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Ring Starr, 69
The other day, I subjected myself to one of the worst 30 minutes of music listening I have had in 2010. Purely for research purposes, I played through Ringo Starr’s latest album, “Y Not”, and my ears were very disappointed with my decision to do so. It seems that whenever I hear one of Ringo’s songs he is always reminiscingm about his days as a beatle (”When we was Fab” is one of his previous songs). On this record, we hear “Peace Dream”, in which Paul McCartney joins in on bass guitar – an obvious tribute to fellow Beatle John Lennon. I wasn’t able to pull the track from my usual source on Grooveshark (I guess they are in agreement with me and wouldn’t wish harm on anyone by making this available), but the YouTube video above should work.
Ring Starr, (real name Richard Starkey), drummer from The Beatles first started making solo records in 1970. “Y Not” is his 15th record, and I am surprised at how much publicity it has received. Sure, Ringo has been acting a little crazy of late with his talk show antics (he walked out on Regis & Kelley in 2008 because he did not want to perform a shortened version of his song), but why should all this bad press translate to a better than average performance in record sales. That’s right, “Y Not” debuted in the Billboard Charts at No. 58, which is his highest entry since 1976.
“Who’s Your Daddy” is more of a Joss Stone song, with Ringo on backing vocals – I’m not sure why it was placed on to his album. This is the most cringe-worthy song I have heard in a long time – seriously, why would anybody want to listen to a 69 year-old man saying “Who’s your daddy” to a woman still in her 20’s… it makes me shudder. Why someone such as Joss Stone, who has had enormous singing success in the UK, would be willing to perform with Ringo is a question I would love to know the answer to. Why, why, why!? Maybe she is a huge Beatles fan? Either way, Ringo still remains the least gifted Beatle when judging talent – perhaps he ought to go back to narrating Thomas the Tank Engine?.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Should I be worried if I kind of like it?
February 4th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
p.s. For some reason this made me think of Tom Jones and The Cardigans teaming up for “Burning Down the House”. I liked that song, but love The Cardigans on their own even more. Maybe you could feature them sometime?
February 9th, 2010 at 8:47 am
For you, The Cardigans. I found a nice cover of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man.
February 10th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I really Love this CD, just stop to listen to what he is actually singing about, it’s so uplifting! I am only 24 yrs old and I know this is my favorite cd this year so far, I can’t help keep listening to it everywhere, in my car, home, ipod, etc. It’s such a wonderful CD and Thumbs up to you Ringo!!You are better than Ever!!
February 10th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Sorry that you were disappointed with what is really a pretty good CD. Maybe you should try rap???
February 10th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Thanks for your comments – everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I’m pleased you took the time to share with us all! I guess the downfall for Ringo is that he’ll always be remembered as a Beatle, and his music will always be compared to what went before.
[correction for my post above "When we was Fab" was written and performed by George Harrison, Ringo played drums on this song]
Rapp? … well, does 1981’s “Rapture” count by Blondie?! I love that song, and it was the first rap-influenced song to top the charts here in the USA!
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:52 pm
For 69, Ringo is still going strong. Well Done!