GIVE MORE LOVE On the Road Again Generic rocker with Ringo singing yet again about life on the road. It's no Turn the Page. Lukather guitar solos are full of tasteless cliches. Even Paul's bass playing is kind of generic for much of it though he has some interesting moves for 8 sec starting at 2:55 and 4:02. Ok it is high energy and Paul's screams and response vocals make me smile (I think they are very recognizable, in contrast to a comment above) but that's about it. Laughable Nice to hear Ringo singing about a new topic - his reaction to current events - previously the closest he had come was "peace and love" (which does sneak in here). Cool Frampton chorus guitar lick and tastefully crafted solo and bits of subtle lead playing throughout, and the groove is nice. Not an amazing song but an enjoyable change of pace. Show Me the Way A real nice piece of music with classic Starr drumming and beautiful melodic McCartney bass. And Ringo sings real nicely too - but this lyric is banal, cliched and sappy. It would make a lovely anniversary card for Richie to hand to Barbara. It doesn't need to be 5 min. Speed of Sound Oh good, I had almost forgot Ringo had spent a lot of time on the road as it hadn't been mentioned for a couple 2 songs. It is better than the first track as a song, though the smile brought to my face by Frampton's talk box solo here is less broad than that evoked by Paul's moments on vox and his couple bass flourishes on the opener. Standing Still Roundhead ace writer Gary Burr (and guitarist Dudas) come through again with my fav track on the album so far. We've got a tasty country melody, a swinging feel, a fun singalong chorus and sweet slide guitar (sounds like a Dobro though that is not specified in the credits) all over the place. Wonder who plays the tasty harmonica. It's too bad Ringo skips drumming on this one. A fun hoedown all around. King of the Kingdom Too smooth MOR stab at reggae that borrows a Marley chorus and name checks him, has Edgar Winter play with all the character of Kenny G, and has consistently cringeworthy lyrics. "One world" would have been better off had this stayed unreleased. Electricity The hope I feel hearing the swampy intro groove dissipates quickly as it turns into chapter 2 of the Rory & The Hurricanes volume of his musical bio. Not much melody and an extra helping of autotune on the chorus. Walsh plays a brief guitar break that is nice enough on its own but not really worth enduring the track to check out. So Wrong For So Long A bittersweet country love tune that fits Ringo to a T. Sweet chorus that gets pleasantly turned on its head with the surprise twist of the last verse. Beautiful pedal steel and tasty classic Nashville piano. Sure wish Ringo would some day do that 2nd country album he keeps threatening. Could imagine Elvis having done this one. Shake It Up A rockabilly delight that has me grinning ear to ear. Feel reminds me of a cross between Match Box and Honey Don't with a touch of Shake Rattle & Roll thrown in. Too bad George didn't hang out in this world long enough to sit in on this one. Seems we are getting at least three track of that threatened country album on this release. Give More Love Pretty much new (and pretty cheesy) lyrics written over Never Without You. BONUS TRACKS Back Off Boogaloo (re-do) Nice to hear a touch of what Ringo's demo sounded like, and the production is crisper than the original. But this has never been one of my fav tracks. At least the Smell the Roses re-make took it some interesting directions. This third stab at it seems pointless. Don't Pass Me By (re-do) Beautiful hearing this redone as a slow to mid tempo country tune. I like this better than the Beatles version, and there are few Beatles covers I will say that of (there's Cocker and EWF and that's about it). You Can't Fight Lightning (re-do) It's not as lame as the first version - which I guess was only ever only officially released as a bonus track (if at all), so it is a little surprising they call this a re-do. Either way, not much song here though the country flavored jamming makes me smile a little. An OK trifle. Photograph (re-do) I'm the rare Ringo fan that always felt the original Photograph was more than a little over produced and a bit of a sludgey mess sonically. I like this way better - the drums, the dobro-like guitar, the vocals. The re-makes of this and Dont Pass Me By are two of my fav things Ringo has done post-Liverpool 8. Summary Considering this without the "bonus tracks" I place this just a hair below Postcards. Despite some real dreadful cuts, the 3 country tunes and the McCartney appearances save it. But throw in the delightful remakes of DPMB and Photograph (odd even calling them "bonus tracks" when they are on every edition), and this is a hair above Postcards and his best effort since Liverpool 8. Leaves me enthused to check out his latest later this month.
