Today marks Ringo Starr's 85th birthday, and to celebrate the occasion, I've put together four compilation albums of his solo career, beginning with Sentimental Journey from 1970, all the way up to 2025's Look Up!
Part of the reason for making this is because out of the four Beatles, Ringo's solo career has had the least amount of attention brought to it. 1975's Blast from Your Past and 1989's Starr Struck: Best of Ringo Starr, Vol. 2 both focus on specific periods of Ringo's career - his Apple era and his post-Apple/pre-Thomas era, respectively - whereas 2007's Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr was basically Blast from Your Past, only expanded and glossing over the 1976-1983 era, while the albums released since 1989 were represented by a song each. Not to mention how Ringo the 4th, Bad Boy and Old Wave had no representation at all. And as if that's not enough, Sentimental Journey is skipped entirely!
There's also Ringo 5.1: The Surround Sound Collection from 2008, but that only focuses on material from 2003's Ringo Rama and 2005's Choose Love, so it hardly counts.
I've taken inspiration from Moondog385 and his six-part series Paul McCartney: A Musical Retrospective, in which he compiled the big hits, as well as several deep cuts, to create a full picture of Paul's solo career. Respectively, I've subtitled these albums Red (70-73), Orchid (74-79), Indigo (80-86), Orange (87-97), Cyan (98-09) and Purple (10-20) after their borders. That equates to roughly eight or nine hours of Paul. I want to accomplish something similar for Ringo, capping off at about 80-90 minutes in length, about less than six hours in total.
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Side A (22:17)
1. Sentimental Journey - 3:26
2. Beaucoups of Blues - 2:33
3. Coochy Coochy - 4:48
4. It Don't Come Easy - 3:02
5. Early 1970 - 2:20
6. Back off Boogaloo - 3:22
7. Blindman - 2:46
Side B (21:33)
8. Down and Out - 3:04
9. I'm the Greatest - 3:21
10. Photograph - 3:56
11. You're Sixteen - 2:48
12. Oh My My - 4:16
13. Six O'Clock - 4:08
Side C (22:44)
14. (It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna - 3:02
15. Snookeroo - 3:27
16. No No Song - 2:33
17. Only You (and You Alone) - 3:26
18. A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll - 3:24
19. Hey! Baby - 3:11
20. Cookin' (In the Kitchen of Love) - 3:41
Side D (22:05)
21. Just a Dream - 4:23
22. Can She Do It Like She Dances - 3:12
23. Simple Love Song - 2:57
24. Who Needs a Heart - 3:48
25. Heart on My Sleeve - 3:20
26. One Way Love Affair - 4:25
I think this is a good starting point for those who may be interested in Ringo's solo career. The first disc covers 1970-1973, with Side A featuring the title track from Sentimental Journey, as well as his first three singles and their respective B-sides. Side B features the best from Ringo's eponymous album from 1973, as well as "Down and Out", which was the B-side of "Photograph". The second disc covers 1974-1978; Side C covers Goodnight Vienna and Ringo's Rotogravure, and Side D briefly covers Ringo the 4th and Bad Boy, with the addition of the B-side "Just a Dream" and the outtake "One Way Love Affair". The latter was recorded in July 1978 with Russ Ballard producing, but it has never been released, so I think that gives the compilation some exclusivity.
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Side A (20:00)
1. Private Property - 2:44
2. Wrack My Brain - 2:21
3. Attention - 3:20
4. You Belong to Me - 2:10
5. Sure to Fall (in Love with You) - 3:44
6. You Can't Fight Lightning - 5:41
Side B (20:47)
7. In My Car - 3:13
8. Hopeless - 3:17
9. She's About a Mover - 3:52
10. Picture Show Life - 4:21
11. I Can Help - 3:04
12. Act Naturally (Revisited) - 3:00
Side C (22:37)
13. You Never Know - 4:03
14. Weight of the World - 3:54
15. Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go - 3:20
16. Golden Blunders - 4:06
17. I Don't Believe You - 2:48
18. Everyone Wins - 4:26
Side D (23:04)
19. Lay Down Your Arms - 3:25
20. One - 3:02
21. King of Broken Hearts - 4:44
22. La De Da - 4:14
23. I'll Be Fine Anywhere - 3:39
24. Mr. Double-It-Up - 4:00
Because Ringo took a recording sabbatical for most of the 1980s (with a couple of exceptions), it's combined with the 1990s (well, most of it) into a single compilation. Disc one focuses entirely on the 1980s; Side A features five songs and one outtake from Stop and Smell the Roses, and Side B has four songs from Old Wave, along with a 1987 cover of Billy Swan's "I Can Help" and a 1989 re-recording of "Act Naturally" with Buck Owens. Disc two focuses on the 1990s, with Side C beginning with "You Never Know", a song recorded for the movie Curly Sue, followed up by four songs off of Time Takes Time, as well as the original recording of "Everyone Wins", later redone eighteen years later for Y Not. Side D begins with another duet, a version of "Lay Down Your Arms" with Stevie Nicks for a Harry Nilsson tribute album, and then four songs and a B-side from Vertical Man.
