Old Wave
Old Wave | ||||
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Studio album by Ringo Starr | ||||
Released | 16 June 1983 | |||
Recorded |
23 July 1978, Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen February, 6 – 16 April, May–July 1982, Starling Studios, Ascot | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 36:52 | |||
Label |
Bellaphon (Germany) RCA (Canada) | |||
Producer | Joe Walsh | |||
Ringo Starr chronology | ||||
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Singles from Old Wave | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
MusicHound | [2] |
Old Wave is the ninth studio album by Ringo Starr, released in 1983 as the follow-up to 1981's Stop and Smell the Roses.
Background and recording
After John Lennon's murder, Starr returned home to England to live at Tittenhurst Park, which Starr previously purchased from Lennon in 1973.[3] In early 1982, Starr was eager to move on to his next project. Deciding that he needed more consistency this time around, he would work with only one producer, Joe Walsh,[1] a former member of the recently disbanded Eagles.[4] Walsh and Starr had known each other since the mid-1970s, having met and befriended each other in Los Angeles. Walsh immediately agreed to work with Starr and they met at Tittenhurst in February to begin writing material.[5] Recording shortly afterwards begun and instrumental backing tracks for seven songs were recorded at Startling Studios,[6] after Starr had previously converted Lennon's recording studio.[4] Engineering duties were handled by Jim Nipor.[5] These sessions were mainly done with a team consisting of Starr on drums and percussion, Walsh on guitar and backing vocals, Mo Foster on bass and keyboardists Gary Brooker and Chris Stainton.[6]
Sessions came to a halt when Walsh and Nipor went to California on 19 March.[6] Sessions recommenced on 6 April[4] for a few days until 16 April.[3] On 15 April, Rolling Stone broke the news that Starr was "in London working on a new album with Joe Walsh acting as the producer."[3] Lead vocals were laid down from 19 to 23 April.[6] Sometime in May, Starr requested permission to build a new building on his Tittenhurst Park land, which he would use for video and recording purposes, from Windsor and Maidenhead District Council.[3] Sessions resumed from 31 May until 10 June; the next day, taking the masters recorded up to that point with him, Starr and his wife Barbara Bach fly from London to Los Angeles, and return on 14 June.[3] The album was finished with a third batch of sessions from 24 June into early July.[3]
"Everybody's in a Hurry But Me" came about from a jam session between John Entwistle, Ray Cooper and Eric Clapton.[7] "As Far as We Can Go", the final track on the album, was originally recorded at Sweet Silence Studios, in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 23 July 1978.[8]
Release and aftermath
The album was originally titled It Beats Sleep.[3][9] The album cover was taken in a booth in northern England.[5] As Starr's RCA contract had been cancelled, he needed to find a new label for Old Wave. Though it was just over a decade after The Beatles' dissolution, no major UK or US record company was interested in signing him. Starr would not accept that and was determined to have Old Wave released any way he could. The album was due to be released on the Boardwalk label, but never appeared due to the death of the label's head, Neil Bogart.[1][10] RCA Canada ended up distributing the album in June 1983 in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Brazil;[1] while in Germany, the album and lone single pulled from it, both released on 16 June,[11] appeared on the Bellaphon label.[nb 1][12] The Canadian release of the album occurred on 24 June.[nb 2][11] However, Old Wave failed to achieve success in any of these territories, and would be Starr's last studio album until 1992's Time Takes Time. The two singles pulled from the album: one in Germany, "In My Car", backed with "As Far as We Can Go",[nb 3][13] and the other in Mexico ("I Keep Forgettin'" b/w "She's About a Mover").
Walsh's 1987 album Got Any Gum? included a cover of "In My Car", which was released as a single and became a moderate hit. Four tracks from the album appear on Starr's US compilation Starr Struck: Best of Ringo Starr, Vol. 2 in 1989.[3] The album was reissued on CD, on the same day as Stop and Smell the Roses (1981), in the US by The Right Stuff on 22 August 1994.[nb 4][14] A further release, on 6 September, as both CD and cassette deluxe editions, included a bonus track,[14] the original 1978 version of "As Far as We Can Go".[9] "In My Car" was re-released, this time on yellow vinyl, with "She's About a Mover" as the B-side, on The Right Stuff on 1 November 1994. A promotional CD was released in 1994 by Capitol, featuring three songs from both Old Wave and Stop and Smell the Roses.[nb 5][6]
Track listing
- Side 1
- "In My Car" (Joe Walsh, Richard Starkey, Mo Foster, Kim Goody) – 3:13
- "Hopeless" (Walsh, Starkey) – 3:17
- "Alibi" (Walsh, Starkey) – 4:00
- "Be My Baby" (Walsh) – 3:44
- "She's About a Mover" (Doug Sahm) – 3:52
- Featuring Freebo on bass guitar and tuba
- Side 2
- "I Keep Forgettin'" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 4:18
- Featuring Ray Cooper on percussion with Starr
- "Picture Show Life" (John Reid, John Slate) – 4:21
- Featuring Waddy Wachtel on guitar
- "As Far as We Can Go" (Russ Ballard) – 3:52
- Featuring Joe Vitale on piano and vocals.
- "Everybody's in a Hurry But Me" (Walsh, Starkey, John Entwistle, Eric Clapton, Chris Stainton) – 2:35
- Features Clapton on guitar, Entwistle on bass, Stainton on piano, and Cooper on percussion
- "Going Down" (Walsh, Starkey) – 3:34
- Features Sam Clayton, Joe Lala and Jocko Marcellino on percussion
- Bonus track
- "As Far as We Can Go" (Original Version) (Ballard) – 5:33
- Featuring the Ballard on electric piano and the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra
Personnel
- Ringo Starr – Drums, percussion, vocals
- Joe Walsh – Guitars, synthesizers, talkbox, vocals
- Mo Foster – Bass guitar, guitars
- Gary Brooker – Keyboards, piano, electric piano
- Chris Stainton – Keyboards, piano, organ
- Russ Kunkel – Drums
- Steve Hess – Backing vocals
- Mark Easterling – Backing vocals
- Patrick Maroshek – Backing vocals
- Garrett Adkins – Trombone
- Lee Thornburg – Trumpet
- David Wooford – Saxophone
- Waddy Wachtel – Guitar
References
- Footnotes
- Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ruhlmann, William. "Old Wave – Ringo Starr : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
- ↑ Gary Graff & Daniel Durcholz (eds), MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; ISBN 1-57859-061-2), p. 1083.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith, ed. (2001). The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970–2001 (reprint ed.). London: Music Sales Group. ISBN 9780711983076.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 128. ISBN 9780753508435.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 260. ISBN 9780753508435.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 261. ISBN 9780753508435.
- ↑ Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 196. ISBN 9780753508435.
- ↑ Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 124. ISBN 9780753508435.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Calkin, Graham. "Old Wave". Jpgr.co.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
- ↑ Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 90. ISBN 9780753508435.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 130. ISBN 9780753508435.
- ↑
- ↑ Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 223. ISBN 9780753508435.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 147. ISBN 9780753508435.
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