A truly great rock'n'roll album and the closest we will ever get to a Beatles reunion with 3 ex-Beatles on "I'm the Greatest" and the other one on the charming "Six O'clock." With "You're 16", it also established the pattern of Ringo doing inspired oldies covers on subsequent albums. Although Ringo said that Beaucoups had some of his best singing, he said of Ringo, shortly after its release, "Not only is it my best album, but I call it my first album." He must have maintained that mindset when he called his 6th album Ringo the 4th. I know his first 2 albums were forays into non-rock territory, but at this point, he seemed to be basically disowning them.
Don McLean also did a nice cover of "Sunshine Life", backed only by banjo and percussion, on his brilliant concept album Homeless Brother.
Ringo was the affable peacemaker who still got along with the other 3 even when the other 3 couldn't get along with each other (which is how he got all 3 to contribute to Ringo and Rotogravure). He even got along with Yoko, which is more than we can say for Paul and George.
The extended version of "Six O'Clock" must have originally been slated for inclusion on the Ringo album because the timing on the label is erroneously listed as 5:26. I don't know why they cut it. It's my favorite song on the album and makes me quite emotional.
Weight of the World should be in the top 10 IMO. Good track off a decent album. Strong band that tour too.
I'm a latecomer to the thread, but I have a very special fondness for Ringo's Rotogravure. Part of it may be the time and place and atmosphere it flashes me back to. I got it for $1.00 in a cut-out bin in 1978 (which was a simply Heavensent year for me) and I loved it so much I felt bad about not buying it at full price when it was new. So that may be part of its appeal to me, but I really think it's one of his best albums. To each his own, but I never got why it gets slagged so much. It's a star-studded album produced by the great Arif Mardin with contributions from all 4 Beatles as writers, and except for George, as performers (including John's last recording before his 5-year hiatus). 1. A Dose of Rock'N'Roll -Kicks off the album with a bang and it's a fun rock'n'roll song that even gives us a preview of "Hey Baby" in the fade. 2. Hey Baby - Following the pattern set by "You're 16", here he is covering another oldie, and it's a fun cover of a cover (modeled not after Bruce Channel's original but after the cover by the Swingin' Medallions). 3. Pure Gold - One of Paul's most beautiful songs. Very melodic and up there with "Six O'Clock." 4. Cryin' - Still showing his country roots and his fondness for the genre. A very sweet little country weeper. 5. You Don't Know Me At All - Another very pretty pop song with inventive chord progressions. Should have been a hit. 6. Cookin' - Good basic rocker from Lennon. John was just a rudimentary piano player, but he got in some pretty funky licks on this one (as he did earlier with "Goodnight Vienna"). 7. I'll Still Love You - A very pretty minor-keyed Harrisong. I could hear George singing it, but it fits Ringo's voice quite well. 8. This Be Called a Song - One of Clapton's more melodic moments as a songwriter. 9. Las Brisas - This breezy Mariachi number gets a lot of hate, but I love it. A real feelgood song. 10. Lady Gaye - Ringo's 3rd of 3 co-writes on the album, and a very pleasant one. 11. Spooky Weirdness - Just a bit of goofing off in the studio, and it only goes on for a minute, so why do people pick on it? It's not like it's the only such joke track that ever graced an album ("Wild Honey Pie", anyone?) And I like the "That's the way the album ends" bit. Question: Van Dyke Parks is pictured in the gatefold but I don't see his name in any of the musician credits. What did he do on this album?
I think we're discussing Ringo 73 ? At any rate, incredulous as I am when I say it, "but it was nearly 50 years ago today" well 47 but who's counting ! I'm going to share a very brief summary of my experience with Ringo 73. I was all of about 12 ! It probably mirrors the feelings of a lot of fans of similar age. I had been alive as a very small child during the Beatles reign atop the charts, I was about 6 when Sgt Pepper's was released ! About 8 or 9 when they broke up ! Sure I'd heard of them, they were the grooviest ! And yes people really said things like Groovy ! Yes hippies shut down Sunset blvd to protest Vietnam around 1968 or so !! Like many my first record collections coincided with the early solo Beatles years, and what years they were ! My allowance I think was one dollar a week, I think albums retailed for $2 or $3...by summer 73, I had a copy of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band 1970 & Imagine 1971, Dad had bought me a copy of both the red & blue albums, I didn't have All Things Must Pass or Concert For Bangladesj, those were about 2 months allowance each !, my pal Jim up the road in the Hollywood Hills had Ram, Band On The Run didn't exist yet !!!! Ok now condensing, what was several months of news into a couple paragraphs from summer 73 to around Thanksgiving, my parents avid tennis players, were driving home from a match & told me they had just seen John & Yoko window shopping on Ventura blvd ! The main drag in studio city near Hollywood !!! WOW ! ( turns out it was John & May Pang ) but we didn't know who she was yet ! Next thing I remember KABC news at the local ABC station broke a big story about some kind of Beatles Reunion in the studio ! They showed clips of George ( separately ) multiple times, I think George was lifting a Fender guitar case & a small fender champ type amp, from the rear of a hatchback vehicle with the backseat folded down, a reporter stuck a microphone in Harrisons face, I don't remember the question or the answer, heck I was watching long haired hippie Beatles carrying guitars into the studio! While the news team excitedly blabbed about the Beatles, the Beatles reunion & wahoo yeah !!!! As we now know, they got some of it wrong, but wow exciting !!!! It looked kinda like the parking lot for Capitol Records on vine, where they have a huge studio in the basement, maybe some other studio I don't know.. So the Beatles are coming. Right on! My older cousins and hipster friends of my parents they had all seen the Beatles come to America, Perform on Ed Sullivan, but for us, fans a bit too young for Beatlemania, during summer and fall of 1973, we were getting mini mania in LA ! Our very own !! A bit later John Lennon is interviewed during his lost weekend by the KABC entertainment reporter ELLIOT MINTZ, Yes that Elliot Mintz, later official spokesman for John & Yoko. Lennon is promoting the upcoming Mind Games, on the beach in Malibu and when Mintz asks the Beatles reunion question, Lennon spouts off & says "You know Elliott I don't know why we'd do that, but we're just crazy enough to do it, and if we do I'm sure I'll have a great time"".,,,this kind of innuendo continues at least through summer of 74, the John & Paul jam, the Malibu beach house where John, Paul & Ringo are photographed hanging out, the Whole Lennon-Nilsson Pussycats thing, The Goodnight Vienna album, but I digress So Ok, I "think" ( I think ? ) a week or two BEFORE Band On The Run, Ringo 73 is released , with participation by all 4 Beatles, John & Paul each write a good tune & record it for Ringo 73, George cowrites 2 songs for it, one with Ringo the #1 smash Photograph, without credit he cowrites &lays on the closing track You & Me babe, which credits only longtime Roadie Mal Evans. Harrison is the sole writer of Sunshine Life For Me ( sail away raymond ), half the band tracks & records this charming number with George & Ringo Paul writes the equally Beatley Six O'Ckock, a big ballad, cowritten with Linda , they also sing Beatley type, Wings type harmonies all over the longish track...almost like Long Haired Lady from Ram, is crossed with She's Leaving Home from Sgt Pepper's, while Ringo sings lead !!!! Finally back to the opening number, I'm The Greatest, a stunner, sounds Beatles, replete with Sgt Pepper style sound effects, Ringo drumming with Billy Preston on keys, Klaus on bass, George playing a pastiche of several electric guitars, overdubbed and edited together, with John on piano & single tracked harmony vocal, not a single, but about as Beatley sounding as a track can be ! Replete with lyrics including the lines "Yes My Name Was Billy Shears-You Know It Has Been-For So Many Years !!!.,..right there Is where the Sgt, Pepper's People sound effects come in. Besides those five tunes, the top 3 single, a remake of You're Sixteen by Johnny Burnette , features McCartney doing a kazoo solo, with the great Harry Nilsson on all the backround vocals, not unlike the 1974 #6 single, a remake of the Platters Only You, featuring both Lennon & Nilsson Finally in closing, particularly if you were reading all interviews & watching the local news with reunion stories in LA, or even if not, as an earlier poster opined, Ringo is very much like a tricky Beatles reunion album, where Ringo sings all the leads, & his Beatles mates back him up as well as Billy Preston, Harry Nilsson, Richard Perry & the band, done very much like the lighter moments of an Abbey Road sequel.,,for the millions of us, just a few years too young to remember Ed Sullivan, this was our first reunion
Looks like this and all his other albums are on Amazon for digital purchase or through their streaming service. I can't speak to the audio quality though. I typically despise/avoid streaming unless it's the only way to get the music.
Ringo Starr & Paul McCartney "Angel In Disguise", lost 1992 unreleased song from Time Takes Time. It was anticipated it would go for 20,000-25,000 British pounds but only sold for 9900 for charity. An unheard track by Beatles stars Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr is set to raise £20k at auction | Daily Mail Online Unreleased Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr demo sells for $9,900 at auction | Calgary Herald
Given how he is in the credits, I wonder if the song was on the album up until shortly before release. I would imagine liner notes are one of the last things done along with cover design. By stating that he appears would indicate that track was in there at one point.
maybe Tom Petty had vocals on it that he didn't end up liking. according to wiki Jeff has said it would never be released.
Well sadly it is not up to Tom now to decide that. So we'll see. That does make sense though. If it was Jeff or Ringo then it probably wouldn't have theoretically made into the tracklist in the first place causing Tom to get the appearance credit. All speculation I guess.
Well that was what happened with David Bowie on the Queen track Cool Cat so I figured it might be something similar.
He is never touring again IMO. Enjoy the new music he makes it the studio. Only game in town going forward for octogenarians who are not so broke they have to endure the risks of the Covid era road to make ends meet financially.
I read through all the posts on the several pages of Ringo the 4th assessments, but never once did anyone mention the inner groove on side 1 in which the last couple of seconds of "Out On the Streets" endlessly repeats. Do I have a unique or flawed copy or is it so well-known that nobody bothers to mention it?
