Ringo (album)

• 1. Introduction

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  Ringo, the third studio album by Ringo Starr, arrived on the 2nd of November 1973 carrying a secret that music fans had been dreaming about since the Beatles split: all four former members playing on the same record. Not a reunion in any formal sense, but something almost more remarkable. Each ex-Beatle drifted into the sessions at separate moments, drawn by friendship and goodwill rather than any grand plan. John Lennon wrote a song specifically for it. Paul McCartney flew to London to contribute because drug arrests barred him from entering the United States. George Harrison showed up on the 10th of March, listened to what had been recorded, and told Starr he was "knocked out by what you've done." The album topped the chart in Canada, climbed to number two in the United States, and was certified platinum by the RIAA. But the chart numbers only tell part of the story. The real question is how a drummer widely regarded as the least artistically ambitious of the four managed to pull off what none of his bandmates had accomplished solo: making a record that Rolling Stone called the most successful by any ex-Beatle.

• 2. A Reluctant Soloist

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  Starr's path to Ringo was slow and circuitous. He released Sentimental Journey, a standards tribute, and Beaucoups of Blues, a country record, in 1970. Neither pointed toward a rock identity. The singles "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back Off Boogaloo," issued across 1971-72 and both produced and co-written with George Harrison, were big hits. Under ordinary circumstances, successful singles invite follow-up albums. Starr declined. He preferred acting. It was only in early 1973 that he decided the moment was right for a genuine rock solo record. His choice of producer was not random. Richard Perry had already arranged one track on Sentimental Journey, and that brief collaboration gave Starr enough confidence to hand him the full production role.

• 3. Sunset Sound and the Guest List

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  Recording began on the 5th of March 1973 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles. Starr sent word to his musician friends, and the response was immediate. Marc Bolan arrived. Four members of The Band showed up, everyone except Richard Manuel. Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Nicky Hopkins, Harry Nilsson, Jim Keltner, and James Booker all contributed. The sessions had the character of an open door rather than a tightly scheduled production. Harrison came by on the 10th of March to hear the early recordings. Two days later, on the 12th, he returned and laid down backing vocals. Lennon was also in Los Angeles at the time, dealing with business matters at Capitol Records, and on the 13th of March, Starr, Lennon, and Harrison recorded Lennon's composition "I'm the Greatest" together. Ten takes were completed in a session of roughly eighteen minutes. Lennon headed back to New York the following day.

• 4. The Beatles Rumor Mill

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  British music magazine Melody Maker reported on the 17th of March that three Beatles had been working together in Los Angeles. The magazine noted that Klaus Voormann was present as well, describing him as "the bassist rumoured to replace Paul McCartney after his departure from the group." That story spread fast. The fourth Beatle, McCartney, was absent from the Los Angeles sessions for a reason that had nothing to do with reluctance. Drug arrests made him ineligible to enter the United States. On the 16th of April, Starr traveled to Apple Studio in London specifically to record "Six O'Clock" with McCartney and his wife Linda. McCartney played synthesizer, piano, and flute, arranged strings, and sang backing vocals. After finishing the track, Starr asked his chauffeur to buy tap dancing shoes, which he used on the song "Step Lightly." McCartney also appeared on "You're Sixteen," imitating a kazoo. All four former Beatles had now contributed to the same album.

• 5. The Story Behind Photograph

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  "Photograph" had a longer history than most songs on the album. Starr and Harrison wrote it on the 15th of May 1971 during a sailing holiday. Starr's wife Maureen, Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, and Cilla Black were all present on the trip. The song was first recorded in late 1972 with Harrison producing, during sessions for Harrison's own Living in the Material World album. Five months later it was remade for Ringo, this time produced by Perry. The lead single was released in the United States on the 24th of September 1973. Starr filmed a promotional clip at his Tittenhurst Park residence. The clip screened only once, on a single episode of the BBC television program Top of the Pops, and that broadcast has since been lost. "You're Sixteen" followed as the second single on the 3rd of December. By late December, "Photograph" had gone gold in the United States. Lennon sent Starr a telegram after the singles became hits, reading: "Congratulations. How dare you? And please write me a hit song."

• 6. Reception and Chart Rivals

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  Propelled by speculation about a Beatles reunion and the commercial success of "Photograph," the album landed at number one in Canada, number seven in the United Kingdom, and number two on the US Billboard 200. The record that blocked Ringo from the top of the Billboard chart was Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. On America's other album charts, Cashbox and Record World, Ringo did reach number one. The album was certified gold in America on the 8th of November 1973, and in Britain a month after its UK release. Critics noticed something distinctive about the record's tone. Loraine Alterman of The New York Times called it an "instant knockout... a sensational album." Ben Gerson's review in Rolling Stone acknowledged the album could feel "rambling and inconsistent" given Starr's limited artistry and the crowded guest list, yet concluded that 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."

• 7. Pressing Oddities and Reissues

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  The original cassette and 8-track versions of the album contained a longer version of "Six O'Clock," and a small number of early promotional vinyl copies did as well. All stock copies of the vinyl album, including the original pressing and the 1981 re-release, carried the shorter version. The center label on the original pressing incorrectly listed the running time as 5:26, which led some listeners to believe they had the long version when they did not. The correct running time of 4:06 appeared on the reissued vinyl. Reports at the time of release suggested the longer version was inserted into the tape duplicating masters at the last moment, possibly to balance the running time of program two on the 8-track format. The original artwork also misidentified a Randy Newman song as "Hold On" rather than its correct title, "Have You Seen My Baby?," an error corrected in subsequent pressings. When the album was reissued on compact disc, three bonus tracks were added: the 1971 single "It Don't Come Easy," its B-side "Early 1970," and "Down and Out," the B-side to "Photograph." The UK CD arrived on the 4th of March 1991, and the US Capitol edition followed on the 6th of May. Curiously, the longer "Six O'Clock" was not included on this reissue; it surfaced instead on the reissue of Goodnight Vienna.

• 8. The Instrumental Afterlife

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  The album found an unexpected second life in instrumental form. Arranger David Hentschel recorded an all-instrumental version of the entire record and titled it Startling Music. That album became the first release on Starr's own label, Ring O' Records, appearing in the United Kingdom on the 18th of April 1975. The US release came nearly four years later, on the 17th of February 1979. A budget edition of Startling Music reached UK shelves on the 27th of November under the Music for Pleasure imprint. The original Ringo album was itself re-released on Capitol in the United States in October 1980. The model of assembling an all-star cast that defined the 1973 sessions did not fade with the album's commercial moment. Starr carried that same approach into many of his subsequent records and touring bands, making the guest-heavy format less a novelty and more a permanent signature of his solo career.