''Ringo 2012'' is the 17th studio album by

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

, released on 30 January 2012 in the United Kingdom and 31 January 2012 in the United States. It was released on CD, LP and digitally by

Hip-O Records Hip-O Records is a record label that specializes in reissues and compilations. It is part of Universal Music Group. Established in 1996, the label has distributed releases from 'out of style' genres such as disco and early hip-hop music as wel ...

and UM^e.

History

Starr had considered calling the album ''Motel California'', then ''Another #9'', and finally ''Wings'', before settling on ''Ringo 2012''. The album was recorded in Los Angeles, and mixed in England, produced by Starr and Bruce Sugar. The title is a reference to Starr's most successful solo album, ''

Ringo Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

'', which was released in 1973. At less than 29 minutes in length, it was his shortest album to date. ''Ringo 2012'' includes new recordings of two songs that Starr had issued on previous albums: "Step Lightly", from ''Ringo'', and " Wings", from 1977's ''

Ringo the 4th ''Ringo the 4th'' is the sixth studio album by English musician Ringo Starr, released on 20 September 1977. Its title is sometimes ascribed to him being the fourth member of the Beatles. Others have suggested that it is his fourth mainstream albu ...

''. His cover of

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

's " Think It Over" was released on the '' Listen to Me: Buddy Holly'' tribute album before its appearance on ''Ringo 2012''. The new version of "Wings" was released as a single a few weeks in advance of the album. The inclusion of the track "In Liverpool" meant that ''Ringo 2012'' was Starr's third consecutive album to include a song about Liverpool, his hometown. Asked why this was, he told Alan Light of '' Newsweek'': "I came to the conclusion a while ago that I do not want to write an autobiography, because all anybody wants is those eight years from 1962 to 1970, and I would have ten volumes before we got there. So I thought I'll do it in song, and do vignettes of certain aspects of my life." The cover photograph and as well as other photographs within the album's artwork were taken by rock photographer

Rob Shanahan Rob Shanahan is an American photographer and rock drummer known for his concert photography and portraits of celebrities. He has been the preferred photographer of ex-Beatles drummer Ringo Starr since 2006. Shanahan takes many photographs of mu ...

, who had worked closely with Starr for seven years.

Reception

At Metacritic, ''Ringo 2012'' holds an average Metascore of 59 out of 100, based on five professional reviews, indicating a "mixed or average" reception. The album debuted at numbers 80 and 181 in the US and UK, selling 6,348 and 752 copies respectively, as of February 2012.

Track listing

;CD ;DVD edition

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. ;Musicians *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion, vocals, keyboards, backing vocals, guitar * Steve Dudas – guitar,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Bruce Sugar – keyboards, piano, horn,

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, synth horns * Amy Keys – backing vocals * Kelly Moneymaker – backing vocals * Joe Walsh – guitar * Benmont Tench – organ * Charlie Haden – bass * Richard Page – backing vocals * Van Dyke Parks – keyboards,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, string arrangement * Matt Cartsonis –

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced s ...

– bass *

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenny Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues artist. Life and career Shepherd wa ...

– guitar *

Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing keyboards, guitar, saxophone, and percussion, as well as singing. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group ...

– sax, organ * David A. Stewart – guitar, keyboards *

Michael Bradford Michael Bradford (born 1961) is an American musician. A native of Detroit, Michigan he is known mainly as a bass guitarist but also plays guitar and keyboards, and has done extensive work in music production and engineering. Among others, Brad ...

– bass *

Ann Marie Calhoun Ann Marie Calhoun ( Simpson; born May 26, 1979) is an American classically trained violinist who has performed as a Bluegrass music, bluegrass and Rock music, rock musician in a number of prominent acts, including Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull ...

– violin ;Production * Ringo Starr – producer * Bruce Sugar – recording * Ned Douglas – recording assistant * Ringo Starr, Bruce Sugar – mixing * Chris Bellman – mastering * Barry Korkin – UM^e A&R coordination * Christine Telleck – production manager * David Tashman – legal * Adam Starr – product manager * Vartan –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in Theatre, theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

– photos * Mike Fink, Philip Manning, Meire Murakami – design

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2012 albums Albums produced by Ringo Starr Ringo Starr albums Hip-O Records albums