WHAT GOES ON BEATLES NEWS EXCLUSIVE
By Bruce Spizer

When news of the Beatles breakup surfaced in mid-April, 1970, fans of the group had no way of knowing that the band's drummer, Ringo Starr, would one year later begin an impressive string of hits that would, during the first half of the seventies, place him in the Billboard Top Ten more times than former band-mates John and George combined. Ringo amassed seven top ten hits, including three million-selling gold records, two of which topped the chart. During that same time frame, John and George each had three top ten singles. George topped the chart twice, with one of the singles, My Sweet Lord, earning him a gold record award. John's lone chart-topper, Whatever Gets You Thru The Night, also sold a million copies. Only Paul, with ten songs in the top ten, five gold records and four number one hits, outperformed Ringo in the singles charts.

Photograph: The Very Best Of Ringo Starr has all the Apple/Capitol hits plus other tracks released on Atlantic, Boardwalk, Private Music, Mercury and Koch. The standard edition comes with a 16-page booklet containing musician credits for and comments from Ringo on each of the disc's 20 tracks and, of course, a generous helping of photographs. The collector's edition adds a DVD with seven videos, including one song, Sentimental Journey, not included on the CD. All ten tracks from his first hits collection, Blast From Your Past, are present, thus making that disc obsolete (though its booklet does have the lyrics to the songs).

The disc's first dozen songs are from Ringo's golden Apple era, with the biggest hits coming first. Photograph, co-written by Ringo and George, is a majestic-sounding song that ranks as one of the best solo Beatle recordings. It topped the charts as the preview single from 1973's Ringo LP, which was produced by Richard Perry and sold a million copies. George was involved in two other hits written by Ringo, It Don't Come Easy and Back Off Boogaloo, producing and playing guitar on both. Harrison co-wrote It Don't Come Easy with Ringo, but chose not to take credit for his efforts. Although the single stalled at number four in the Billboard Hot 100, it topped both the Cash Box and Record World charts.

John also contributed to Ringo's early success, writing and playing on the album track I'm The Greatest. The song features Ringo on drums and vocals, John on piano and harmony vocal, George on guitar, Billy Preston on organ and Klaus Voormann on bass. Had John decided to reform the Beatles without Paul, this most likely would have been the lineup. John wrote and played piano on the title track to Ringo's second rock LP, Goodnight Vienna. The single, titled It's All Down To Goodnight Vienna, is actually an edit of the main and reprise versions of song. The collection marks the CD debut of this version of the song. John also gave Ringo and played acoustic guitar on his arrangement of the Platter's 1955 hit, Only You.

Although Paul's contributions to Ringo's albums did not generate any hit singles or classic album tracks, he did overdub an effective "mouth sax solo" over the instrumental break on You're Sixteen. Ringo's spirited cover of the 1960 Johnny Burnette hit topped the charts and gave Ringo his third million seller single.

Former Beatles were not the only famous musicians participating in Ringo's recording sessions. Elton John played piano on his composition Snookeroo, which Elton co-wrote with long-time partner lyricist Bernie Taupin. The song served as the B-side to No No Song, a number three hit single featuring Nicky Hopkins on piano and Harry Nilsson on backing vocals. Oh My My, which was co-written by Ringo and Vini Poncia, peaked at number five on the charts. The rollicking tune includes Billy Preston on piano and organ, Klaus Voormann on bass, Tom Scott on saxophone and backing vocals from Martha Reeves and Merry Clayton.

The remaining tracks from the Apple era were not hits, but merit inclusion. Beaucoups Of Blues was the title track and single from Ringo's 1970 country album. Early 1970 is a charming song written by Ringo that expresses his feelings following the breakup of the Beatles. Ringo tells us that Paul "Lives on a farm, got plenty of charm" and that he has "a brand new wife and a family." He tellingly closes with, "When he comes to town, I wonder if he'll play with me." John's verse has references to his laying in bed, watching TV, cookies, Yoko ("His mama by his side, she's Japanese") and the couple's primal scream therapy ("They screamed and they cried, now they're free"). Ringo is more optimistic about seeing John. "When they come to town, I know he's gonna play with me." George is described as a "long-haired, cross-legged guitar picker" who has "a 40-acre house he doesn't see, 'cause he's always in town playing for you and me." After Ringo describes his own limited musical ability on other instruments, he sings "When I go to town I want to see all three."

After leaving Capitol in 1976, Ringo signed with Atlantic Records and switched from Richard Perry to Arif Mardin as producer. Although they followed the formula of his earlier successes, hits were harder to come by. A Dose Of Rock 'N' Roll features Peter Frampton on guitar, Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) on keyboards, Klaus Voormann on bass and Melissa Manchester on backing vocals. The song stalled at number 26. A cover version of Bruce Channel's 1962 number one hit, Hey Baby, only made it to number 74.

George Harrison lent a helping hand again by writing, producing and playing guitars on Wrack My Brain. The song, which also features Al Kooper on piano and electric guitar, was issued on Boardwalk and turned out to be Ringo's last pop chart hit, reaching number 38.

Although Ringo's 1970 country album and single failed to make the Billboard country charts, he did have a number 27 country hit in 1989 with Act Naturally. The Capitol single was recorded at Abbey Road and is a duet with Buck Owens, who took the song to the top of the country charts in 1963. The Beatles recorded the song two years later, with Ringo on lead vocals. Capitol initially planned on issuing the song as the A-side to its end-of-summer 1965 single, but at the last minute changed its mind and designated the other selection, Yesterday, as the A-side. Although Act Naturally ended up on the B-side, Ringo's popularity helped push the song up to number 47 on the pop charts. The Beatles performed the song in concert during their 1965 North American tour.

For his 1992 LP Time Takes Time, Ringo used four different producers. The album is represented by Weight Of The World, which was produced by Jeff Lynne and Don Was.

The Mark Hudson era began in the late nineties with the album Vertical Man. In addition to serving as co-producer with Ringo, Hudson set up song writing sessions that resulted in several songs being co-written by Hudson, Ringo and others. Hudson also played multiple instruments including bass, guitar and keyboards and provided backing vocals. Their first effort from 1998 is represented here by King Of Broken Hearts, which features a slide guitar solo by George Harrison. Also included is Ringo's moving tribute to George, Never Without You, one of the highlights from 2003's Ringo Rama LP. Photograph appropriately closes with Fading In And Fading Out, a steady rocker co-authored by Ringo, Mark Hudson and Gary Burr.

The DVD included with the collector's edition contains videos of Sentimental Journey, It Don't Come Easy, Back Off Boogaloo, You're Sixteen, Only You, Act Naturally and Goodnight Vienna. Although the picture quality of a few of the videos is a little rough, they are fun to watch and make the collector's edition worth purchasing.

Photograph clearly demonstrates that Ringo did more than get by with a little help from his friends. The collection not only provides a nice summary of Ringo's solo career, but also is a well-programmed and pleasant listening experience.

Bruce Spizer is a Beatles historian and the author of seven critically acclaimed books on the Beatles, including The Beatles Solo on Apple Records, which contains a section covering Ringo's 1970-1975 record releases. His books may be ordered from his website www.beatle.net. Bruce serves as a consultant for Capitol Records.

Published August 27, 2007