CD Review: Ringo Starr - Liverpool 8

Ringo Starr's music is oddly comfortable - like a chewed-up old pair of slippers or a ragged favorite jacket. As the odd man out in the Beatles, Starr's charisma and talent was too often overshadowed by the genius of John Lennon, the pop mastery of Paul McCartney, or the instrumental skills of George Harrison, never really given a proper showcase to shine. After the band's break-up, Starr joined his fellow Beatles in launching a solo career. Although he was, once again, usually upstaged by his more commercially-successful or more notorious former mates, Starr has nevertheless enjoyed a lengthy and productive career with his own music that has spanned four decades.

For about five years, beginning with Starr's second solo album in 1970, the former Beatles drummer enjoyed a string of Top Ten hit singles and critically-acclaimed albums. It all began with Beaucoups Of Blues. Released in 1970, this was Ringo's "country" album. Recorded in Nashville, the album showcased the best studio talent that the city had to offer, including a pre-Southern Rock godfather Charlie Daniels, extraordinary guitarist Jerry Reed, pedal-steel maestro Pete Drake, and the undisputed king of harmonica, Charlie McCoy. For many listeners, Beaucoups Of Blues played better as a straight country album than as a pop-rock collection, Starr taking it as high as #35 on the country charts, but only to #65 on the pop albums chart.

Not so with Starr's follow-up, 1973's Ringo. After a pair of obvious genre recordings (Starr's solo debut, Sentimental Journey, was a collection of standards from the '30s and '40s), Ringo went straight for the commercial jugular with the decidedly pop-rock-oriented Ringo. Calling for a little help from his friends, the album featured guests like all three of Starr's former Beatles bandmates, as well as glam-rock superstar Marc Bolan, Memphis soul guitarist Steve Cropper, singer Harry Nilsson, "fifth Beatle" Billy Preston, and almost the entire band the Band. The strategy worked well, pushing Ringo to number two on the pop charts and yielding four Top Ten singles. With the following year's Goodnight Vienna, Starr pursued a similar Beatlesque pop vein, working with most of the same folk, including the rest of the Fab Four, Sir Elton John, Dr. John, and guitarist Dennis Coffey. The album rose to number eight on the charts and cranked out three Top Ten hit singles.

From this point, however, Starr's commercial fortunes waned considerably, as each subsequent album suffered from dwindling levels of success. When the musician's early-80s albums stiffed horribly, he retreated from making records for a decade, returning with the imaginative Time Takes Time in 1992. Recording with younger musicians, members of the Posies and Jellyfish, both bands featuring sounds heavily influenced by the Beatles, the album sounded fresher and more immediate than anything that Starr had recorded in 15 years. Several live albums were subsequently released throughout the '90s, recorded with whatever All-Starr pick-up band that Ringo had recruited for that summer's sold-out tour.

When he followed Time Takes Time a few years later with the entertaining Vertical Man in 1998, it seemed that Starr had entered a new phase in his career which, in a manner of speaking, he did. Hooking up with musician/producer Mark Hudson of '70s pop band the Hudson Brothers, the synergy shared by the two seemed to produce magic in the studio. In retrospect, however, aside from Vertical Man, the studio albums produced by the pair were relatively lackluster collections of Beatlesque pop, largely devoid of ambition and appealing largely to the faithful.

When Starr and Hudson began work on what would become Liverpool 8, the two had some sort of falling out after spending most of a decade working with each other. Enter Dave Stewart, one half of the underrated Eurythmics, an incredible musician and songwriter in his own right. Taking over the production of Liverpool 8, Stewart brought fresh ideas to Starr's work without overwhelming the artist's typically even-keeled sound with his own strong pop personality. To Stewart's credit, he didn't issue a Soviet-styled disappearing of Hudson's contributions to the album...his instrumentation and co-writing fingerprints are all over the place. Instead, Stewart built upon what his predecessor left behind, seemingly adding where necessary, shaping the sound where it needed it.

The result is, perhaps, the most self-assured and open of Starr's recordings since the '70s, a solid if unspectacular collection of songs that serves the artist's legacy well. In other words, there's nothing here on Liverpool 8 that is going to challenge contemporary pop orthodoxy, tho' many of the young bands currently attempting to pull a gold nugget out of the mine shaft originally dug out 44 years ago by Starr and friends would do well to give these songs a spin and see how it's done by a couple of old pros like Starr and Stewart.

Liverpool 8 finds Starr living comfortably in the past. It's a fault, perhaps, that intensifies as one gets older...try telling a twenty-something person anything about middle age and they'll dismiss you as an old fart. It's true, however, that as each year falls off the calendar, one naturally begins to consider what has fallen behind, not what little is yet to come. The album-opening title cut is a nifty little slice o' whimsy, an autobiographical stroll down memory lane for Starr that succeeds because of the song's lush instrumentation and a strong reading of the lyrics (with obvious love and fondness) by Starr.

Liverpool 8 has some other real keepers tucked away in the grooves, songs that evince a timeless sound devoid of the trend mongering older artists often times attempt. Starr knows his limitations and manages to rise above them more often than not. "Think About You" is part jubilant pop, part funky shuffling blues that hits a nice gallop. "Now That She's Gone Away" boasts of a swamp-bred, Creedence-styled rhythmic beat behind a hooky pop chorus. "Gone Are The Days" is another backwards glance, kicking off with uber-cool swirling guitars and Starr's ethereal voice floating around the mix. A heavy keyboard riff enters the fray, leading into a more conventional pop-rock construct that name checks a former Starr hit ("It Don't Come Easy") and features some downright nasty six-string work courtesy of Jesse Davey.

Obviously written for late singer Harry Nilsson, "Harry's Song" is a remarkably spot-on recreation of Nilsson's eccentric and unique style of pop, down to Starr's impressive vocal gymnastics and the song's odd, syncopated, multi-stylistic instrumentation. It's a fun song, and a fitting tribute to an old friend. "R U Ready" is a sort of country-Gospel look at the great beyond, an odd song with echoed vocals that sound like Starr is singing out of an old radio speaker. It's done tongue-in-cheek, but considering Starr's age and the fact that two of his former mates have already "crossed over," one has to wonder about the thoughts behind the song. It's an interesting piece, a modern interpretation of an old-timey sound.

Starr's vocals are what they are - limited, albeit friendly and easily recognizable - but one of the artist's strengths is that he has usually been able to infuse his songs with a small bit of his larger-than-life personality. As usual, Starr has recruited a top notch sessions band to record with and, indeed, at this point in his career, he usually has no problem calling on the services of just about any musician he wants to use.

Taken altogether, Liverpool 8 is a pleasant diversion, a throwback to a kinder, gentler era perhaps, evoking memories of Starr's early-70s work. More than that, it's the kind of innocent, playful, well-built pop-rock album that too few artists take the time to create these days. Although the songs here are mostly group collaborations, there is no doubt that Starr is in the lead, and he learned his songwriting craft from three of the best in the biz.

So, what's the skinny on Liverpool 8? If you've remained one of Ringo Starr's loyal fans through the years, then you already have a copy of Liverpool 8 in your possession. If you consider yourself a true believer in the Fab Four, you may have picked up a copy of the CD on a whim, or maybe you plan to. For everybody else, if you want to hear what true pop-rock craftsmanship sounds like, music unencumbered by label focus groups or unfair commercial expectations, then Liverpool 8 may be what you've been craving all this time. Like that stained T-shirt, your natty old sweater, or those ragged slippers, Starr's music is a comfortable fit.