It don't come easy (Ringo Starr) (LP 3929 - 3933)

Ringo Starr  Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (Cassette, EMI Records, 1990) ***

Ringo Starr  Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band Volume 2: Live from Montreux (CD, Rykodisc Records, 1993) *** 

Ringo Starr  VH1 Storytellers (CD, Mercury Records, 1998) **** 

Ringo Starr  Live at Soundstage  (CD, Koch Records, 2007) **** 

Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band  Live 2006 (CD, Koch Records, 2008) **

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Music shop in Nelson, Real Groovy Records, JB Hi Fi.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Back Off Boogaloo (Live at Soundstage)

Gear costume: Never Without You (Live at Soundstage)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I can't say that I'm a very keen collector of Ringo's live albums. There are a few of The All-Starr Band live albums that I don't own and I haven't put them on my wants list. A few are fun to have, but how many times do I need to have live versions of Yellow Submarine and Boys? Not that many!

I do have the first All-Starr Band album on cassette and that one is a lot of fun. The All-Starr Band at this early stage was pretty incredible with Dr. John, Joe Walsh, Billy Preston, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Nils Lofgren, Clarence Clemons, and session drummer Jim Keltner. 

Next up - Volume 2: Live from Montreux and there were a couple of familiar faces retained from the first incarnation of the All Starr Band (like The Plastic Ono Band it was never the intention to be a fixed group of the same band members) namely Joe Walsh and Nils Lofgren. They were joined by newcomers Timothy B. Schmit, Dave Edmunds, Todd Rundgren, Burton Cummings, and Zak Starkey, on drums.

Ringo is not on top form - he sounds a tad tired and his vocals are up and down (and out) during the concert.

The VH1 Storytellers set is much better. Ringo is in an intimate setting, the sound is superb and The Roundheads are a great band. Tight as a...erm...drum.

Ringo sings well throughout, appears in enthusiastic mood and the stories add a lot to the atmosphere. Ringo is, of course, just naturally hilarious!

Live at Soundstage also has Ringo and The Roundheads (still in great form). The usual songs make the setlist (it's a great setlist) along with some tracks off the latest album at the time (Choose Love), and his tribute to George - Never Without You.

The final live album in this list is back to the All-Starr Band. This iteration is from 2006. The All-Starr Band for this outing included Richard Marx, Billy Squier, Edgar Winter, Rod Argent, Hamish Stuart, and Sheila E. Yep - aside from Rod Argent and Edgar, a pretty average kind of line-up. This one gets a low rating because of the meh songs by some meh artists.

Where do they all belong? If you only want a taste of Ringo live I suggest you go for VH1 or Live at Soundstage.

Never without you (Ringo Starr) (LP 3919 - 3928)

Ringo Starr  Ringo Rama (CD/ DVD, Koch Records, 2003) ****  

Ringo Starr  Liverpool 8 (CD, Capitol Records, 2008) ***  

Ringo Starr  Y Not (CD, UME Records, 2010) ***  

Ringo Starr  Ringo 2012 (CD, UME Records, 2012) ***  

Ringo Starr  Postcards From Paradise (CD, UME Records, 2015) ***  

Ringo Starr  Give More Love (CD, UME Records, 2017) ***  

Ringo Starr  What's My Name (Vinyl, UME Records, 2019) ***  

Ringo Starr  EP3 (Vinyl, UME Records, 2022) ***  

Ringo Starr  Rewind Forward (Vinyl, UME Records, 2023) ***  

Ringo Starr  Look Up (Vinyl, Lost Highway Records, 2025) ****  

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: HMV, JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Liverpool 8

Gear costume: Island in the Sun (Postcards from Paradise) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Ringo was revitalised in the new millennium. Time Takes Time and Vertical Man (to a lesser extent) had reestablished him as an artist and so he carried some momentum into the new decade. 

