New Wax Wednesday

If it’s November, then it must mean it’s time for another round of Beatles-related vinyl reissues, remasters, and upgrades — and I, for one, am all for it. We have, shall we say, Anthologically inclined deep-dive coverage taking flight over the next week-plus that will add up to a sum total of four Fab Four Family reviews to come, so stay tuned for how it all unfolds.

First up, it’s time to give the drummer some — meaning that today’s Fabs focus is on Richard Starkey, a.k.a. Ringo Starr, who’s still going strong at 85 years young and counting. Just a few weeks back on October 25, 2025, Capitol/UMe re-released Ringo’s first four 1970s solo LPs on Apple via some pretty cool-looking, limited-edition color pressings — namely, March 1970’s Sentimental Journey on Buttermilk Yellow color vinyl, September 1970’s Beaucoups of Blues on Baby Blue color vinyl, November 1973’s Ringo on Molten Lava color vinyl, and November 1974’s Goodnight Vienna on Psychedelic Waves color vinyl.

In an official press statement about this reissue series, Bruce Resnikoff, President & CEO of UMe, observed that, “For decades, Ringo [seen above in his modern-day cowboy guise!] has shaped music and inspired audiences worldwide, revered for his artistry and for his mission to spread peace and love around the world. We are honored to be entrusted with preserving his body of work, from his early work to his solo albums throughout the years. These reissues highlight his depth, his creativity, and his lasting cultural impact.”

If you’re not all that familiar with Ringo’s early post-Beatles solo work, now’s the time to catch up. Each LP in this series sports a respective SRP of $29.99 each — and, at present, they’re available at Ringo’s official site store right here. Some of them may already be sold out at the time of this posting, so I’d suggest you order your own copies ASAP. (Note that the UMe-affiliated site uDiscover Music still looks to have copies of each LP available right now, while the UMG-affiliated site The Sound of Vinyl, who solicited having copies of all four of these LPs available earlier last month for preorder, do not have any of them available there at the moment.)

Some other Ringo vinyl stats now. Source material info has not been provided, so there is likely to be some digital steps involved here, as the associated rollout press materials typically tout analog-driven processes for most other related Fabs-family LP releases. (If we get any updates in that regard, I’ll include them here accordingly.) That said, this really shouldn’t deter you from getting any/all of these LPs unless you’re at the Ivory Snow-level of AAA purism (which I do respect).

There are no hype stickers affixed to the cover-side shrink wrap for any of the entries in this Ringo reissue series — but, in looking closely at the backside of said shrink wrap, I saw the phrase “Vinyl Made in Mexico” in all-caps, appearing in black dot-matrix style on the bottom half of it adorning each back cover — which more than likely means they were all pressed at Conectiv in Guadalajara, Mexico. (You can see that visible ID in the above pic from the back-wrap of Sentimental Journey, centered just above the right-leaning copyright lines next to the UPC code. It may have a blue-ish hue here, but it is black.)

Considering none of my four 1970s Ringo originals were bought new, I already much prefer spinning these virgin LPs. I do also have the 2018 European Capitol/UMe reissues of both Ringo and Vienna that were pressed by MPO in France, for good measure. It is worth wondering if the remastering carried over from the latter two to the here and now, but no real techie data/info was given for those two editions either. Hence, IBID with my earlier note — i.e., if we get updates, we’ll share them here.

One confirmed nit I do have to pick upfront is that, with the exception of Vienna, three of these four LPs come in plain-white rounded paper sleeves — a packaging faux pas that makes me and my fellow vinylphiles cringe outright, as this is something that more often than not leads to specks and flecks appearing here and there on either LP side, which can potentially impede playback performance even after we go through our usual, vigorous LP-cleaning steps before any needle drops occur. Luckily, I did not detect all that many nasty/pesky flecks on any of my copies sans a few random ones on Side 1 of Ringo. Naturally, I replaced all those recycling-bin-bound paper inners with anti-static, plastic-lined, audiophile-grade MoFi Original Master sleeves. Only occasionally did I detect any pops or clicks during playback — and only at the end of a side at that, not during any songs themselves.

And now, let’s get to the individual LP breakdown section, which includes some basic FAQs along with the usual MM commentary and ratings. Ringo introduced himself as a solo artist with Sentimental Journey, which originally arrived on March 27, 1970. During an exchange with producer George Martin, Ringo is said to have set the course for this album when he famously proposed, “Why don’t we take a sentimental journey?” As such, he recorded 12 covers of staples from the American songbook, tipping his hat to the songs that shaped him during his formative years. To my ear, the template for the arrangements here can be traced back to “Good Night,” the quite lush final track on Side 4 of November 1968’s double LP The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album) that is, of course, sung by Ringo with an orchestra in full tow.