My ranking of Ringo's 21 studio albums to date. Including the "bonus tracks" in my ranking of Give More Love (I did not for other albums) as in this case they are on every edition. This puts it right in the middle of the pack for the next week and a half - I look forward to seeing where the upcoming release lands and am hoping for the best. I enjoy the 2 pre-release tastes and it is always great to have a new Ringo product to look forward to. 1. Ringo Rama 2. Blast From Your Past 3. Vertical Man 4. Goodnight Vienna 5. Ringo 6. Time Takes Time 7. Choose Love 8. Stop & Smell The Roses 9. Liverpool 8 10. I Want To Be Santa Claus 11. Give More Love 12. Postcards From Paradise 13. Old Wave 14. Y Not 15. Bad Boy 16. Ringo the IVth 17. Beaucoups of Blues 18. Sentimental Journey 19. Rotogravure 20. Ringo 2012 21. Scouse the Mouse
"R U Ready" covers the melody of the Hank Williams tune "Thank God". The Alpha Band's version of that one is particularly good. I feel like "Give Me Back the Beat" is one of Ringo's best songs ever. Also, "Time Takes Time" is probably my favourite album of his, especially on the strengths of the Don Was produced tunes.
Give More Love: Ringo began recording his 19th studio album, Give More Love in the beginning of 2017. The cool thing about this is that you knew when Ringo was recording because he was uploading pictures to Twitter with a special guest who showed up to the day's recording session. These array of special guests included familiar faces like Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart, Gary Burr, Steve Lukather, Don Was and Beatle Paul McCartney. These pictures were exciting teasers for who's to come on the album. The album's first single was released on Ringo's birthday along with the announcement that Give More Love will be released on September 15, 2017. Give More Love was the first Ringo album I was excited for. I remember hearing the about new Ringo albums like Ringo 2012 and Postcards From Paradise, but I'd never check them. This time was different. Teasing this project since February of 2017 to hearing the full thing in September was such a blast and honestly a great time in my life in general. I can remember anticipating a new song to release from the album every other week and each song did not disappoint. I mainly associate this album with my grandmother, who I spent a lot of time with from June to September because she was nearing the end of her life and it was at that time when I was at her apartment that the album released at 9pm Pacific time and I was listening to this album in the dining room while my grandma was in her room and my mom watched TV in the kitchen. Just some memories this album brings back. Anyways, it's Ringo's strongest album since Y Not and the fact that we got 14 new tracks including the bonuses, this album was packed with material compared to most Ringo albums which include about 10 songs. Great album tied with great memories. Now I will go through the songs and what I think about them. We're On The Road Again: A rocker opens up the album. It's pretty alright. I'm sure it details Ringo's life at the time with all the touring he's doing with the All-Starr band. A star-studded line up of Steve Lukather, Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter and Paul McCartney contribute to the track along with Jim Cox. My one gripe about the song is that this is a song that goes on a little too long than needed. It could have been served with a fade-out but it ends cold immediately once it sounds like its breaking down. It also continues a trend started with the opening song on Postcards From Paradise in which the song's opening line has to do with Ringo waking up. If What's My Name does not follow this trend, I'll be disappointed. 8th favorite. Laughable: One of my favorites. That guitar riff is very catchy and the fact that its slightly different on the second pass is ear catching! Peter Frampton is on this track. There's a Donald Trump connection that flew over me until I read about it and now I realize this is Ringo's Trump song. 4th favorite. Show Me The Way: More appropriate to have Frampton on this one, but instead we have Paul giving a good ballad some melodic bass playing. It's a really nice ballad and sounds like it's an 80's power ballad. Steve Lukather is on this too. 7th favorite. Speed Of Sound: More appropriate to have McCartney on this one, but instead we have Peter back again lending some guitar and presumably adding his touch of talk box. The song is all right. Not a favorite of mine. 9th favorite. Standing Still: Here is the beginning best three song track list of any Ringo album because my top three are all following each other. This is probably my favorite out of all of the pre-releases. This song has a country vibe to it although it barely feels like it does. I really like the verses and the chorus is quite catchy. Good single release and good song. Favorite song on the album. King Of The Kingdom: Probably my most unexpected favorite. This song has some reggae influences and overall some great verses and a great chorus. Excellent song! 2nd favorite. Electricity: Honestly, I didn't even realize this was Ringo's "youth" song until someone on the forums pointed it out to me. I was about to say that "Give More Love is the first Ringo album since Choose Love not to have a youth song" but that didn't last long. Normally I'm not a fan of Ringo's youth songs, but this one is killer. I love the title and I love the chorus. It's very catchy and I love how the they say that electricity is coming out of Johnny Guitar's fingers. 3rd favorite. So Wrong For So Long: Another pre-release song. This one is your typical country song with the happy story and turning to sad ending. I do like how the final verse features sparse instrumentation when the narrator realizes he was being cheated on. It's good, better than most songs on Beaucoups Of Blues, but compared to other songs on the album it pales. Give More Love was also supposed to be a country album by the way. Least favorite. Shake It Up: This is the first time in a while that one of the former Beatles has written a 12-bar blues song. This is Ringo's attempt at one and it's nice. Probably as close to filler as one could get on this album. 6th favorite. Give More Love: I think it's impossible to mention this song and not mention the similarity in the chorus to the pre-chorus in "Never Without You" on Ringo Rama. The notes are identical. Nonetheless it's a nice choice to close the proper album. There's still bonus tracks of remakes of past songs. Maybe I'll get to those since I don't think I'll have anything to post until it's time to discuss What's My Name. 5th favorite.
