Always the most country out of the four Beatles, Ringo Starr returned with an astonishing 22nd studio album on Friday, April 24. Despite being more notable for features on other artists’ songs than his own releases over the last four decades, “Long Long Road” is a surprisingly strong solo affair for Starr and producer T Bone Burnett.
The opening track “Returning Without Tears,” is a strong thesis for the album, quickly defining it as a country record with fiddles and a double bass. The lyrics are some of the best on the album and create strong imagery while the instrumental is strikingly modern.
“Baby Don’t Go,” opens with a bit of a Southern swamp rock feel, and the double bass is prominent throughout. The horn stings in the chorus are also a nice touch.
“I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore,” is a jangly piano track with doo-wop backing vocals. Despite the upbeat instrumental, Starr’s vocals tell the story of losing the ability to woo someone who once adored you.
“It’s Been Too Long” starts to venture into the realm of straight rock ‘n’ roll with a quintessential 1960s tambourine to open the track. The vocals feature less production, which doesn’t help with the generic lyrics, making this track less interesting than the preceding three.
“Why” has a Zac Brown Band feel to it in the fiddles and drums, and Starr’s delivery of the title harkens back to “Tell Me Why” by The Beatles.
“You and I (Wave of Love)” is an outlier on the album, starting as something closer to a pop ballad before the rhythm section enters. As a duet with bluegrass singer Molly Tuttle, the slide guitar solo prior to the second verse contrasts perfectly with sparkling acoustic guitars. Tuttle, who also sang on the opening track, shines through in this one.
“My Baby Don’t Want Nothing,” has a marching feel, something Starr is no stranger to with “Back Off Boogaloo” in his catalog. The song features multiple interesting chord changes.
“Choose Love,” is about as on the nose as a Beatles tribute could’ve gotten for Starr, actually name-dropping Fab Four tracks like “The Long and Winding Road,” “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “What Goes On.” The guitar solo references “A Hard Day’s Night,” and the keyboards throughout are strongly reminiscent of “Baby You’re a Rich Man.” There’s even a sitar. Known Beatles fan St. Vincent provides backing vocals.
“She’s Gone” has a notable drop in mood from the previous track. Especially compared to the joyous emotion of “Choose Love,” the song feels slow and a bit too sappy to keep the energy of the album moving in the right direction.
The title track, “Long Long Road,” ends the album and opens with an acapella vocal harmony section reminiscent of the harmonies from the final verse of “Don’t Worry Baby” by the Beach Boys. It’s largely unrelated to the rest of the song but did prompt me to give it a second listen.
The rest of the track, which features Sheryl Crow and Daniel Tashian on vocals, is a lonesome-sounding jaunt that strangely reminded me of Elvis Presley’s version of “Blue Christmas,” though that may just be due to the tempo. The spoken word interlude in the middle caught me off guard, but it also woke me up at a point where the song had just started to become stale. Overall, the track is disjointed, but it’s my favorite cut off the record due to the fact that the individual sections stand out.
The album as a whole isn’t necessarily coherent but stands as a strong collection of country songs centered on romance and the act of searching for meaning in relationships. It’s an overall strong outing for the legendary drummer, whose drumming and vocal range has always fit well within the country genre.
Rating: 3.8/5