Ringo Starr - Y Not

Don’t expect an autographed copy

Starr made headlines in late 2008 with an unintentionally comical YouTube announcement that he would no longer sign pictures or memorabilia sent to him because he was “too busy”. Presumably a good deal of his hectic schedule since then has involved recording the 36 minutes of music on Y Not, begging the question: could this time have been better spent?

It’s unlikely anyone expects a groundbreaking album from Ringo at such a late stage in his career, but the one-note tedium of these 10 songs washes over the listener without making the slightest of impressions. Even famous friends such as Joe Walsh, Don Was, Dave Stewart and Van Dyke Parks can’t lift him out of his creative torpor.

Paul McCartney’s harmony vocal on Walk With You today represents the closest we’ll ever get to a Fabs reunion, a pedestrian folk lament that, like several other tracks, features autobiographical lyrics which make being a former Beatle sound like one of the dullest experiences in the world. Who’s Your Daddy?, the closing duet with Joss Stone, has some of the rocking sparkle of Starr’s 70s albums, though the title, subject matter and age gap between the protagonists is more than a little unsettling.

Universal | 060252273808

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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