Like every other person on the planet, I am a fan of the Beatles. The Fab Four created some of the world's greatest music, and I love them for it. Yet while I love and own every piece of music John, Paul, George, and Ringo ever officially released (and a good bit of what they didn't) as a unit, I have listened to very little of what they created as singular entities.
I have very little in the way of an explanation for that, except to say that I was born well after the Beatles broke up and I'm still trying to catch up. As the Beatles they released a collection of the world's most recognizable and praised music, as solo artist, well, that's not quite the case. For the most part the solo albums seem to be recognized as enjoyable tunes, but mostly contain nothing mandatory.
This goes double for Ringo who generally gets the short end of the Beatles stick, especially by me as he is the only Beatle of whom I own none of his solo material. That probably says more for Ringo's lack of songwriting credits on the Beatles discography and my own lack of appreciation for drummers than it does about Ringo himself.
That being said I'm not sure why I jumped on Ringo's new album, Liverpool 8. As with the others solo albums I have heard, Liverpool 8 is generally a case of the Beatles being better as a band than any of their individual parts. It is a nice album, great even in parts, but it simply can't come close to matching anything by the Beatles in their prime.
It starts off well enough with the opening number, “Liverpool 8” which is a mid-tempo, nostalgic, acoustic rocker. It is fun to sing along with in the same toe tapping way that Neil Young's “Buffalo Springfield Again” was.
Article comments
1 - A.L. Harper
I'm not a fan of the Beatles.... overblown boy band.
2 - patiosgirl
Im a fan but its been a while, but when i saw the new video liverpool. loves it. The whole thing was just .... real to me it was kinda like i was there ? who knows but i cant get that song out of my head , and for once its not driving me crazy. *** The little boy who portrais ringo in the vidio, so amazingly perfect.! he rock !!!. ringo and little ringo star..
!**!to my little Ringo Star *!!*
love you Caleb, you are so cute, first paris hilton now rigo star you arnt even 11 wait are you 11 or 12 ? anyways you are so lucky and so talented you rock ,\. keep it up and have fun but not to much or ill kick ur but. :)
3 - Mat Brewster
I always knew there was something a little off about you A.L., and now I know what it is. Thanks for clearing that up.
4 - Josh
Tip of the iceberg, Brewster. I've been trying to convince the site powers that be that you can't be allowed to be a music editor if you refer to The Beatles as an overblown boy band. It's like saying oxygen is just some silly minority gas in earth's atmosphere.
5 - Steve
Ringo is the greatest! He has been honest enough to share his struggle with the excesses of his earlier life style that nearly killed him and the solution he found in addition to sharing wonderful music. Its unfortunate that we lost so many talented musicians to alcohol & drugs. All things must pass, the idea is to try and prolong it! Long live Ringo & God bless you!
6 - Mike Jaworsky
Q: Who was the 1st Beatle to have a #1 solo hit?
A: Ringo (Photograph).
7 - bingo laaa
I have made an anti ringo song for ringo talkin bad about liverpool see what you think