Keith Moon was an outrageous buffoon, Charlie Watts was a jazz dandy, John Bonham was the idol of the wolverines, and Ringo… Ringo was just Ringo. And it continues to be so when others have already joined the Celestial Orchestra. But he didn’t become Ringo right away, first he had to serve his childhood in the depressed Liverpool neighborhood of Dingle. Richie Starkey grew up sickly as a teenager. So much so that he visited the hospital more often than school. This had a great effect on literacy and arithmetic, but in the hospital, broken patients regularly played music, Richie accompanied them with toilet paper casings on bedside tables. This revealed the makings that would make Ringo Starr famous. And in between hospitalizations, Richie went to the movies, where they played westerns. After hesitating at the door for a while, the Dream of becoming a cowboy on a ranch in Texas persistently knocked.
Richie skipped puberty by playing skiffle, a barefoot parody of the music of the American lumpen intelligentsia. And in the late 1950s, everything turned into rock and roll, and now Richie is no longer Richie at all, but Ringo – that’s the name of every other scoundrel in the Wild West. As part of the gang of inveterate thugs Rory Storm & The Hurricanes lone Starr bangs drums in the saloons of wild Hamburg. There he meets and makes friends with the rival organization The Beatles.
When the future Beatles producer George Martin declares that their current drummer Pete Best is no better than a horse, John, Paul and George will summon Ringo together. For many years, he will become the cement that holds these extravagant blockheads together, and the blockheads will allow him to write and record country-style songs. After all, if your idols are Gene Krupa and John Wayne, just combine them by starting to play cowboy-sheriff music. On the album “Help!” Ringo sang “Act Naturally” by legendary country singer Buck Owens, and for the next “Rubber Soul” he composed himself, although not without the help of friends, quite a classic “What Goes On”. “Octopus’s Garden” and “Don’t Pass Me By” will also please more than one Oklahoman cattleman.
In 1970, while John and Paul were biting each other’s ankles while Ono was yapping, Ringo concocted the record “Beaucoups Of Blues”, where the great guitarist Jerry Reed and Elvis’s sidekicks DJ Fontana and The Jordanairs would play along.
It’s even surprising that Starr hasn’t returned to the idea of a new country album for more than half a century, but it’s natural that he did. The case of the omnipresent (not to be confused with the “sneaky”) helped T. Bone Burnett. At one of the California theme parties, Starkey asked Burnett to write a song for the single. Tee Bone saluted and was gone. He returned a year later, but with nine tracks. “It’s like a full-fledged LP!” the brainy Starkey realized. And everything behind the nativity scene, I’m sorry, started spinning. You are also invited to this celebration of hats, lasso and drums, Moon Dogs! Listen carefully!
02 Look Up
03 Time On My Hands
04 Never Let Me Go
05 I Live For Your Love
06 Come Back
07 Can You Hear Me Call
08 Rosetta
09 You Want Some
10 String Theory
11 Thankful
Download or listen online the Ringo Starr album – Look Up (2025) (mp3, 85 MB):
Breathless is an action movie with a powerful acoustic guitar section, driven by Billy Strings, a kid from a dysfunctional family who has overcome his addiction to heavy substances and is drawn to Jerry Reed himself in guitar possession. Dennis Crouch confidently slaps the double bass, Ringo punches the drums, as in his best years, here and further. After the pressure of the main part comes a slightly psychedelic coda with echoes of Celtic paganism.
Look Up is pop-rock with good thoughtful lyrics, flavored with country pepper and Western dill. The award-winning bluegrass singer Molly Tuttle is here on just the second vocal, which any session vocalist could master. There’s an attempt to portray a hit single, but the song is really good.
Time On My Hands is decorated with Paul Franklin‘s magnificent pedal steel guitar and delicate violins. A little absurdity is added by the strange alien syncopations that Ringo hammers out in the verses. However, the average listener will not pay attention to them.
Never Let Me Go with its drawn-out harmonica and general pulse sounds like a matured version of Love Me Do.
I Live For Your Love is a gentle ballad in the Californian spirit, where Liverpool drums hold back the Spanish guitar, losing ground only at the end.
Come Back, equipped with artistic whistles and a chorus of girls from the Lucius group, is made in the style of a good old southern variety show. Under her relaxed purr, it’s good to swim down the Mississippi in the company of Tom, Huck and the negro Jim.
Can You Hear Me Call finally lets Molly Tuttle turn around, making Ringo a wonderful duet in the tradition of Knopfler/Harris and Plant/Krauss.
Rosetta is a stringy southern rock band featuring the Lovell sisters from Larkin Poe, who portray Louisiana banshees, and Billy Strings on a swampy electric guitar.
You Want Some is an imposing honky tonk written by Billy Swan on a rockabilly groove of double bass and “strolling” drums. A close example is It Was A Whiskey Talkin’ (Not Me) By Jerry Lee Lewis.
String Theory is absolutely sixties, magically dreamy. Peace, dudes.
Grateful was written by Starkey in collaboration with producer Bruce Sugar. Alison Krauss affectionately supports Ringo’s voice with her vocals. A light ending to a light album.
“Look Up” is not the most must-listen record, but it is full of the charm and soulfulness inherent in Ringo Starr. Anyone who is not looking for revelations and paradoxes will enjoy these warm, simple melodies. Merry dreams under the stars of the sheriffs, Moon Dogs!
