Starr Struck
This was Ringo’s second post-Beatles album (the first was Sentimental Journey). Sentimental Journey was a collection of old songs he recorded for his mum; Beaucoups of Blues is straight-ahead Nashvile country and western. I’d never heard it before today, and I really enjoyed it.
The background is simple and is well summarised in an old article from Nashville Scene that’s worth a read, not least for the insight into the respect in which Ringo was held by the stellar musicians involved in the recording.
Had this been an unknown American troubador, this album would be in serious danger of being a lost classic. Ringo’s vocal performance, though often damned with faint praise, easily bears comparison with early Kris Kristofferson (and Kris would have killed for some of these songs).
I find Ringo’s post-Beatles path interesting. This, and Sentimental Journey point to an aspect of the context in which the Beatles emerged that was easily overlooked by music commentators, especially those based in London who only left the confines of the capital in the direst emergencies and even then had second thoughts. It’s the same cultural background that informed his portrayal of Mike in That’ll Be The Day, that mix of musichall, dancehall and country that infused and underpinned what the Beatles did as a collective.
I really like that Ringo felt no pressure to be hip and happening or, if he did, had the strength of character to ignore it. And I’d rather listen to this album than the majority of Lennon’s post-Beatles work, precisely because it is unaffected–and you can hear that the musicians involved were having a blast.
A cracking wee album. I listened on Spotify. It’s on YouTube too:
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