‘Ringo the 4th’: The worst album a Beatle ever made
Most Beatles fans have been known to grade on somewhat of a curve when looking through Ringo Starr albums. No one was ever expecting him to put up the same numbers as his former bandmates, and since he didn’t have the same kind of songwriting chops, some of his best tunes relied more on the good vibe that he was bringing across rather than him trying to become the next Bob Dylan. That didn’t mean there wasn’t room for him to fall from grace, and Ringo the 4th was the first time that most people realised that fans began to see some of the cracks forming during his solo years.
Granted, Starr needed a few albums under his belt before he truly started rolling. His future as the Beatles’ equivalent to Frank Sinatra on Sentimental Journey wasn’t going to get him anywhere, and while he did recover with a decent country album on Beaucoups of Blues, Ringo was the first time that people felt that he made an album that could be in the same conversation as John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s solo records.
But that was only because he had a lot of great people behind him. As he would have put it, he always got by with a little help from his friends, and having Lennon contribute the odd tune or George Harrison helping him complete a track like ‘Photograph’ was always a case of them looking for their old bandmate. So, naturally, the worst of his albums was the one where none of his friends showed up.
While Ringo’s Rotogravure was far from a roaring success, Ringo the 4th was the first time he dared to be ahead of the curve. Disco was only just beginning, so hearing him embrace the sweeping strings on ‘Drowning in a Sea of Love’ should have been ahead of the curve, but since Starr is nowhere near the kind of vocalist to pull it off, the whole thing ends up feeling even more toothless than what The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart tried to do with the genre.
And despite many people having faith in Starr, his choice to make a bunch of original material doesn’t do him any favours. ‘Gypsies in Flight’ is among the most forgettable songs that he ever made, and while ‘Wings’ may have been a cheap attempt at him reminding everyone about that other Beatles band making the rounds at the time, a slow blues isn’t where Starr excels.
But even during the peppy numbers, Starr never is able to pull himself out of first gear. ‘Tango All Night’ might sound like a decent pop tune if you were listening at the time, but the irritating backing vocals sound like something you would hear out of a cheesy variety show than anything having to do with Starr. In fact, are we sure this song wasn’t simply a pitch for Starr to get his own talk show and have this as the theme song?
Then again, this is an album by one of The Beatles, and that means by definition, there are some solid moments to be found. ‘Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley’ might be a song that Starr shouldn’t go within ten feet of, but if you take his voice off of it, the instrumentation behind the track is some of the best on the record.
That doesn’t stop Ringo the 4th from being the lowest point for Starr as a solo artist. While many would cite an album like Bad Boy as his absolute worst, that one at least had expectations lowered over time. This was the first time that a Starr album was forgettable at best and disappointing at worst, and no matter how many times people loved singing along back in the day, they were always going to remember the disappointments more than the records they didn’t even bother to buy.
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