Mark Hudson again produces; it's a beefed up rock sound he mainly goes for successfully on Ringo Rama. He continues the love affair with things Beatley as well (Elizabeth Reigns). No complaints from me.

Guests this time include Willie Nelson, Van Dyke Parks, David Gilmour, Shawn Colvin, Timothy B. Schmit, and Eric Clapton. Everybody sounds like they are having fun, and they help produce an entertaining album.

Worthy of note: Ringo includes a song about George who had passed away in 2001 - Never Without You (Eric plays a blinder on that as well). This nostalgic side to his character is a bit like Neil Young's affectionate songs about Buffalo Springfield and life in Canada. The nostalgic bent continues on his next album - Liverpool 8. 

The title song of Liverpool 8 kicks off with the fond paean to Liverpool and his three friends. It totally works too! The rest of the album is another dose of Ringo's patented relaxed, fun collection of Beatle pop tunes. By this stage you know what you are getting with a Ringo Starr album. That no-surprises approach works to his advantage.

The nostalgia track on Y Not is The Other Side of Liverpool. It's not as memorable as Liverpool 8 but it's heartfelt and genuine (much like Ringo himself). Macca turns up on the album singing on Walk With You (a Ringo co-write with Van Dyke Parks). In keeping with Liverpool 8 the album has a bright and shiny pop sheen once again. 

He makes more attempts on this album to update the sound than he has previously. The last two tracks especially embrace the current (end of the naughties) pop sound via female singer support - Who's Your Daddy even features Joss Stone.

The lad was churning them out in roughly two year intervals in the 2000's. Ringo 2012 was next, without the plethora of guests aside from Joe Walsh, Van Dyke Parks, and Edgar Winter. He redoes Step Lightly (from Ringo 1973) and Wings (from Ringo the 4th), plus covers Think It Over (Buddy Holly), and Rock Island Line. The nostalgic one, his third autobiographical song in three albums, is In Liverpool.

Postcards from Paradise came three years later, in 2015. It continued the well-established new-millennium formula with the same guests from his recent albums. He was well in his seventies at this point, extremely rich, and yet he continued to do what he does - be Ringo, have fun with his mates, and churn out entertaining albums.

The nostalgia quotient is ramped up for this one with first song Rory and the Hurricanes and the title track - written with Todd Rundgren. It's a fun play on the various Beatles/Ringo solo song titles (like Titles by Barclay James Harvest). The rest of the album is good Ringo pop music - he's almost his own genre. The love song for Barbara? Tick (and no cringey mention of her specifically this time). 

Give More Love begins strongly with We're on the Road Again. Good muscular rock'n'roll has been a feature of the new millennium Ringo albums. The usual friends appear on the album and Macca plays bass/sings backing vocals on a couple of tracks. 

Electricity is the nostalgic looking song on this album. The country sounding So Wrong For So Long is seemingly the love song to Barbara (the country heartbreak twist is nice). So, the predictable formula is intact and has become something I kinda look forward to, as in - it would be weird if these songs weren't included.

The bonus tracks comprising reworked Ringo classics are well worth the price of the album on their own. They each present different feels that creates a fresh picture for each. Fav would be Don't Pass Me By.

What's My Name is his twentieth studio album. Phew. Amazing! Macca again appears (bass and vocals on the cover of John's Grow Old Along With Me), along with Ringo's usual musician friends. Nothing different to report - his usual chirpy self on display as he continues to accentuate the positive (and peace and love).

The two EPs (both on 10 inch vinyl) are attempts to present regular product and were successful as such. They also show Ringo embracing modern sounds. I only have two as they are quite expensive - as in - priced like regular albums.

EP3 has four songs - in upbeat and ballad forms. Ringo sounds like Ringo - his voice hasn't aged appreciably. Bruce Sugar (producer, mixer) has been a Ringo associate for many years and he does a great sound job here, as usual. 

Rewind Forward also has four songs. Macca produces one - Feeling the Sunlight (his own song) and also plays/sings on it. The best song on this EP is Mike Campbell's Miss Jean. It's been retro fitted for Ringo and it works well.