Give More Love - I really like this album, lot of good rockers on it, including the opening track ‘We’re On The Road’ with a little help from Sir Paul. It’s too bad he didn’t start his tour that year with this song, it was a perfect concert opener. Hopefully he might reconsider on a future tour. There’s another nice range of styles on this album with straight out Rock, Ballad, Country, Rockabilly and even a bit of Reggae. Love the guitar work in songs like ‘Show Me The Way’, a nice bonus having Paul on it. ‘Speed Of Sound’ with Peter Frampton is another goodie. ‘Standing Still’ has a nice Country swing, and ‘King Of The Kingdom’ has a tasty Reggae beat. I really dig the Rockabilly boogie of ‘Shake It Up’. Lots of good tunes on this collection. The bonus cuts redos aren’t bad either, though they don’t make you forget the originals. And Ringo playing drums throughout adds to the fun. A cool record to revisit.
I will say that I like Give More Love more than any post-Hudson era. I love “We’re on a The Road Again”, “Standing Still”, “Laughable” and “Speed Of Sound” The title track is remarkably similar to the Harrison tribute “Never Without You”.
Hi all. I know we said we meant to get this posted a couple days ago but . . . life happens. Anyways, here is a listing of all released Ringo Starr albums. After the list, I also arranged all the songs in alphabetical order to give a sense of some repetition. *Note: I did also include Anthology . . . So Far which had unreleased material but also released material so there is technically some duplication in the list. Still you get the idea when you see the repetition. You also do get the sense that there is a lot of variety too with the songs released (at least variety for all the other members of the various All Star Bands anyway). Not doing photos or the usual ephemera for this post. The list should speak for itself. VH1 Storytellers 1998 With A Little Help From My Friends It Don't Come Easy I Was Walkin' Don't Pass Me By Back Off Boogaloo King Of Broken Hearts Octopus's Garden Photograph La De Da What In The ... World Love Me Do With A Little Help From My Friends (Reprise) "I've Got Blisters ..." The End Live At Soundstage 2007 With A Little Help From My Friends / It Don't Come Easy Octopus's Garden Choose Love I Wanna Be Your Man Don't Pass Me By I'm The Greatest Memphis On Your Mind Photograph Never Without You Back Off Boogaloo Boys Yellow Submarine Act Naturally With A Little Help From My Friends Ringo Starr And His All Starr Band 1990 It Don't Come Easy The No-No Song Iko Iko The Weight Shine Silently Honey Don't You're Sixteen Quarter To Three Raining In My Heart Will It Go Round In Circles Life In The Fast Lane Photograph Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band Volume 2: Live from Montreux 1997 The Really "Serious" Introduction I'm The Greatest Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go Yellow Submarine Desperado I Can't Tell You Why Girls Talk Weight Of The World Bang The Drum All Day Walking Nerve Black Maria In The City American Woman Boys With A Little Help From My Friends Ringo Starr And His Third All-Starr Band Volume 1 1993 Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go I Wanna Be Your Man It Don't Come Easy Locomotion Nothin' From Nothin' No Sugar Tonight People Gotta To Be Free Boris The Spider Boys You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet You're 16 Yellow Submarine King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Ringo & His New All-Starr Band 2002 Photograph Act Naturally Logical Song No One Is To Blame Yellow Submarine Give A Little Bit You're Sixteen The No-No Song Back Off Boogaloo Glamorous Life I Wanna Be Your Man Lucky Man Take The Long Way Home All The Young Dudes Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go With A Little Help From My Friends Extended Versions 2003 Yellow Submarine Karn Evil 9 It Don't Come Easy I Still Love Rock N' Roll Act Naturally Photograph Love Bizarre With A Little Help From My Friends Everlasting Love Glamorous Life Ringo Starr And His All-Starr Band Tour 2003 It Don't Come Easy Honey Don't Memphis In Your Mind How Long Down Under When I See You Smile Love Bizarre Boys Don't Pass Me By Yellow Submarine Living Years Missing You Glamorous Life I Wanna Be Your Man Who Can It Be Now With A Little Help