By: David Schultz

Wrapped in the throes of a mild college obsession with The Beatles, a friend and I decided a four tape Beatles mix was the necessary soundtrack for an Ann Arbor to Daytona Beach road trip. To add variety to our little anthology, named “Beatles, Beatles, Oh God Yes Beatles” (in homage to a David Letterman joke praising New York anchorwoman Sue Simmons), we rounded it out with choice cuts from the Fab Four’s post-Beatlemania solo careers. In the embarrassingly long amount of time we spent debating what songs would meet our rigorous standards, I found myself arguing - strenuously, I might add - on behalf of the understated genius of the best of Ringo Starr’s solo work. As if to justify my faith in the drummer’s brilliance, Capitol Records has released Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr.

Given John Lennon’s reverence as a musician and political figure, Paul McCartney’s unparalleled status as a master of pop songcraft and George Harrison’s visionary infusion of Eastern music and philosophy into classic rock, Starr’s abilities as a drummer and musician are often unfairly maligned. As a Beatle, his solo work will always be compared to his former band mates; a balancing that will always leave Starr’s end of the scale touching bottom. Taken out of the Beatles construct though, Starr’s solo work, which received periodic helping hands from Harrison, has stood up well. If the groundswell of support pushing for Starr to go into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on his own does lead to his induction, it will be on merit, not sympathy.

Ringo’s songs all have a familiar bounce to them that perfectly suits his witty demeanor and breezy persona. The collection is frontloaded with Ringo’s classic rock masterpieces like “Photograph,” “It Don’t Come Easy” (featuring Stephen Stills on guitar) and “Back Off Boogaloo;” all of which compare favorably with any mid-70s FM radio staples. “Beaucoups of Blues” and “Early 1970” have a country lilt most associated with his cover of “Act Naturally,” included here as a duet with Buck Owens, the man who originally popularized the song. Ringo’s battles with drugs and alcohol may have tainted his mid-Seventies material but it also spawned the marvelous “The No-No Song” which succinctly and humorously captured the debilitating effects of excess. Ringo’s post-Seventies material echoes early Beatles blues with the exception of 1992’s marvelous “Weight Of The World,” Starr’s last true radio hit which followed the inception of the Ringo Starr & His All-Star Band touring menagerie.

Coinciding with Photograph’s release, VHI Classic has been re-running Starr’s wonderful 1998 appearance on Storytellers. With Joe Walsh quietly lurking in the background, Starr mixed together Beatles standards, his own estimable classics and a couple songs from his then about-to-be-released Vertical Man into a briskly paced and eminently enjoyable show. The Storytellers set, also available on CD, makes a fine companion piece to Starr’s latest and most complete best of compilation.