Recorded: 2002
Producers: Mark Hudson, Ringo Starr
Released: 25 March 2003
Personnel
Ringo Starr: vocals, drums, percussion, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, megamouth
Mark Hudson: guitar, bass guitar, vocals, keyboards, Mellotron, Wurlitzer organ
Gary Burr: guitar, bass guitar, vocals
Steve Dudas, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Gary Nicholson, Paul Santo, Cliff Downs, Dean Grakal: guitar
Jay Dee Maness: pedal steel guitar
Grant Geissman: dobro
Jim Cox: Wurlitzer organ, Hammond organ, piano
Van Dyke Parks: accordion
Herb Pederson: banjo
Dan Higgins: saxophone, flute, clarinet
Charlie Haden: upright bass
Gary S Grant: trumpet, piccolo trumpet
Mickey Raphael: harmonica, bass harmonica
Roy Orbison: mercy growl
Sarah Hudson, Nicole Renee Harris, Christina Rumbley, Jack Blades, Sophia Sunseri, Timothy B Schmit, Sarah Hudson, Christina Rumbley, Nicole Renee Harris, Victoria Shaw, Adam Ray, Mark O’Shea, John O’Shea, Jack Blades, Shawn Colvin, Willie Nelson, Barbara Starkey, Buster, Monly, Mr B: vocals
Tracklisting
‘Eye To Eye’
‘Missouri Loves Company’
‘Instant Amnesia’
‘Memphis In Your Mind’
‘Never Without You’
‘Imagine Me There’
‘I Think Therefore I Rock And Roll’
‘Trippin’ On My Own Tears’
‘Write One For Me’
‘What Love Wants To Be’
‘Love First, Ask Questions Later’
‘Elizabeth Reigns’
‘English Garden’
‘I Really Love Her’ (hidden track)
‘Blink’ (bonus track)
‘OK Ray’ (bonus track)
‘I’m Home’ (bonus track)
Ringo Rama is Ringo Starr’s thirteenth solo studio album.
Released by the Koch label following Starr’s departure from Mercury Records, Ringo Rama featured guest musicians including David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Van Dyke Parks, Willie Nelson, Timothy B Schmit, and Shawn Colvin.
The album was recorded at Rocca Bella, Starr’s London recording studio in London, and producer Mark Hudson’s Whatinthewhatthe? Studios in Los Angeles.
‘Never Without You’ was originally a tribute to John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, but was rewritten by Starr following the death of George Harrison. The final version contains quotations from ‘Within You Without You’, ‘Here Comes The Sun’, and ‘All Things Must Pass’.
Starr performed all instruments on the ‘hidden’ track ‘I Really Love Her’, and duetted with Willie Nelson on ‘Write One For Me’. The closing song ‘English Garden’ includes elements from the Wings song ‘Let ’Em In’.
The release
Ringo Rama was released worldwide on 25 March 2003. The first 100,000 copies included a DVD with footage from the recording sessions.
The deluxe CD edition contained three bonus tracks: ‘Blink’, ‘OK Ray’, and ‘I’m Home’.
The album peaked at number 113 on the US Billboard 200.
