Customer Reviews

Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ringo Starr began his legendary "All-Starr Tour" with this collection. It encompasses a great group of individuals that have done enormously well in the past and continue the legacy with these songs - backing eachother all the way. Levon Helms holds the best with "The Weight", Joe Walsh sets forth with "Life In The Fast Lane" and Nils Lofgren does beautfully with his always 'live' version of "Shine Silently". Ringo, of course has his staples here as well. If this doesn't sound good enough, consider buying the "Anthology" collection with three discs (this one included) that comprise the rest of three concerts and dozens more of guest stars.

One day, six years after making his previous album, Ringo Starr decided to spend a couple of months on tour. "I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends" has always been the most identifiable song for Ringo from the days of the Beatles and remained a central philosophy of his recording and performing career after the Fab Four imploded. Consequently, Ringo hit the road with what proved to be the first of several "All-Starr" bands. The title is not even close to being hyperbole since you start with Joe Walsh (The James Gang and the Eagles) and Nils Lofgren (Crazy Horse and the E Street Band) on guitar and Billy Preston and Dr. John on keyboards. Ringo does not even have to play the drums because you have Jim Keltner (The Attitudes) and Leveon Helm (The Band) for that, Rick Danko (The Band) on bass guitar, and Clarence Clemons (E Street Band) wailing on sax. Clearly a good time would be had by all and at the end of the tour the last concert at the Greek Theater in L.A. was recorded, resulting in this 1989 album.

It is not that there is a preference for wanting to hear Ringo sings his hits songs live as opposed to the standard studio recordings that made the charts. Ringo starts with "It Don't Come Easy" and ends with "Photograph" (appropriately), with "The No-No Song" and "You're Sixteen" in between. The only "Beatles" song is "Honey Don't," which was written by Carl Perkins and you can make what significance of that you will. Consequently Ringo does less than half the songs on the album, with everybody but Keltner taking a turn out in front on a song. Preston's "Will It Go Round in Circles" and Walsh's "Life in the Fast Lane" are the recognizable hits, so it is not surprising that it is the more unfamiliar tunes, such as Nils Lofgren's "Shine Silently" and Rick Danko's cover of Buddy Holly's "Raining In My Heart" that stand out. The recordings are not as clear as you would like but this is offset by the great sense of fun. "Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band" is not a great concert album, but they certainly had fun and if you have an enduring affection for Ringo and his eclectic little collection of hits then you could have some fun listening to this one as well.

When Ringo Starr assembled his first "All-Starr" band, he meant business! The end result was one heck of a band giving incredibly electric concerts; my only real disappointment is that we don't get the full recording of the concert here and there's no note at to which night this was recorded. However, the quality easily trumps the lack of quantity: these guys play like their lives depended on it; there's so much energy in this performance that I found myself feeling truly upset that I had never been to one of their concerts. The sound quality is really rather good for a live recording; and the songs set flows very well as it should during a concert. There's not a dud in the bunch; all of these songs are sublime.

Yes, there are CD sets that you may prefer to buy instead of this CD; but don't make the mistake of thinking this isn't very good because it's abridged or just because Ringo doesn't sing on every track. I was mesmerized by Billy Preston's performance of his great tune "Will It Go Round in Circles;" and Joe Walsh does awesome justice to "Life in the Fast Lane." The guitars on "Life in the Fast Lane" amazed me especially toward the very end of the track and I think you'll love it, too. Dr. John sings and plays keyboards for "Iko Iko" with panache and he doesn't skip a beat.

And, of course, there's Ringo. He's terrific on tunes including his own "Photograph" and "It Don't Come Easy;" especially with "It Don't Come Easy" there's so much electricity you could light up a city with all they produce! "You're Sixteen" also features Ringo squarely in the spotlight as he sings this flawlessly; and Ringo's "Honey Don't" is very well done.

In addition, listen for Rick Danko to perform a sensitive and genuinely passionate rendition of Buddy Holly's "It's Raining in My Heart;" and Levon Helm sings "The Weight" without ever letting go of a superfluous note.

Other stars lending a hand are Nils Lofgren on guitar; Jim Keltner on drums and Clarence Clemons on saxophone, percussion--and Clarence sings, too! Nils also sings "Shine Silently" with sensitivity and I was very impressed.

In retrospect, this is no longer *the* CD for diehard Ringo Starr "All-Starr" band fans because they've done so much more and there are box sets of CDs that cover this material more thoroughly. This is best suited for casual fans or people just discovering the magical artistry of Ringo's first "All-Starr" band; fans of the other performers on this album may also want this for their collections.

This CD features some god cuts. Only 5/12 are sung by Ringo, and nearly every song on this CD was rereleased on the 3 CD "Anthology set. I say pass up this one and go for the boxed set. You'll get nearly all the same tracks, plus a whole lot more of Ringo's songs, as well as many other performers like Randy Bachman, John Entwistle and many others. This is a great CD,but if you already have the Anthology set, you won't find anything new here.

I attended one of the Ringo Starr All-Band concerts back in 1989 and it was fabulous! This CD is a good representation of the talent who participated in the All-Starr Band. I love this CD but rated it a 4 as half of the songs are Ringo's. With all the talent in the band they maybe should have done a couple less Ringo songs and included some hits from the other members. Also, it would have been nice if Yellow Submarine was included. In any event, I am glad they produced this CD. I would recommend it to all you Ringo (and other members of the band) fans.

When Ringo decided to get together with a few friends and tour; it was time to party. Just looking to have a good time, Ringo is represented by 5 of his songs and he opens and closes the CD, but all the artists make contributions. From Dr. John doing "Iko Iko" (again!) and a hard rocking "Life in the Fast Lane" with Joe Walsh going crazy, the collaborations are loose but there is a definite sense of fun here. Even little known songs, like Nils Lofgren's "Shine Silently," and Rick Danko's take on Buddy Holly, ("Raining in My Heart") are treated with equal energy. A good keepsake from a fun show, but that is really all it represents.

I'm not sure this live disc really deserves 3 stars, probably more like 2 or 2 1/2. I guess I just feel generous because I bought this album the day it was released back in 1990 and I still occasionally listen to it. But really, its really only of interest to Beatles' completists-- of which there are many. The reason I say its a screwy disc is because of the 12 cuts, less than half are sung by the main attraction: Ringo. Nobody is buying this for Nils Lofgren's "Shine Silently", if you know what I mean. They're buying it for Ringo, and out of the five songs he sings, not one of them is a Beatles' tune. Yes, a couple were recorded with the Beatles, but his biggies aren't here. Save your money for the all-Ringo VH-1 Storytellers.

THIS IS THE BEST LIVE ALL STARR CDS, THE OTHERS SEEM TO HAVE A HOLLOW SOUND. IF YOU WANT A GOOD LIVE CD THIS IS IT.

This album is a really good one! I love it, and I'm sure so will you