[rating=2.00]
Can Ringo Starr do anything without seeming like a goof? He was the comic relief for The Beatles and he’s continued in that role during his solo career, including his latest release, Liverpool 8. It’s a bit of a sentimental journey for Ringo it seems, but not one with a lot of depth.
Liverpool 8 benefits from being a band effort which includes ex-Eurythmic Dave Stewart once again and in it’s best moments, the album produces some fun pop music with hooks simple enough for Ringo’s flat voice to carry. Even when it relies too much on range-deprived Ringo’s vocal skills, it has a light-hearted nature that makes it far less offensive than it could be, though not nearly as charming as he was on "Octopus’s Garden" and the the like. It’s pretty clear that Ringo learned more from McCartney’s pop approach than he did from Lennon’s sarcastic wit. There’s nothing here we haven’t heard from Ringo before and the album, like his naive world-view expressed throughout, is best described as a well-meaning flop.