As backed by the ostensibly named George Martin Orchestra and very much a product of its time, the swingin’ lilt of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” (Side 1, Track 2) essentially sets the overall tone for the Journey LP — and also how the individual Fabs approached using the stereo form back then with the drumming summed to the right channel, and the horn breaks to the left. There are occasional bouts with sibilance — see especially the excessive “s’s” on “Blue, Turning Grey Over You” (Side 2, Track 1) — something I’d imagine would have been cleaned up in Pro Tools (or the equivalent) on modern-day recordings before getting to the mix/mastering stage.

As was also typical of the times, Sentimental Journey wasn’t all that well received back in the day, especially considering how the big-band era was not then a “happening” thing, given the pop/rock ethos of 1970. The album has since seen its appreciation ratchet upwards in recent years — perhaps now that a score of heritage artists and maturing audiences alike have both embraced the form (for good or ill), not to mention how Ringo’s admittedly non-technical singing voice has been granted more grace, context, and familiarity in the ensuing timeframe. He’s a singular singer beloved for always being true to himself — and if you dig it, then you dig it, full stop. My ratings? The Music gets a semi-sentimental 7.5, and the Sound gets an 8. If these songs were recut today with all-new orchestral backing, both ratings would probably go up a notch (or so) each.

Ringo tracked the follow-up LP Beaucoups of Blues at Music City Recorders in Nashville, alongside producer and pedal-steel guitar master Peter Drake. Released just six months after Journey on September 25, 1970, this 12-song collection saw our man Ringo embrace his passion for country and folk — passions he’d continue to follow through on in some of his latter-era recordings like January 2025’s Look Up on Lost Highway, an 11-song country treatise produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett and cut in Nashville and Los Angeles. (And totally worth picking up, btw! Black or white vinyl options are available. Music: 8.5; Sound: 8.5.)

As for Beaucoups, it’s a down-home swerve away from Journey, so if you connect with The Beatles’ Ringo-sung takes on Buck Owens’ “Act Naturally,” as well as their originals “What Goes On” and “Don’t Pass Me By,” then this LP is for you. The gospel flavor of the title cut (Side 1, Track 1) is akin to something you’d hear on the AM radio dial while driving down south in the dark hours, searching for George Jones. “I’m coming home / I’ve had me enough,” Ringo laments here — and he essentially stays in that melancholy(ish) vein all the way through. My favorite track opens Side 2, “$15 Draw,” with its wonderful harmonica, acoustic picking, and pedal-steel accompaniment — along with Ringo’s vocal vamps toward the tail end (pun intended). Music is an 8, and Sound is an 8.

On an unrelated note, you can bet that today’s PC police would have made fer damn sure the cigarette between the fingers of Ringo’s right hand resting on his face on the Beaucoups front cover would have been Photoshopped right on out of there, if it were coming out as a brand-new LP today — and, in turn, that woulda created a one-way ticket to “Loser’s Lounge,” if ever there was one to be had.

A few years passed before his namesake album Ringo arrived on November 2, 1973. Acting seemed to consume his time during the interim following Beaucoups, though Ringo did release a pair of non-album hit singles: a) “It Don’t Come Easy” in 1971 (No. 4), and b) “Back Off Boogaloo” in 1972 (No. 9). Since neither of those singles appear anywhere within this particular batch of LPs, it only seems logical that a 50th and/or 51st anniversary reissue of Ringo’s November 1975 Blast From Your Past compilation on Apple — wherein they both appear on Side 1 — should be encouraged to arrive sooner rather than later.

For Ringo, he teamed up with producer Richard Perry (Carly Simon, The Pointer Sisters) and notably collaborated with all three of his Beatles bandmates — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison (though all Four Fabs never appear together on any of the same tracks, mind you) — as well as The Band’s Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, and Rick Danko, plus Marc Bolan of T-Rex, among others.

Ringo reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and went platinum (over 1million copies sold) — and it’s not hard to see/hear why. The Lennon-penned “I’m The Greatest” opens Side 1, an infectious self-referential deprecation that swings with Klaus Voorman’s burbly low end and George Harrison’s signature slide guitar. (“Now all I want to do is boogaloo,” indeed.) “Photograph” (Side 1, Track 3), co-written with Harrison, went to No. 1, and its touching reminiscences remain universal, replete with a wonderful tenor sax solo from Bobby Keys (best known for his horn work with The Rolling Stones, albeit with his last name having been spelled with an extra ‘e’ on the back cover). Did Def Leppard borrow one of the key lines of the chorus for use in their own infectious, same-titled but different song 1983 hit, “Photograph”? (Discuss amongst yourselves.) I’m also partial to the Mick Fleetwood-like drumming propulsion, courtesy both Ringo and Jim Keltner, on “Devil Woman” (Side 2, Track 4).

