Wow!!!! Ringo Starr has been
officially confirmed as my favorite Beatle with one listen to his new album Vertical Man.
He is the easygoing ambassador of collaboration, has the gravely everyman voice of a guy
who might have just walked off the street with a song in his head and stumbled into a
recording studio full of friends. This new album has some
solid songwriting and manages to keep from being as over produced as his other albums. The
vocals are right up front, which some may cringe at, but I think it works here because of
the charm in his voice.
Even though there is actually a lot of instrumentation going on that
you can sink you ear-teeth into there is a balance struck with the simple songwriting that
keeps the album feeling uncluttered. Tom Petty and Alanis Morisette lend help as friends
on a cover of "Drift Away", but my favorite track is the laid back "poor
Ringo in love" sound of "World Without You". AND it features Paul McCartney
on bass and singing distinct Beatle harmonies.
Over all this album is happy...rich....solid and lush. The end is an
honest to goodness tear jerker that Ringo sings all bare naked with just an acoustic
guitar and the string arrangement of George Martin to back him up.
This album is good.....buy it.
(Hope you enjoyed my first review for RockBoss.com!)
Cheers!
Chris Ballew
remember
9/11