Ringo

Poor Ringo. He has always been the butt of jokes in regards to The Beatles and his solo albums. Ringo released a brand new solo album today called "Choose Love" I have listened to some of the sample tracks and it promises to be one of Ringo's best. Since Ringo stopped drinking and went out on many concert tours and has revitalized his recording career, this seems to mean nothing for his record sales, which have been lousy for his entire solo career save for a handful of singles and the albums "Ringo" and "Goodnight Vienna" in the early 70s. Granted in the late 70s to the early 80s, Ringo released a number of albums that made even Yoko Ono's worst look good and I am a fan of Yoko's! But Ringo's last few studio albums "Time Takes Time" (1992), "Vertical Man" (1998) and "Ringo Rama" (2003) have been increasingly excellent and quite innovative.

I would have to say that "Ringo Rama" was much more creative than Paul McCartney's "Driving Rain" released at roughly the same time. Yet Paul's had quite a decent showing on the charts, while Ringo barely made the chart at all. Personally I don't care and apparently Ringo and Koch Records (his label since 2000) doesn't seem to either and that's good news, as Ringo keeps releasing remarkable albums that I can enjoy and purchase and no one has to worry whether they are charting or not. Keep up the good work, Ringo!

For those wishing to own Ringo's discography after The Beatles, here is a listing. All have been released to CD, but some are now out of print.

1. Sentimental Journey - 1970
2. Beaucoups of Blues - 1970
3. Ringo - 1973
4. Goodnight Vienna - 1974
5. Blast From Your Past - 1975
6. Ringo's Rotogravure - 1976
7. Ringo the 4th - 1977
8. Bad Boy - 1978
9. Stop and Smell the Roses - 1981
10. Old Wave - 1983
11. Starr Struck - 1989
12. Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band - 1990
13. Time Takes Time - 1992
14. Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band Volume 2 - 1993
15. Ringo Starr and his Third All-Starr Band - 1997
16. Vertical Man - 1998
17. VH1 Storytellers - 1998
18. I Wanna Be Santa Claus - 1999
19. The Anthology...So Far - 2000
20. Ringo and his New All-Starr Band Volume 1 - 2002
21. Ringo Rama - 2003
22. Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band Extended Versions - 2003
23. Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band Tour 2003 - 2004
24. Choose Love - 2005

-Mark.