From My Friends Ringo Starr And Friends 2006 Photograph Act Naturally All The Young Dudes Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go No One Is To Blame Yellow Submarine Logical Song Glamorous Life I Wanna Be Your Man Give A Little Bit Take The Long Way Home You're Sixteen Lucky Man With A Little Help From My Friends Ringo Starr And His All Starr Band Live 2006 -2008 Introduction What Goes Goes On Honey Don't Everybody Wants You Free Ride A Love Bizarre Don't Mean Nothin' She's Not There Yellow Submarine Frankenstein Photograph Should've Known Better The Glamorous Life I Wanna Be Your Man Rock Me Tonite Hold Your Head Up Act Naturally With A Little Help From My Friends Live At The Greek Theatre 2008 Introduction / With A Little Help From My Friends / It Don't Come Easy What Goes On The Stroke Free Ride Dream Weaver Boys Pick Up The Pieces Act Naturally Yellow Submarine Never Without You I Wanna Be Your Man Who Can It Be Now Photograph Oh My My With A Little Help From My Friends Give Peace A Chance Anthology . . . So Far 2000 It Don't Come Easy The No-No Song Iko-Iko The Weight Shine Silently Honey Don't Quarter To Three Raining In My Heart Will It Go Round In Circles Life In The Fast Lane Desperado Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) Walking Nerve Boris The Spider You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful And You're Mine) Photograph The Really Serious Introduction I'm The Greatest Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go I Can't Tell You Why Girls Talk People Got To Be Free Groovin' Act Naturally Takin' Care Of Business You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet In The City Bang The Drum All Day Black Maria American Woman Weight Of The World Back Off Boogaloo Yellow Submarine Show Me The Way Sunshine Of Your Love I Hear You Knockin' Shooting Star Boys Baby, I Love Your Way A Salty Dog I Feel Free Alright Now I Wanna Be Your Man A Whiter Shade Of Pale Hungry Eyes All By Myself With A Little Help From My Friends All songs listed in alphabetical order "I've Got Blisters ..." A Love Bizarre A Salty Dog A Whiter Shade Of Pale Act Naturally Act Naturally Act Naturally Act Naturally Act Naturally Act Naturally Act Naturally All By Myself All The Young Dudes All The Young Dudes Alright Now American Woman American Woman Baby, I Love Your Way Back Off Boogaloo Back Off Boogaloo Back Off Boogaloo Back Off Boogaloo Bang The Drum All Day Bang The Drum All Day Black Maria Black Maria Boris The Spider Boris The Spider Boys Boys Boys Boys Boys Boys Choose Love Desperado Desperado Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go Don't Mean Nothin' Don't Pass Me By Don't Pass Me By Don't Pass Me By Down Under Dream Weaver Everlasting Love Everybody Wants You Frankenstein Free Ride Free Ride Girls Talk Girls Talk Give A Little Bit Give A Little Bit Give Peace A Chance Glamorous Life Glamorous Life Glamorous Life Glamorous Life Groovin' Hold Your Head Up Honey Don't Honey Don't Honey Don't Honey Don't How Long Hungry Eyes I Can't Tell You Why I Can't Tell You Why I Feel Free I Hear You Knockin' I Still Love Rock N' Roll I Wanna Be Your Man I Wanna Be Your Man I Wanna Be Your Man I Wanna Be Your Man I Wanna Be Your Man I Wanna Be Your Man I Wanna Be Your Man I Wanna Be Your Man I Was Walkin' Iko Iko Iko-Iko I'm The Greatest I'm The Greatest I'm The Greatest In The City In The City Introduction Introduction / With A Little Help From My Friends / It Don't Come Easy It Don't Come Easy It Don't Come Easy It Don't Come Easy It Don't Come Easy It Don't Come Easy It Don't Come Easy Karn Evil 9 King Of Broken Hearts La De Da Life In The Fast Lane Life In The Fast Lane Living Years Locomotion Logical Song Logical Song Love Bizarre Love Bizarre Love Me Do Lucky Man Lucky Man Memphis In Your Mind Memphis On Your Mind Missing You Never Without You Never Without You No One Is To Blame No One Is To Blame No Sugar Tonight Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) Nothin' From Nothin' Octopus's Garden Octopus's Garden Oh My My People Got To Be Free People Gotta To Be Free Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph Pick Up The Pieces Quarter To Three Quarter To Three Raining In My Heart Raining In My Heart Rock Me Tonite She's Not There Shine Silently Shine Silently Shooting Star Should've Known Better Show Me The Way Sunshine Of Your Love Take The Long Way Home Take The Long Way Home Takin' Care Of Business The End The Glamorous Life The No-No Song The No-No Song The No-No Song The Really "Serious" Introduction The Really Serious Introduction The Stroke The Weight The Weight Walking Nerve Walking Nerve Weight Of The World Weight Of The World What Goes Goes On What Goes On What In The ... World When I See You Smile Who Can It Be Now Who Can It Be Now Will It Go Round In Circles Will It Go Round In Circles With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends With A Little Help From My Friends (Reprise) With A Little Help From My Friends / It Don't Come Easy Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet You're 16 You're Sixteen You're Sixteen You're Sixteen You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful And You're Mine)
I have seen close to every ASB - about 10 shows - and always enjoy them live. The first lineup was of course the best. With Danko, Helm, Keltner, Preston, Walsh, Dr John & Clarence. I also always enjoyed what recurring member Rundgren brought, and other folks who were particularly notable to me were Frampton, Sheila E, Greg Lake and Greg Rolie. Really have very little use for their live albums which are largely redundant particularly on Ringo material, rarely if ever are the best versions of the songs played, and generally only pick one up if I find it real cheap somewhere. Wish Ringo would change up the stuff he sings on these tours more often and do more of his post 70s material.
Never had a hankering to check out his live albums. Considering that it's his ASB live albums and they'll include multiple people singing different songs. Awaiting the discussion for What's My Name.
My favorite Ringo track in quite awhile, great song, great lyrics, well crafted and unique. 10/10 for Ringo on this one. Hoping for something cool like this on his new album.
I've been maintaining radio silence myself. Nothing more ruins the joy of listening to a whole brand-new album for me than listening to bits and pieces of it on youtube first.
I find it great that me and @omikron just so decided to cohost this at a time that would line up perfectly with the release of a new Ringo album!!! What’s My Name From Wikipedia What's My Name is the 20th studio album by English musician Ringo Starr. It was released on 25 October 2019 through Roccabella and Universal Music Enterprises. The album was again recorded at Roccabella West, Starr's home studio, and features collaborations with Joe Walsh, Benmont Tench, Edgar Winter, Steve Lukather, Richard Page and Warren Ham. It also includes a cover of John Lennon's "Grow Old with Me", which Starr invited Paul McCartney to sing and play bass guitar on,[1] and a solo version by Starr of "Money (That's What I Want)", a Motown song previously recorded by the Beatles. Several of the tracks were written with previous collaborators based around comments Starr has made. "What's My Name", the title track and first single, was composed by Colin Hay, and comes from a chant Starr has used in concert. Starr co-wrote "Gotta Get Up to Get Down" with his brother-in-law Joe Walsh after a comment Starr made at a dinner they had with Klaus Voormann, while Starr composed "Thank God for Music" with Sam Hollander, who then wrote "Better Days" on his own based on an interview Starr gave to Rolling Stone. The song "Magic" is a collaboration with Steve Lukather, whom Starr was worked with on his two previous studio albums. The album was recorded in Los Angeles at Starr's home studio, Roccabella West, with Starr saying that he did not "want to be in an old-fashioned recording studio anymore" and that he had "had enough of the big glass wall and the separation", saying recording at his home has been good for himself "and the music". My thoughts I’ll give more in depth later. On brief previews of songs, my initial fear that this would be another “Ringo 2012” halfassery album may not be entirely true. It seems to be a bizarre album from Ringo which I look forward to giving a listen to. “Money” was shocking and I was disgusted at first but it became hilariously obvious that it’s a parody of modern music which is hilarious! Like the autotune was so bad it almost makes it fun. Or at least I hope that’s the case.