The final studio album to date is this year's Look Up. His work ethic in the new millennium is damned amazing. This one sees him successfully returning to a countryish setting (although it's not Beaucoup of Blues part 2). It's country leaning, rather than traditional country and western. It is infused with very tasteful pedal steel and female backing vocals that create a warm country music feel. Ringo likes country; you can tell this by the cover - a dapper 85 year old Ringo in a cowboy hat. He's good at it, too.

Where do they all belong? If I was a Ringo completist I would need to get a copy of 2005's Choose Love and the EPs that I'm missing.

Next up - live albums.

Drumming is my madness (Ringo Starr) (LP 3915 - 3918)

Ringo Starr  Stop and Smell the Roses (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1981) ***  

Ringo Starr  Old Wave (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1983) *** 

Ringo Starr  Time Takes Time (CD, RCA Records, 1992) ****  

Ringo Starr  Vertical Man (CD, Mercury Records, 1998) **** 

Genre: Pop

Places I remember: Marbecks Records, Real Groovy Records, JB Hi-Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go (Time Takes Time) 

Gear costume: Picture Show Life (Old Wave)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Ringo's early eighties period was a traumatic time because of the declining sales of his late seventies' albums, followed by the shock of John's murder, late in 1980. Ultimately, there were only two albums that came in that decade, and two albums from the nineties.

John had planned to help out on Ringo's next album after Bad Boy but sadly that didn't happen. Paul and George though were still able to contribute songs and production so most of Stop and Smell the Roses is Ringo in a better light. Stephen Stills, Ronnie Wood and Nilsson also appear. Overall, it sounds like he's having fun making music again. 

This return to the Ringo formula was musically a return to form, but apart from the success of George Harrison's Wrack My Brain as a single, the album continued the downward trend sales wise.

Old Wave sounds better to me - Ringo comfortable with the old wave label and even using an old photo on the cover. Joe Walsh is the sole producer and that helps create a more cohesive album. Criticism of Ringo's lack of singing ability is redundant it seems to me. Ringo does Ringo. I think he does a good job on Old Wave. It's an under-appreciated album.

Although Ringo remained active on projects by others, the rest of the eighties passed by without any further albums (a country album was abandoned). 

In 1988 he and Barbara Bach (who he'd met in 1980) underwent treatment for alcoholism. That addiction meant a lot of lost years. As he said, "Years I've lost, absolute years ... I've no idea what happened. I lived in a blackout".

Productivity returned pretty quickly with sobriety. He started his live All Starr Band albums in 1989 and a new studio album arrived in 1992. Time Takes Time is terrific. Easily his best album since Goodnight Vienna.

The guests included Brian Wilson (backing vocals on one song), Andrew Gold, Jeff Lynne, even two guys from Jellyfish, and dear old Harry also appeared on a track. It ends up being an excellent collection of Beatle-pop. I Don't Believe You with those Jellyfish guys is a terrific Beatle clone - think The Rutles fronted by Ringo. Actually, criticising Ringo for sounding Beatley is also patently ridiculous!

Vertical Man, only his second studio album of the nineties so far*, came after The Beatles Anthology reignited interest in the Fabs. Plenty of guests contributed again, including Brian Wilson, Alanis Morissette, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Steven Tyler, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick mixed the tracks. So, of course it's very Beatley - he even redoes Love Me Do and good luck to him!  

Where do they all belong? *If I want to be a Ringo completist when I grow up, I'll need to get I Wanna Be Santa Claus from 1999.

Sentimental journey (Ringo Starr) (LP 3907 - 3914)

Ringo Starr  Sentimental Journey (Vinyl, Apple Records, 1970) **  

Ringo Starr  Beaucoups of Blues (Vinyl and CD, Apple Records, 1970) ***

Ringo Starr  Ringo (Vinyl, Apple Records, 1973) ****  

Ringo Starr  Goodnight Vienna (Vinyl, Apple Records, 1974) ***

Ringo Starr  Blast From Your Past (Vinyl, Apple Records, 1975) ****  

Ringo Starr  Ringo's Rotogravure (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1976) ***

Ringo Starr  Ringo the 4th (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1977) ***

Ringo Starr  Bad Boy (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1978) **

Genre: Apple Records, pop 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, DJ Records, Marbecks Records. 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Photograph (Ringo)

Gear costume: Goodnight Vienna

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: The focus on Ringo brings to conclusion the rundowns on the four solo Beatle careers. It's probably fitting that Ringo completes the picture because that's what he did for The Beatles, and his canon is the weakest of the four, even though he has put out a huge body of work. I have most of his albums, most of his singles/E.P.s and most of his books. I struggle to be a completist with his post Apple Records product, as gentle readers will pick up on as we proceed.

This first post will concentrate on the seventies' studio albums, which started in 1970 with two albums!

Sentimental Journey is his debut solo album - a trip through Ringo's childhood memory of standards that his parent's generation loved. He recruits some big names to do the arrangements: George Martin; Richard Perry, Maurice Gibb; Paul McCartney; Quincy Jones were some. All are sung by Ringo with his usual gusto and enthusiasm.

Ultimately though, this is a curiosity and as far away from rock'n'roll as he could get - which was probably the idea. The same went for his second album of 1970 - the country sounds of Beaucoup of Blues.

That one is a lot more fun and a natural fit for Ringo, given his love of country music and the crafty use of it as a vehicle while in The Beatles. He sounds more authentic on these songs and $15 Draw is a terrific song. 

He kind of wrote off these two albums and regarded his next one (Ringo) as the start of his solo career but he shouldn't. The standards album has become huge for a number of other artists (I think Rod Stewart has done 389 albums in that style now) and country music only became bigger and bigger during the seventies and beyond. That easy going, more laid-back genre suits him.

Ringo is notable for many reasons. All of The Beatles make an appearance and contribute songs, there are loads of superstar guests, and it hit a commercial peak for Bongo Starr. Each track has a freshness still in 2025!

John Lennon's I'm the Greatest was the lead off song on Ringo and he repeats that feat with the title track on Ringo's follow up album - Goodnight Vienna. Many of the same stellar guests appear and the musicianship is the equal to that of Ringo. The songs weren't as consistently as great though and while it's an enjoyable Ringo album it didn't replicate the commercial success of Ringo.

His Apple Records career ended with 1975's Blast from Your Past. It was a nifty compilation that included his successful singles It Don't Come Easy and Back Off Boogaloo as well as a B side (Early 1970) and the best from Beaucoup of Blues, Ringo, Goodnight Vienna.

All four Beatles turned up for Ringo's first album on Polydor - Ringo's Rotogravure (again, as with Ringo, all four weren't ever in the same room). This started out with the first two tracks as a much grittier rock'n'roll album but then quickly went back into safe Ringo style pop rock.

Again, there is a plethora of superstar guests. This time those being Eric Clapton, Harry Nilsson, Peter Frampton, Dr John and Melissa Manchester as well as the Fabs. The same formula that worked for Ringo and Goodnight Vienna is employed again, and again it is a fun Ringo style album.

Ringo the 4th followed a year later - he was certainly living up to the demands of his contract. It was a weird title, and a weird cover - Ringo holding a sword, with a girl perched on his shoulders. What was he and (girlfriend of the time) Nancy thinking? Plenty of material for Freudian analysis was the end result.

Gone were the guest superstars and the Fabs for this album. Instead, Ringo goes for a soul-pop sound with hints of disco. It did include some good songs like Gave it All Up which is one of my favourites, and Out on the Streets. 

The rest of the album, played by session musicians of wide repute is good too - certainly no worse or better than his previous two. Unfortunately, it did not stop the commercial slide begun with Ringo's Rotogravure.

Things would get worse before they got better with Bad Boy. It's basically a withdrawal from dance/ soul-pop into just anemic old school shuffle rock. If you thought anyone could sing Motown material (because it's that good - especially Holland/ Dozier/ Holland) - Ringo's version of Where Did Our Love Go will show that anyone can't. Sadly, the whole album sounds uninspired.  

Side bar: neither Bad Boy nor Ringo the 4th appear on Spotify.

Where do they all belong? A sad way to sign off from the seventies. His next album wouldn't appear until 1981.

Marigold conjunction (Stackridge) (LP 3901 - 3906)

Stackridge  Stackridge (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1971) ****  

Stackridge  Friendliness (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1972) *** 

Stackridge  The Man in the Bowler Hat (Vinyl, Sire Records, 1974) **** 

Stackridge  Extravaganza (Vinyl, The Rocket Record Company, 1975) **** 

Stackridge  Do The Stanley (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1976) **** 

Stackridge  A Victory For Common Sense (CD, Helium Records, 2009) **** 

Genre: Folk rock, prog rock, pop

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records, Real Groovy Records, Amoeba Music, Spellbound Wax Company, Fopp.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Last Plimsoll (The Man in the Bowler Hat), Rufus T Firefly (Extravaganza)

Gear costume: Dora the Female Explorer (Stackridge),  Teatime (Friendliness)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Stackridge is their debut album in 1971. At this point the band was Andrew Cresswell-Davis (lead guitar, piano, vocals), James Warren (bass, vocals), Michael Slater (flute), Michael Evans (violin), Billy Bent (drums). As revealed by the instruments - the music has pop elements as well as prog and folk. It makes for a lovely experimental approach in a Canterbury style on the debut. Oh, and they also have an eccentric sense of humour, which appeals to me.

Friendliness was their second album. Their influences on these first two albums were clearly The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa, Syd Barrett, as well as classical composers like Johann Sebastian Bach and Igor Stravinsky. 

All of those influences conspire in Stackridge to produce a unique blend. As AllMusic points out - on Friendliness 'there is Beatlesque melody, gently surreal humor, and considerable instrumental dexterity that ranged freely between the worlds of pop, folk, jazz, classical, and prog rock'.

The sheer variety of styles and genres on Friendliness is breath-taking, a tad distracting, and probably the reason they were a kind of cult band without huge popularity.

The Man in the Bowler Hat (a.k.a. Pinafore Days) was produced by George Martin. Yes, by 1974, Stackridge were THAT good. He does what George does and the sound is crisp and terrific (and a bit Beatley).

Extravaganza was their fourth album. By this time (1975) they were signed to Elton John's Rocket Records label. They'd also had a radical lineup change with James Warren, James "Crun" Walter and Billy Sparkle all leaving. That left Mike Evans and Andy Davis as the only original band members.

Naturally, this meant a new sound - a lot more mainstream and rocky/poppy with some prog elements remaining with a beefed up sound. There are even some (great) Zappa-esque jazz rock instrumentals.

I have yet to find a copy of Mr. Mick -their final album in their original incarnation. Do the Stanley is a compilation album that was released after that album and after the band had broken up. Interestingly, it includes nothing from Mr. Mick or even Extravaganza. Instead, it has one unreleased song (Let There Be Lids), some early B sides and A sides of singles, plus some songs from the first 3 albums. It all holds together extremely well because it is just focusing on those early years.

A Victory for Common Sense was their second album after they reformed in 1999. Stackridge was now a reunited Andy Davis, James Warren, Mike Slater and Jim Walter. It's a summation of their style since Extravaganza but curiously, without any of their earlier eccentricities. It sounds great and very Beatley - which is high praise in Wozza's world.

 

Where do they all belong? I have a few missing albums to collect - mainly Mr. Mick (from 1976) but also Something for the Weekend (1999).