| Ringo | ||||
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| Studio album by Ringo Starr | ||||
| Released | 2 November 1973 (US) 23 November 1973 (UK) |
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| Recorded | 5 March - 26 July 1973 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 37:07 | |||
| Label | Apple SWAL-3413 | |||
| Producer | Richard Perry | |||
| Ringo Starr chronology | ||||
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Ringo is the third album by Ringo Starr, released in 1973 on Apple Records. It peaked at #7 on the UK Albums Chart and #2 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, it reached #1 on the RPM national albums chart. The album is noted for the appearance of all four Beatles, and for its numerous guest stars, something which would become a signature for Starr on many of his future albums and tours.
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After releasing the standards tribute Sentimental Journey and the country and western Beaucoups of Blues, both in 1970, Starr would only record and release a couple of singles in the interim, namely "It Don't Come Easy" in 1971 and "Back Off Boogaloo" in 1972. While both were big successes and would have ordinarily inspired albums to support them, Starr declined to follow through, preferring to concentrate on acting during this period.
In early 1973, Starr decided the time was right to begin—in his mind—his first proper solo album, despite its two predecessors. Having already used Richard Perry to arrange one of the tracks on Sentimental Journey, Starr asked Perry to produce the sessions, which began that March.
As soon as Starr sent word to all his musician friends to help him in his new venture, they all responded positively. Taking part in the sessions were Marc Bolan, members of The Band, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Nicky Hopkins, Harry Nilsson and Jim Keltner. Additionally, all three of his former bandmates appeared on and composed material for Ringo, and Starr, Lennon and Harrison appear together on the Lennon-penned song "I'm The Greatest". Not surprisingly, when word of the session hit the media, furious Beatles reunion rumours (the first of several) began spreading. It would be the closest to a Beatles reunion until Eric Clapton's wedding party on 19 May 1979[1], followed by the recording of Harrison's All Those Years Ago in 1981 and the The Beatles Anthology project in 1995.
The experience of making Ringo was an enjoyable one for Starr and all involved, with its wide acceptance only furthering his personal feeling of success. Upon its November release, the critics were very warm in their appraisal, with Ringo hitting #1 for three weeks in Canada, reaching #7 in the United Kingdom, and denied the top spot in the United States by Elton John's blockbuster Goodbye Yellow Brick Road[2] (it still managed to peak at #1 in Cashbox and Record World [3]). In the US, the singles from Ringo "Photograph" and Starr's cover of "You're Sixteen" both went to #1, while becoming Top 10 UK hits.
In an interesting note, the original cassette tape and 8-track versions of the album, as well as a small number of early promotional copies of the vinyl album, contained a longer version of "Six O'Clock". All of the stock copies of vinyl version of the LP, including both the original pressing and the 1981 LP re-release of the album, as well as the CD (and the album's 1981 re-release on cassette tape), contained a shorter version of the song.[4] The record label on the original stock pressing of the vinyl album incorrectly lists the running time of "Six O'Clock" as 5:26, which may have led some to mistakenly assume that the original pressing contained the long version of the song. The label on the reissued vinyl album correctly lists the running time as 4:06.[5] At the time of release, various reviews and press articles of the day stated that the longer version was "snuck" onto the tape duplicating masters at the last moment. The longer version of "Six O'Clock" was oddly not added as a bonus track to the re-issue of the CD, but rather to the re-issue of the "Goodnight Vienna" CD.
Artwork for a quadrophonic version was produced, but was never released.
When the Ringo album was remastered and reissued on CD in 1991, the three bonus tracks included on it were all from singles: Starr's 1971 hit single "It Don't Come Easy" and its b-side "Early 1970", as well as "Photograph"'s flip side "Down And Out".
| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| Rolling Stone | (not rated) link |
| Single | Date | UK Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Photograph" | 5 October 1973 | #8 | #1 |
| "You're Sixteen" | 8 February 1974 | #4 | #1 |
| "Oh My My" | 8 February 1974 | (U.S. only) | #5 |
| Preceded by You Don't Mess Around with Jim by Jim Croce |
Canadian RPM 100 number-one album December 22, 1973 (1 week) |
Succeeded by Life and Times by Jim Croce |
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