Not much to add to my original review, except that "What's My Name" has probably worked its way into my top ten Ringo songs overall now. What's My Name is a winner! (And it almost makes up for Ringo 2012. )
Gotta Get Up To Get Down: It's a nice opening track and I huge refresher from the whole Woke Up This Morning line in the previous albums, It was a little unexpected hearing Joe Walsh singing though and I wish similar vocals were gone with Grow Old With Me It's Not Love That You Want: the first vocals in this song remind me of the chorus of Give More Love but other than that It's a great track Grow Old With Me: It's a lovely little tribute to John (and George) but I really with Paul's vocal was louder, other than that it's a nice cover Magic: It's a really good track and It sound like it could be a song from the late 60s if not for the autotune Money: It's a nice and unexpected cover and similar to Paul's song Get Enough the autotuned vocals grew on me and it became one of my favorites on the album Better Days: It's a really catchy song Life Is Good: I think the song is a nice little love song Thank God For Music: It's a great song and the piano intro reminds me a little bit of supertramp Send Love Spread Peace: I think it's a nice song What's My Name: It's a great song and the perfect title track Overall it's a great album and in my list of best Ringo albums it barely nudges past the Ringo album
now time to rank Ringo's albums from my favorite to least favorite Stop and Smell The Roses Time Takes Time Liverpool 8 Give More Love What's My Name Ringo I Wanna Be Santa Claus Ringo the 4th Bad Boy Postcards From Paradise Ringo Rama Sentimental Journey Goodnight Vienna Old Wave Ringo 2012 Vertical Man Beaucoups of Blues Ringo's Rotogravure Choose Love Y Not
Wow - shocked at how highly you rank the 2 newest ones. I'm gonna need some more time with the new one before I write it up or rate it.
What's My Name: Ringo's 20th studio album was recorded during the beginning of 2019. Unlike Give More Love, there weren't many photos of Ringo with his special guest of the day recording the album and only from a confirmation mention in a couple of articles that's all we really knew on what Ringo was doing. The album was released on October 25, 2019. I have to give a huge apology to the album. The reason why is because I dragged this album and gave it so much criticism when it was becoming news that it was coming out (all of those posts are in the thread dedicated for the new album). I remember I criticized the timing of release because Ringo was just finishing his 30th Anniversary All-Starr Tour and having album preparations done afterwards is a puzzling move in the music industry. Normally you would tour to support an album. Secondly, I harshly criticized the song titles thinking it was bogus, but when you have song titles like "It's Not Love That You Want" when Ringo has a song called "If It's Love That You Want", a song called "Magic" when Paul McCartney already has a song called "Magic" and really generic (but in hindsight really Ringo titles) like "Better Days", "Life Is Good", "Send Love Spread Peace" and especially "Thank God For Music" they are certainly the type to look fake. Lastly, the album cover which is Ringo flashing a peace sign, the second time we got that concept as an album cover in the last ten years and out of five albums. I will have to say I love @planckera's photoshop when he added David Bowie's Blackstar and Ringo's Choose Love and the result was this album cover picture. That along with looking more and more at the album cover made me appreciate the cover more. All the "generic" song titles I listed are my favorites from the album. And I rather have this album now rather than next year. So, What's My Name, I am sorry for the criticism. Now I will go through the songs and what I think about them. Gotta Get Up To Get Down: Right from the start this album was going to be more experimental with electronic and different. Excellent opening track. Ringo sounds really cool here sounding all robotic and processed to the extreme. Probably a way to say "sod off" to those who've been complaining about that for years. Cool to hear Joe Walsh and Ringo duetting on a track together for once. You'd think after so many years of collaborating this is the first instance. A couple of the lyrics I'd like to point out. "Everybody's on Facebook doing their thing". This lyric incorrectly dates the song ten years back when Facebook was a relevant social media site (well at least more relevant than now). "I got the crackers and she's got the cream" 7th favorite. If It's Not Love That You Want: Like I mentioned above, I dragged this song for having a title way too similar from the Liverpool 8 track, "If It's Love That You Want". Ironically, this ended up being my favorite track on the album after my first listen. Another ironic finding is that Ringo co-wrote this with Dave Stewart, who