Ringo Starr
Rewind Forward
4 out of 5 stars
Videos by American Songwriter
Somehow, the 83-year-old Liverpool-born musician Richard Starkey is still underestimated. It began as a young person when he dealt with a seemingly endless string of health ailments. But it was illness that indirectly led him to play drums.
Then, with the Beatles, the pocket-perfect drummer, known officially as Ringo Starr, was derided as the fourth most important Mop Top. But through the decades, Starr remains shining. Still spreading his mantra of “Peace and Love” with every two-finger salute.
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On his latest record, the four-song EP, Rewind Forward, Starr rises up again with an offering worth an ear. It might seem impossible for the octogenarian to even have a new release, but then this is Starr we’re talking about. He’s never without a surprise.
As for the new EP, it’s bright and lovely. It begins with the bendy, wendy song, “Shadows On The Wall,” which would sound like an Oasis song from the Gallagher brothers if the Gallagher brothers didn’t already sound so much like the Beatles. That song was written by Steve Lukather and Joseph Williams, members of Starr’s All-Starr Band and Toto.
The album’s second song, “Feeling The Sunlight,” sounds like it could be a B-side from Revolver or Let It Be. The song, sung by Starr, was written by his former Fab Four mate, Paul McCartney. It features the smirking lyric: Sometimes you got to admit that you just don’t care.
The record’s title track was written by Starr and longtime collaborator Bruce Sugar. “Rewind Forward was something I said out of the blue—it’s just one of those lines like “A Hard Day’s Night,” explained Starr of the idea. “It just came to me. But it doesn’t really make sense. I was trying to explain it to myself and the best I can tell you about what it means is: Sometimes when you want to go forward you have to go back first.”
I read all thе news, heard all the chattеr
Just looking for truth, everything matters
We got to stay with it the best that we can
Right now, this is my truth I’m telling you, man
The album concludes with the song “Miss Jean,” written by former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers members Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell, with Ian Hunter. The offering begins with a big, fat blues-rock guitar riff that meets pianos and Starr singing full-voiced. Chuck Berry, himself, would be proud.
As a collection, fans might be surprised at the scope and skill of the album. But to dismiss or count out Starr has long been too easy. Sometimes you have to forget what you think is right, what you believe is right. Sometimes you have to go back to the basics, and look to the past before you find your way. Sometimes you just have to Rewind Forward.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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