Ringo Starr - Photograph: The Very Best Of Ringo

The drummer done good

For a short while after the group’s demise, Ringo was arguably the most visible and successful ex-Beatle, racking up hit after hit, albeit with a little help from fellow former Fabs. Harrison, Lennon and McCartney all contributed songs to 1973’s mega-selling Ringo album (George’s Photograph and John’s I’m The Greatest included here), suggesting that he was perhaps mostly an innocent bystander/victim of the messy break-up. Not that Ringo ever complained, his long-confirmed nonchalance and humour standing him in good stead even when the lawyers were circling. He’s always known his limitations and cut his cloth accordingly, with sprightly, not-too-serious covers of Johnny Burnette’s You’re Sixteen and Hoyt Axton’s rehab fable, The No No Song. His old bandmates continued to pay heed, though, Lennon was clearly influenced by Ringo’s ultra-white reggae version of The Platters’ Only You when he came to re-work Ben E King’s Stand By Me. This collection leans heavily towards the Ringo album and its follow-up, Goodnight Vienna, although his subsequent (and less celebrated) studio visits also get a look-in, further examples of his laid-back attitude and unwavering charm. Starr’s first solo hit was It Don’t Come Easy, but he’s spent the ensuing 36 years showing us that it plainly does.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

EMI/Parlophone | cat no tbc

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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