re-produced Liverpool 8 after Ringo cut ties with Mark Hudson. I guess it took Ringo early 12 years to figure out that it really is not love that a person wants. I love the sound of the guitars, the chorus and the verses. Really great song. 3rd favorite. Grow Old With Me: The most anticipated song of the album. This song includes Joe Walsh and Paul McCartney along with a string arrangement by Jack Douglas. A very humble cover of a song by his dear friend, John Lennon. I really like the country sound it's got thanks to the strings and the guitar parts by Joe Walsh. Yeah, sure the announcement that Paul is on vocals too only leading to it being very limited and heavily masked backing vocals was a let down, but remember this is a Ringo Starr song. If you want to hear Paul sing clearly go check out Egypt Station or something. 8th favorite. Magic: Ringo's co-write with Steve Lukather. Another surprisingly good song that I remember dragging because it shares the name of a McCartney song from Driving Rain. Really nice song that sounds like an uptempo ballad from the 80's. 6th favorite. Money: I knew that most would dislike the song when I first heard it. But it's pure fun. It's Ringo going crazy with the autotune like Paul did on "Get Enough". It's just a fun cover of a track with a twist that no one's done before. I'd rather have Ringo experiment with heavy autotune on a cover song than on an actual piece of original music. At least for those if you who don't like it, it's the shortest song on the album. 9th favorite. Better Days: Starting with this song, this is the beginning of the best stretch of songs on the album. What's My Name is the first album since Time Takes Time where Ringo records original material that wasn't written by him. Written by a newcomer to the Ringo circle named Sam Hollander, he does a damn good job of making it sound like Ringo wrote it with lyrics about taking a photograph and speaking about good days. 5th favorite. Life Is Good: A very typical Ringo song title, but damn what a great song this is. I love the opening line and the chorus. In fact everything about the song is great. I also really connected to this song because life really is good for me right now. I am being surrounded by great friends doing fun activities with them and I really am enjoying my life right now. Ringo just happened to release a great song in the midst of all this and it's one I can really relate to. 2nd favorite. Thank God For Music: Another typical Ringo title and another song with contributions by Sam Hollander. This song is pretty great and it's the song with the closest mention about his youth with the "from a factory to LA" lyric making this the first album in a while without a full song dedicated to Ringo's Liverpool days! The melody of "There's a heaven on the radio" is quite beautiful and my favorite part of the song. But my only gripe with this song is the "Ready Freddie" lyric. It's just so corny to me and reminds me of "OK Ray", one of my least favorite Ringo tracks. 4th favorite. Send Love Spread Peace: Out of all the songs on this album, this is the one I need to give the biggest apology to. Not only because it's another song I dragged for being a generic and typical Ringo song title, but because even after I said all that it became my favorite song on the album on subsequent listens. Not only that, it actually crept into my Top Ten Ringo songs at #7. That's crazy for this being such a new song! "Send Love Spread Peace" has some fantastic lead guitar a lot of treble and reverb that makes it ear candy for me. Along with some nice melody in the chorus and in the verse. A wonderful guitar solo, beautiful lyrics and a great rhythm backing of acoustic guitar, keyboards and some solid Ringo drumming. I love it! Only problem is is that it's too short! Would've loved another guitar solo or bridge after the third chorus. Favorite song on the album. What's My Name: I knew right from the first listen that this would be my least favorite song on the album cover. It's like "We're On The Road Again" from the last Ringo album, but poorer. Written solely by Colin Hay from Men At Work based on a call and response chant Ringo often does during his concerts. Not a fan of that call and response on the song or the way Ringo sounds on this. Kind of a let down for a closing track, but at least it's at the end. Least favorite song. Closing Comment: This album is a mix between Time Takes Time and Liverpool 8 for me and it has become my 6th Favorite Ringo Starr album. I'm also not sure if its the euphoria from taking these new songs in along with the fact that we got four songs that sound like "Send Love Spread Peace" instead of four songs that sound like "Gotta Get Up To Get Down" that made me rank this so highly. I'll definitely have to check in a few months once I'm more familia where these songs land and where the album will too, but surely it'll stick around in the Top 10.
