea for the album was to try to recapture the post-Beatles magic of Ringo's hugely successful 1973 album. Ringo wanted to involve his 'three brothers' in the project. In the event of course only two brothers could help him. But the contributions of Paul and George were far better than anything they had done for their former bandmate in years. Other starring guests included Ron Wood, Stephen Stills and Harry Nilsson. Ringo's own songs are surprisingly good, especially the title track which has Ringo's charm and humor stamped all over it. Yes, I'd like to see a Ringo Apple box but just as much I'd like to see his two 80's albums - and why not throw in his unissued 'Memphis' album - made available in one format or another.

 

Just wait a few years and the Ringo box will be a cutout or shelf clearance, not unlike the MMT and Help deluxe packages

 

I agree, I'd be in for something like this... I'm just now starting to buy The Beatles solo recordings, and this would be a big plus to me to have so much material in one place... (I don't have many of them, but I do like CD "box sets"...)

 

In a July 3rd interview with Chris Carter, Ringo talked briefly about a forthcoming box set. Not a lot of details but this looks like good news.

“It's funny that you mention that because we are putting that together,” Ringo replied. “I don't know if it'll be a complete box set. We're talking about that right now. (It could be) several tracks from each record, but it could go all the way and be a box set.”

 

Best idea I've heard in a while.

 

Pure Ringo.

 

Ringo's box set of hand picked tunes for a long drive

 

They'll probably forget to include "Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go"....

 

I dunno. Ritchie actually kept that one in his set longer than most of his "new" material, didn't he? Plus, did you see that Time Takes Time is getting a new vinyl reissue? I'm sure he had to ok that, so the material from that album might be more fresh in his mind than we'd expect.

 

I was just riffing on the joke that it would be a collection of songs for a road trip .... badly, apparently.