Ringo 2012 (2012)


 
1. Anthem 2. Wings 3. Think It Over 4. Samba 5. Rock Island Line 6. Step Lightly 7. Wonderful 8. In Liverpool 9. Slow Down

 

It seems like, at this late stage in his career, that Ringo has just given up. This is really a shame. He’s always been known as the lovable, goofy one of The Beatles, and it really isn’t that derogatory when one states that, musically, he was probably the least talented of the fab four. Again, that’s not really a slam. He was hired to be a drummer, not a song-writer, and he always did an excellent job with his designated instrument.

So in the early phase of his solo career after The Beatles broke up, it really wasn’t that surprising to see him trying to be “cute” on his record albums. He seemed to almost be saying that he needed to be cute, because he wasn’t that talented. Well, any true fan knows that this simply isn’t true. Ringo actually put out some great records, and he seemed to hit his peak creatively from 1992-2008 with a little help from his musician friends, The Roundheads. The music buyer is fickle, however, and even though he did release a string of praiseworthy material, the public simply wasn’t buying the product. So starting with 2010’s Y Not, and continuing with this album, he seems to just be phoning the whole thing in so he can check off the box.

He rarely does his listeners any favors when he continues to write quirky “peace” tunes, or tired homages to his birthplace. We get one of each here - Anthem and In Liverpool. Both are seriously lacking. Sometimes I would swear that Ringo has written more songs about Liverpool than every other artist in the business combined. Then, for whatever reason he includes two songs that he released back in the seventies. Step Lightly from 1973’s Ringo (one of his best), and Wings from 1977’s Ringo the 4th (one of his worst). Why did he do such a thing, and why did he choose these two songs? Who knows. It’s almost as if he put every song he ever recorded into a hat and chose two lucky contestants. Actually, the two aforementioned songs really aren’t that bad, but like everything else on this record, they just don’t seem to be receiving a lot of attention nor care.

There are few other spots on this record that aren’t as dim. Songs such as Think it Over, Samba and Wonderful could have actually been quite good had more care gone into them. The whole album clocks in at a mere 29 minutes. Sadly, anything more than this would have been unbearable. He really is capable of so much more.


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