What Are You Listening To?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

RINGO STARR  "rotogravure"  vinyl,  1976

his fifth...
i dont own the fourth (goodnight vienna) but i own the first three...
his music is starting to get all much of a muchness now and im only halfway through the Ringo albums i own...
light rock, soft pop, a country ballad and a cover or two and they are all sounding like the previous effort...
the final album in Beatle folklore to contain input from all four members either writing or playing on an album...
an all-star cast in the studio also besides the Fab Four with Clapton, Dr John, Frampton, Nilsson and Melissa Manchester to name a few.
but alas, having a 'who's who' list means nothing if the songs arent there...
most songs are okay but thats about it...
IM ON THE FENCE WITH THIS ONE

best of a really average bunch of songs:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

RINGO STARR  "stop and smell the roses"  vinyl,  1981

his eighth,
the first Ringo album i purchased....
i dont know what to say thats different from the previous posts...
half of the album is likable, the rest is drivel...
even the likes of Paul, George, Nilsson, Ronnie Wood and Stills writing songs for him cant save it with the three covers....
best song (but not by a country mile this time, just a regular mile) is the Harrison penned "wrack my brain" which in itself feels like an acceptable follow on from his one "crackerbox palace" a few years earlier.
Lennon had recorded a song called "nobody told me" which he was supposed to present and record with Ringo in January of 1981, but we all remember the events that unfolded in early December 1980 and Ringo never got to record the song.
all up another typical Ringo Starr album
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

favorite:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

Ooops! my bad...
had forgotten i had this one so it is posted out of order...



RINGO STARR  "goodnight Vienna"  vinyl  1974.

looks like i have his first six like MH,
sad thing is that i went back for three more LOL....
again,
half the album is on the passable side of the fence, the other half really bad...
several covers on here.
only John contributes this time round, Paul and George must have been otherwise preoccupied...
and once again Ringo manages to enlist a who's-who list of musos...
is it just me or is Ringo the only one who doesnt realize he sucks.?
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

favorite, the Lennon penned title track:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

seven down, two to go and this is getting more painful by the album....



RINGO STARR  "choose love"  cd,  2005

his fourteenth of twenty...
my eighth of nine...
actually bought this one around 2012 as a recommendation from my mate Corey...
yes, he did let me down a couple of times with his selections....
its Ringo, 12 tracks, five are listenable, the rest excruciating and painful...
seriously, Ringo cant be that naive that he thinks he is a genuine rock star...
"what would you do if i sang out of tune?, would you stand up and walk out on me?"...
if only people did walk out...
dude really does seem like a really genuinely nice guy and always appears to be enjoying his time on stage so its really hard to knock him but seriously Ringo....
and we get his signature peace sign on the cover here...
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

no favorite, just most listenable LOL...
everything about him is just so karaoke but you gotta love him.

---

one more to go then a couple of days break before i tackle the studio albums of Mr John Ono Lennon....

[CRAZY-HORSE]

lets get this crap over and done with....



RINGO STARR  "Y not"  cd,  2010

his sixteenth of twenty
my ninth of nine...
a recommendation from my mate Corey (same day as the "choose love" album), i bought them both thinking maybe Ringo had improved over the last three decades...
just goes to show that some things remain the same...
soft rock on here again, some reflection of life in the lyrics and the ever present theme of universal love, peace and understanding...
three songs make the 'okay' grade here, the rest, well its Ringo...
he's a nice guy, everyone who's anyone seems to want to help him out from Joe Walsh, Ben Harper, Richard Marx thru Glenn Ballard, Joss Stone and obviously Paul McCartney but alas, its all inconsequential fluff at the end of the day.
i dont have a problem with Ringo at all, cool dude, just not cut out for a solo career of any sort but he somehow made it...
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

i do like this one though as a stroll through memory lane and some light humor in the introduction to the audience...

[Ruby]

^I liked him on Thomas the Tank Engine. 

[Music Head]

tattoo anyone?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

^I liked him on Thomas the Tank Engine. 

tattoo anyone?

YES, Thomas The Tank Engine was IMO, his greatest achievement Ruby LOL

and as MH knows, YES on the Tattoo, not Ringo, Thomas (along with Lightning McQueen if anyone else is interested)

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOHN LENNON  "mind games" cd, 1973.

his forth proper album...
excellent lyrics which he is generally good at...
lack of melody or variation in the songs.
pretty average bunch of songs but at least we dont hear Yoko on this one...
album has sold around 2 million copies over the years, probably mostly after he died...
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

best by a long shot:
love the home video for this one.






We're playin' those mind games together
Pushin' the barriers, plantin' seeds
Playin' the mind guerrilla
Chantin' the mantra, peace on earth.


We all been playin' those mind games forever
Some kinda druid dude liftin' the veil
Doin' the mind guerrilla
Some call it magic, the search for the grail.

Love is the answer
And you know that for sure
Love is a flower
You gotta let it, you gotta let it grow.

So keep on playin' those mind games together
Faith in the future, outta the now
You just can't beat on those mind guerrillas
Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind.

Yeah, we're playin' those mind games forever
Projectin' our images in space and in time.

Yes is the answer
And you know that for sure
Yes is surrender
You gotta let it, you gotta let it go.

So keep on playin' those mind games together
Doin' the ritual dance in the sun
Millions of mind guerrillas
Puttin' their soul power to the karmic wheel.

Keep on playin' those mind games forever
Raisin' the spirit of peace and love.

Love
I want you to make love, not war
I know you've heard it before

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOHN LENNON  "walls and bridges" cd, 1974.

his forth proprer album...
written about his so-called 'lost weekend' where he ditched Yoko and had an affair with ne of her friends for a couple of years whilst hanging out in bars and shooting up chemicals with Nilsson for a couple of years....
songs are totally autobiographical in content which is what John excels at.
music a cross between the austere sparseness of "plastic ono band" and the commercial sounds of "imagine" albums and obviously no Yoko in the fray...
this is the solo Lennon i love immensely and other fans agreed, it reached #1 in the US and top 10 in his homeland, he even had a #1 single in the US with "whatever gets you through the night"...
and sales figures just under 3 million show he was on the way back without the political bullshit!
one instrumental on here and ten vocal tracks, loving just about everything...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

perfect end to the album with his personal and professional insecurities front and centre:






Nobody loves you when you're down and out
Nobody sees you when you're on cloud nine
Everybody's hustlin' for a buck and a dime
I'll scratch your back and you scratch mine.


I've been across to the other side
I've shown you everything, I got nothing to hide
But still you ask me, do I love you?
What it is? What it is?
All I can tell you is it's all show biz
All I can tell you is it's all show biz.

Nobody loves you when you're down and out
Nobody knows you when you're on cloud nine
Everybody's hustlin' for a buck and a dime
I'll scratch your back and you knife mine.

I've been across the water now so many times
I've seen the one-eyed witchdoctor leading the blind
But still you ask me, do I love you?
What you say? What you say?
Every time I put my finger on it, it slips away
Every time I put my finger on it, it slips away.

Well, I get up in the morning
And I'm looking in the mirror to see, oo-wee!.

Then I'm lying in the darkness
And I know I can't get to sleep, oo-wee!.

Nobody loves you when you're old and grey
Nobody needs you when you're upside down
Everybody's hollerin' 'bout their own birthday
Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground