In 1973 the ex-Beatles were looking to be pretty washed up. John was fighting to stay in America, separated from Yoko and released the dismal "Mind Games". After conquering the world with the triple album "All Things Must Pass" in 1970, George had finally returned with a likeable but fairly flimsy follow up with "Living In The Material World". Paul was still struggling to get WINGS off the ground (no pun intended) and had recently released the solid yet unspectacular "Red Rose Speedway". Then from out of nowhere came this Ringo gem. Notable not only for being one of the most enjoyable solo Beatle efforts, this album also features contributions by Marc Bolan, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney, the only post Beatle album able to make that claim. This album cannot be taken as an artistic statement of any description, and has all the depth of a puddle, but is simply FUN. From the witty Lennon scripted opener, to George Harrison and Mal Evans' drunken sounding finale this is endless fun. Obvious highpoints are the fantastically stupid Ringo/Vini Poncia composition "Devil Woman" ("You're like the devil with the horns on your head/The only way I'll get you is to get you in bed"! ), Paul's gentle "Six O'Clock" (save for some hideously dated keyboards), John's "I'm The Greatest", and the genuinely lovely ballad (and hit single) "Photograph", written by George and Ringo (a nice irony - a Harrison/Starkey composition that bettered anything Lennon or McCartney had written yet that year). That Paul went on to release the epochal "Band On the Run" the same year does not tarnish this amaiable album's charms one bit. It's no "Ram", "Flaming Pie", All Things Must Pass" or "Imagine", but no Beatle fan should be without it.
