Beaucoups of Blues (1970)
1. Beaucoups of Blues 2. Love Don't Last Long 3. Fastest Growing Heartache in the West 4. Without Her 5. Woman of the Night 6. I'd Be Talking All the Time 7. $15 Draw 8. Wine, Women and Loud Happy Songs 9. I Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way 10.Loser's Lounge 11.Waiting 12.Silent Homecoming 13.Coochy Coochy 14.Nashville Jam
I had sorta high hopes for this one. Released only a few months after his freshman effort, Sentimental Journey, this album has a bit of the same formula: go after one particular genre of music, in this case Country Western, and do your best to pay homage. The songs here aren't as well known as on his first album, but you get the idea.
It didn't hurt when he reportedly signed on with some of the best players in the industry that Nashville had to offer, and unlike his first record, Ringo's singing voice seemed to be the perfect fit for this type of music. Vocals were never Ringo's strong point, yet it was always his sad, everyman voice that made the one song or so per Beatle album that made it somewhat refreshing. So the idea behind this one was great since Country-Western music needn't always need a stellar vocalist. Sometimes, the more down-and-out the singer sounded, the better the overall product could be.
So the thing that makes the overall album suffer is that some of the songs just aren't quite as strong as some of the others. There are some great tunes on this record, and having Ringo sing them is a perfect fit. There are many things about this album that are a perfect replication of late sixties Nashville, that makes you wonder why Ringo never tried a project like this ever again. Near the end of the record, some songs just sound tired. They don't even necessarily have a Country-Western feel to them. It's almost as if he, and the musicians got so caught up in making it sound slick and professional that they forgot to make the songs somewhat fresh.
Still, there are many things to like, and this was something that none of the other ex-Beatles could have ever pulled off as well as Ringo. That's probably a first.