Ringo Rama
| Ringo Rama | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Original album artwork by Mark Hudson
|
||||
| Studio album by Ringo Starr | ||||
| Released | 25 March 2003 | |||
| Recorded | 2002 | |||
| Studio | Whatinthewhatthe? Studios, Los Angeles; Rocca Bella, Village Recorder, London |
|||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 49:52 | |||
| Label | Koch | |||
| Producer | Mark Hudson, Ringo Starr | |||
| Ringo Starr chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from Ringo Rama | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| The Essential Rock Discography | 6/10 |
| PopMatters | (favourable) |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Ringo Rama is the thirteenth studio album by Ringo Starr, released in 2003.
They actually gave the Christmas album no support. We have now parted company due to their incompetence, they let me go. I'm hoping to record another studio album ... and I'm hoping it will be on any label other than Mercury.
As the follow-up to I Wanna Be Santa Claus (1999), it continues Starr's alliance with Mark Hudson as well as most of his collaborators from that last project. Not straying too far from his tried and tested formula, Starr engaged the services of some of his famous musician friends for Ringo Rama. Annoyed that Mercury had not put enough promotion towards I Wanna Be Santa Claus, Starr left the label in 2000. Contributors this time around include Willie Nelson, Charlie Haden, Van Dyke Parks, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, Shawn Colvin, Timothy B. Schmit, and Eric Clapton. Gilmour and Clapton's availability was down to the fact of living close-by to Starr, as he commented, "People would ask, "So who's on the record?" and we'd say, "Just a couple of local guys. You know, like Eric Clapton and Dave Gilmour." Because they do both live just around the corner." Recording had taken place at Starr's recording studio in London, Rocca Bella, and Hudson's Whatinthewhatthe? Studios in Los Angeles, with the sessions being produced by Starr, Hudson and Gary Nicholson.
Starr commented that the opening track, "Eye to Eye", sounded "like there's a war going on and we're trying to make it a war of love." "Missouri Loves Company", a play on words of misery loves company, was written quickly after Dean Grakal thought of the title phrase. The song features Gilmour on guitar. "Instant Amnesia" features, as Starr mentions, "some of the best drumming I've ever played in the last ten, fifteen years." "Memphis in Your Mind" references several Sun Studio artists, such as Elvis Presley and Orbison. With George Harrison's late 2001 passing before Ringo Rama was started, Starr composed "Never Without You" in tribute to his friend, having Clapton perform the guitar solo duties. The song originally started out as a tribute to John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, but Starr thought the song was getting "too messy". After choosing to focus solely on Harrison, lines from Harrison's songs—"Within You Without You","Here Comes the Sun and All Things Must Pass"—were included. Starr asked Clapton based on his stature as a friend to both Starr and Harrison: "We're all good friends. So I asked Eric to play and he said 'yeah'." "Imagine Me There" started out based off the line "You are that to me", Gary Burr told Starr that he couldn't have that line in a country song, Starr proceed to tell him: "Yes I can say it—and if I sing it, it will be country!".
...
Wikipedia