Ringo Starr Followed up His Biggest Album With This Star-Studded Affair in 1974

Ringo Starr hit his peak in 1973 with the album Ringo. Ostensibly his first crack at a rock LP after The Beatles’ breakup, it sent him rocketing to the top of the charts and proved he could compete commercially with his former bandmates, who all contributed to the record.

A year later, Starr went back to the well. The follow-up album, like Ringo, featured a cast of a thousand stars, with Ringo at the heart of it all, delivering a few more big hits.

Solo Ringo

Ringo Starr wisely took his time to plot his musical moves after The Beatles crumbled. In 1970, he released a pair of albums, but neither were pop-oriented. They instead consisted of covers of standards (Sentimental Journey) and country songs (Beaucoups Of Blues).

Starr also popped his head out for a couple of non-album hit singles (“It Don’t Come Easy” and “Back Off Boogaloo”). But he mostly spent the first few years of the 70s tending to his acting career. When he finally decided to make an album, he had no shortage of folks looking to help him out on the project.

That included all three of his fellow Beatles. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison all wrote songs and played on the Ringo album. Harrison made the biggest impact by co-writing “Photograph”, the album’s standout track.

Back to the Well

The success of Ringo suddenly put Starr’s music in high demand. Wisely realizing that the time was right to strike, he didn’t wait very long to jump back into the studio. And he also made a smart choice to once again hire producer Richard Perry.

Perry was fast becoming the go-to choice in that era as a producer who could corral a coherent sound out of albums where different batches of session players and special guests were appearing on each track. Starr once again dug deep into the Rolodex for the Ringo follow-up, which he titled Goodnight Vienna upon its release in 1974.

When you check out the credits of this record, you’ll quickly understand just how connected Starr was to the rock zeitgeist. Session aces like Steve Cropper, Jim Keltner, Bobby Keys, and Nicky Hopkins all offered their expertise. Rock stars in their own right, like Robbie Robertson, Harry Nilsson, and Dr. John, also appeared. Nilsson wrote the song “Easy For Me” for the project, while Elton John and Bernie Taupin pitched in “Snookeroo”.

Say ‘Goodnight’

Unlike the Ringo album, however, only John Lennon of the ex-Beatles contributed. But Lennon’s involvement helped Goodnight Vienna stand out. He wrote the boisterous title track, which appears at the start and end of the album.

Lennon also made the suggestion that Starr should cover The Platters’ classic “Only You (And You Alone)”. To drive his point home, Lennon made an elaborate demo of the song. All Starr had to do was sing on top of it. It became one of the album’s biggest hits, along with “No No Song”, a comical look by songwriter Hoyt Axton at some of Starr’s past indiscretions.

Goodnight Vienna essentially marked the end of Starr’s time as a major pop player. When he returned in 1976 with Ringo’s Rotogravure, not even songs written by all three of his Beatle buddies could help recapture the magic of the previous two LPs.

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)