What's My Name Gotta Get Up To Get Down The opening Walsh guitar riff gets me psyched for this song. But then a mechanized beat and vocals autotuned almost to the point of robot voice set in. Walsh's vox are even worse - sounds like he either fell off the wagon or maybe his past drinking did permanent brain damage, cause he "sings" like a stroke victim. Track inproves with Edgar Winter's Clav break and synth, and Walsh wah guitar. The reprise after the pause also is nice. This could have been a good track as an instrumental groove or if it had something different laid over it vocally, but I can't get past what the "voices" do here. It's Not Love That You Want Again starts with a great opening riff - this one with a power pop feel. Here the groove fortunately continues through the song with nice Dave Stewart guitar and Benmont Tench piano. Not an amazing melody, but it is fun and lyrics are positive and work well. Real nice backing vox here too. I consider this a winner. Grow Old With Me I always felt this was a pretty schmaltzy weak effort from John. But this sounds light years better than John's recording and the overall quality of writing on Ringo albums is not at John's level so it fits pretty nicely here and is my fav of the first three tracks. Paul's bass adds beautiful melodic touches (though his backing vox are inaudible). I enjoy Walsh's guitar and prefer the Jack Douglas string arrangement to Martin's earlier attempt. Nice track. Magic This is a gorgeous uplifting song. Catchy melody, good chorus hook, nice romantic lyric and great Lukather guitar. Possibly my fav track Ringo has done since RingoRama. But they should have come up with an intro that wasnt such an obvious rip off of Doctor My Eyes - even the drumming is totally an homage. Guess they figure nobody gets sued over a track that sells a few thousand copies. This should have been the single. Money Ok. This wasnt a great idea to begin with and the execution is worse. Autotune is over the top reminds me more of the Flying Lizards than the Miraces or Beatles. Better Days This is nice pop tune with some good hooks and hot backing vocals. The references to drums, peace and love, the Troubador and Monte Carlo tie it to Ringo's bio - though he isnt even a cowriter on this one. Also one of the more heavily autotuned tracks. About the middle of the pack here. Life Is Good Another fun power pop style tune with some nice melody in the "how many times" bridge thogh the Life Is Good refrain gets a bit redundant . Vocals autotuned but not obnoxiously so. Highlightsare the 2 Lukather guitar breaks and his harmonized guitar licks. Overall Burr comes through with a winner - as he almost always does for Ringo. Long live ths Roundheads! Thank God For Music The feel of this song is real close to Life Is Good (though more keyboard dominated), so I feel they should not have been placed back to back. Again the bridge is the one place it gets melodic ("there's a heaven on the radio") and the refrain is a bit repetitive. And the autotune is a bot more noticeable here. Another touch of autobio with the "From a factory to a dream, from Liverpool to LA" reference. Nice organ and guitar. Not one of the very strongest tracks here, but still a winner. Send Love Spread Peace A pleasant surprise as the title pretty much made me groan. Ok the lyric is cliched and the vocal is heavily autotuned. But it has a decent melody, sweet backing vocal arrangement and soaring guitar break that make for a nice enough package. What's My Name A cooking rocker driven by great slide guitar from Walsh and nice harmonica. Unfortunately the lyric packs in a lot of cliches and some pandering crowd noises. Not a huge fan of Ringo's "musician on the road" tunes that he includes on most recent albums - but this is better than average for the genre. Summary Not one of Ringo's finest effort but a quality piece of work with only a couple dogs on it (as is often the case he oddly leads off with one of these). A nice addition to his body of work and my fav thing he has done since at least the last album with Hudson involvement, Liverpool 8.
My ranking of all Ringo's studio albums to date. Nice tonsee the latest sneak into the top 10. Here's hoping his 80s are at least half as productive as his 70s have been. 1. Ringo Rama 2. Blast From Your Past 3. Vertical Man 4. Goodnight Vienna 5. Ringo 6. Time Takes Time 7. Choose Love 8. Stop & Smell The Roses 9. Liverpool 8 10. What's My Name 11. I Want To Be Santa Claus 12. Give More Love 13. Postcards From Paradise 14. Old Wave 15. Y Not 16. Bad Boy 17. Ringo the IVth 18. Beaucoups of Blues 19. Sentimental Journey 20. Rotogravure 21. Ringo 2012 22. Scouse the Mouse
What’s My Name - Just finished listening to the new album and I love it. Lots of really good Rocking tunes on it. The title track should have been the opener, but it’s a find closer too and a lot of fun. A lot of attention was put on ‘Grow Old With Me’ because of Paul’s involvement, the media labeling it a Beatles “reunion”, though he mostly plays bass and is buried in the background vocals. It’s a beautiful rendition of John Lennon’s song and Ringo does it justice. I really the other tunes like ‘Magic’, ‘Better Days’, ‘Life Is Good’ and ‘Thank God For Music’. Ringo’s version of ‘Money’ is okay though the auto tune could have been turned down a bit, it certainly won’t make you forget the Beatles version. Overall an excellent album by Ringo. 5/5.