The singalong cover of Johnny Burnette’s 1960 hit “You’re Sixteen” (Side 1, Track 5) — and yep, that’s Sir Paul turning in the “mouth sax solo” — and “Oh My My” (Side 2, Track 1) are perennials that Ringo has performed fairly regularly during his latter-era All-Starr Band incarnations. It’s also good to see this Ringo reissue boasts the original LP’s 24-page booklet with lyrics and Voorman illustrations galore residing in the left side of the gatefold jacket, so kudos for that — but still boo-hiss for housing the LP in one of those aforementioned paper sleeves in the right side. The Music gets an 8.5, and the Sound gets 8.5 too.

Brief sidenote: I know it’s essentially meant as a visual mirror-image kinda thing, but the reverse tracklisting for what’s on Side 2 on the back cover (with Tracks 4 and 5 listed before and to the left of Tracks 1-3) still throws me off.

Finally, Ringo unveiled Goodnight Vienna (and hello Gort!) on November 15, 1974. This time around, he worked with everyone from John Lennon and Elton John to Dr. John, Billy Preston, Robbie Robertson, and Harry Nilsson. Cutting the record at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, Ringo reteamed with Richard Perry for production, and the sound palette essentially continued the overall vibes of what they set forth on Ringo.

Lennon does the count-in on the funky title track that opens Side 1, which some classic Lennon lyrical wordplay and Billy Preston on clavinet (“uh huh hah!”). Meanwhile, Sir Elton tickles the ivories and Robertson provides the guitarwork on “Snookeroo” (Side 1, Track 5). It’s a side-ending cut courtesy the EJ/Bernie Taupin songwriting axis with lines allegedly based on Ringo’s life, albeit with typical wink-nod embellishments — plus horns. Speaking of horns, Steve Madaio adds a cool, Herb Alpert-esque trumpet solo to “All By Myself” (Side 2, Track 1).

Side 2 also sees Ringo’s well-loved toke, er, take on Hoyt Axton’s “No No Song” (Track 3; also another All-Starr Band staple), as well as “Only You (And You Alone)” right after it (Track 4), a cover of a 1955 Platters doo-wop special suggested by Lennon, who provides acoustic guitar; Nilsson supplies the Lou Reed-like, let’s just call it, “narration.” Though Vienna reached No. 8 and went Gold (500,000 copies sold), and it boasts a number of fine moments done “with gusto,” it’s just a tick below the overall quality level of Ringo. The Music gets a solid 8, and the Sound is 8.5.

Taken as a whole, the bottom line for the overall value/worth of these four reissued LPs is quite simple: Ringo is the greatest — and you’d better believe it, baby. . .

RINGO STARR
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY (1970)
1LP (Apple/Capitol/UMe)

Side One
1. Sentimental Journey
2. Night And Day
3. Whispering Grass (Don’t Tell The Trees)
4. Bye Bye Blackbird
5. I’m A Fool To Care
6. Star Dust

Side Two
1. Blue, Turning Grey Over You
2. Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing
3. Dream
4. You Always Hurt The One You Love
5. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?
6. Let The Rest Of The World Go By

RINGO STARR
BEAUCOUPS OF BLUES (1970)
1LP (Apple/Capitol/UMe)

Side One
1. Beaucoups Of Blues
2. Love Don’t Last Long
3. Fastest Growing Heartache In The West
4. Without Her
5. Women Of The Night
6. I’d Be Talking All The Time

Side Two
1. $15 Draw
2. Wine, Women And Loud Happy Songs
3. I Wouldn’t Have You Any Other Way
4. Loser’s Lounge
5. Waiting
6. Silent Homecoming

RINGO STARR
RINGO (1973)
1LP (Apple/Capitol/UMe)

Side One
1. I’m The Greatest
2. Have You Seen My Baby
3. Photograph
4. Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)
5. You’re Sixteen

Side Two
1. Oh My My
2. Step Lightly
3. Six O’Clock
4. Devil Woman
5. You And Me (Babe)

RINGO STARR
GOODNIGHT VIENNA (1974)
1LP (Apple/Capitol/UMe)

Side One
1. Goodnight Vienna
2. Occapella
3. Oo-Wee
4. Husbands And Wives
5. Snookeroo

Side Two
1. All By Myself
2. Call Me
3. No No Song
4. Only You
5. Easy For Me
6. Goodnight Vienna – Reprise