The 20th of February 1974
Official U.K. Albums Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 17th,
and published on Wednesday the 20th of February 1974.
Ringo Starr
Ringo
At No.16, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, is Ringo Starr with Ringo.
The closest thing…
…anyone would get to a Beatles reunion could be found on this record.
With all the legal wrangling…
…the members had all suffered with over the past few years, all the bad mouthing and the rest, the one thing they could all agree on? They all loved Ringo. No question. So for the first time in the laid back easy drummer’s solo career, he literally gets a lot of help from all his friends, who chip in, in some shape or form.
John and George start off with John’s composition, followed by Paul, who’s contribution I’ve already happened upon when covering the corresponding singles chart, and on it goes.
The media,..
…once they got wind of some of the meetings being set-up to record tracks in the States, they ran away with it. Apparently the boys were getting back together, with their old mate Klaus taking over bass duties from Paul, who’d made it quite public a few years before, that he’d definitely left.
Of course, it wasn’t true.
Yes, John and George had indeed met up with him while he was over there in the U.S., and the only reason Paul couldn’t get there too, was down to him getting a slap on the wrist for the wacky baccy, and at that time, because of this misdemeanor, he wasn’t allowed into the country.
In fact, with a whole host of other artists all willing to chip in at one point or another, this album would end up being the prototype for Ringo’s All Starr concerts which would run successfully for years to come. Right here we’ve got such talent such as Marc Bolan, Harry Nilsson, Tom Scott, Billy Preston, Martha Reeves, Robbie Robertson…I could go on and on.
In a fitting homage to all his friends and memories, we have a nod to the Sgt. Pepper cover, this time designed by Klaus, with cartoon versions of everything connected to Ringo, with his three old bandmates front and centre in the crowd; John, gripping the bottom of the star, with Yoko beside him, Paul, with Linda peering behind him, and George holding the balloon with the ‘Om’ Hindu symbol, even Paul’s sheepdog Martha gets a look-in behind George; all surrounding the Apple that still binds them all together. I’ll leave you to guess who all the other characters are.
The album….
…first entered the UK chart back at the beginning of December last year in 1973, and went straight into the Top 10, from where (after a blip) it climbed up a little further to No.7, its highest peak it has achieved so far, sitting there for a couple of weeks through the Christmas period. As the world welcomed in 1974, so the album rolls back down, until it falls out at the beginning of this month of February.
This week witnesses it’s return.
From here,..
…the album will slide back comfortably and settle in to the middle of the chart, which will carry it through to the end of the much lighter and warmer month of April.
After another couple of weeks leave, it will take a final bow (for now), for one more week, before disappearing completely after the 18th of May, having racked up a total so far of 20 tub-thumping weeks on chart.
Side 1
Side 2
Many thanks goes to the following YouTube channels, for providing the chance to hear the tracks so that together we can experience both sides of this album release, as it was intended, once again.
Please show your support by visiting their channels.
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