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Side A (23:17)
1. Come On Christmas, Christmas Come On - 3:36
2. Eye to Eye - 3:19
3. Never Without You - 5:24
4. Imagine Me There - 3:55
5. Love First, Ask Questions Later - 4:45
6. English Garden - 2:18
Side B (23:28)
7. Blink - 2:52
8. Fading In, Fading Out - 3:55
9. Oh My Lord - 5:32
10. Some People - 3:17
11. Choose Love - 3:07
12. Free Drinks - 4:45
Side C (21:44)
13. Liverpool 8 - 4:51
14. Gone Are the Days - 2:49
15. Harry's Song - 4:00
16. It's Love - 3:07
17. Peace Dream - 3:34
18. The Other Side of Liverpool - 3:23
Side D (21:01)
19. Walk with You - 4:42
20. Y Not - 3:49
21. Anthem - 5:01
22. Wings - 3:31
23. Samba - 2:48
24. I Wish I Was a Powerpuff Girl - 1:10
Okay, from this point onward, this might be where taste becomes a bit subjective, since much of Ringo's career post-Vertical Man isn't universally known, but I personally think he's made some good music since; it's just a matter of digging deep and having the patience to see what you really like. Of course, for this album and the next, your mileage may vary.
Anyway, with disc one, it starts off with a single track from I Wanna Be Santa Claus, mostly to avoid a lengthy gap between Vertical Man and Ringo Rama, with the majority of Side A being taken up by the latter album. Side B contains a bonus track from Ringo Rama and five songs off of Choose Love. Disc two features songs from Liverpool 8, Y Not and Ringo 2012, as well as a non-album single, "It's Love", from 2008, and "I Wish I Was a Powerpuff Girl" that he recorded for The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed in 2014. If you aren't a fan of that song, don't worry; it's pretty short, so you wouldn't be missing much.
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Side A (22:04)
1. Rory and the Hurricanes - 4:09
2. Postcards from Paradise - 5:18
3. Island in the Sun - 4:02
4. Let Love Lead - 4:11
5. We're on the Road Again - 4:24
Side B (23:21)
6. King of the Kingdom - 4:36
7. So Wrong for So Long - 4:03
8. Give More Love - 4:01
9. Grow Old with Me - 3:18
10. Thank God for Music - 3:38
11. What's My Name - 3:45
Side C (22:46)
12. Here's to the Nights - 4:05
13. Zoom In Zoom Out - 3:57
14. See You Later, Alligator - 2:48
15. Just That Way - 3:29
16. World Go Round - 4:12
17. Let's Be Friends - 4:15
Side D (20:42)
18. Feeling the Sunlight - 3:06
19. Rewind Forward - 3:30
20. February Sky - 3:19
21. Look Up - 3:10
22. Time on My Hands - 3:59
23. Thankful - 3:38
This compilation is pretty straight forward, I think. Disc one comprises of material from Postcards from Paradise, Give More Love and What's My Name, and disc two features stuff from all five of Ringo's extended plays, as well as a cover of "See You Later, Alligator" recorded for a charity album and three songs from his latest album, Look Up. Not much else to comment on, really.
So overall, that's 97 songs representing a 55-year solo career. Not bad, if I do say so myself! Of course, if you want to round it up to a hundred, you can throw in "It's No Secret" from Ringo the 4th, "Hard Times" from Bad Boy (both tracks of which I included in my It Beats Sleep re-imagining) and a fourth track of your choice from Look Up. Then again, Ringo will probably announce a new album or extended play at some point, and in that case, you'll probably throw in (as will I) the best two or three songs from that. We'll see, but for now, it'll do.