Ringo Starr
Ringo's Rotogravure

After a surprisingly successful start to his solo career with more than satisfactory commercial outcomes, Ringo Starr begins to lose some appeal in '76. His fifth LP, "Ringo's Rotogravure," unfortunately stands out as a weak collection of compositions from the super team that supported him in his previous works, "Ringo" ('73) and "Goodnight Vienna" ('74).

The first album post-EMI was put together in Los Angeles by a Richard Starkey distracted by marital problems and his lover, Nancy Andrews. Not even a great song by George Harrison, "I Still Love You" (to which I have dedicated a separate review), is enough; the album lacks the positive sparkle that had magically seasoned the previous experiences. Most of the songs are style exercises by the tremendous cast, a rock'n' roll with Peter Frampton, "A Dose Of Rock'n' Roll", the cover "Hey Baby", and an ironic composition by Eric Clapton, "This Be Called A Song", one of the few positive moments. For the rest, a lot of confusion and little substance, starting with the dreadful "Cookin' (In The Kitchen Of Love)" by John Lennon, who was by then entirely a slave to drugs. Paul McCartney collaborates with the anonymous "Pure Gold", one of the least interesting songs in his entire repertoire.

The album was not very successful for various reasons, firstly, the poor quality of the material combined with a now worn-out formula (that of "all-stars"), and secondly, due to Ringo Starr dedicating very little time to promotion; he was already in a full phase of wild parties and alcohol galore. The following two works, "Ringo The 4th" ('77) and "Bad Boy" ('78), would further mark the drummer's highly unproductive period with a series of surprisingly poor musical choices.

P.S.: The original version of the LP includes extensive photographic documentation of the cheerful atmosphere of the sessions, a typical way of working for Starr.