1968 - Ringo Starr

While the other three contributed in some way to Ringo's album by way of arrangements or compositions no other Beatles appear on this album making it a true solo album.

Once most of the backing tracks for the other three projects were done Ringo had more and more time to spare. He gathered a list of old standards and presented it to George Martin who commissioned arrangements and booked ten days to record the bulk of the material. This left Ringo unavailable to contribute drums to a few songs the others were working on. Although less well received than the other three solo albums it still holds up today as a fine collection of songs and performances.

1. Sentimental Journey
2. Night And Day
3. Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees)
4. Bye Bye Blackbird
5. I'm A Fool To Care (Daffan 1948)
6. Stardust
7. Blue Turning Grey Over You

8. Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing
9. Dream
10. You Always Hurt The One You Love
11. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
12. Let The Rest Of The World Go By
13. Stormy Weather
14. Goodnight

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Reality Notes:

Ringo Starr: Vocals.
All instruments performed by The George Martin Orchestra.

Track 1. Written by Bud Green/Les Brown/Bon Homer
Arranged by Richard Perry
First released by Doris Day in 1945
Track 2. Written by Cole Porter
Arranged by Chico O'Farrill
First released by Fred Astaire and Claire Luce in 1932
Track 3. Written by Fred Fisher/Doris Fisher
Arranged by Ron Goodwin
First released by The Ink Spots in 1940
Track 4. Written by Mort Dixon/Ray Henderson
Arranged by Maurice Gibb
First released by Eddie Cantor in 1926
Track 5. Written by Ted Daffan
Arranged by Klaus Voormann
First released by Les Paul and Mary Ford in 1954
Track 6. Written by Hoagy Carmichael/Mitchell Parish
Arranged by Paul McCartney
First released by Emile Seidel and Orchestra in 1927
Track 7. Written by Andy Razaf/Fats Waller
Arranged by Oliver Nelson
First released by Louis Armstrong and his orchestra in 1930
Track 8. Written by Sammy Fain/Paul Webster
Arranged by Quincy Jones
First released by The Four Aces in 1955
Track 9. Written by Johnny Mercer
Arranged by George Martin
First released by The Pied Pipers in 1945
Track 10. Written by Allan Roberts/Doris Fisher
Arranged by John Dankworth
First released by The Mills Brothers in 1944
Track 11. Written by Scott Wiseman
Arranged by Elmer Bernstein
First released by Lulu Belle and Scotty Wiseman in 1945
Track 12. Written by Ernest Ball/Karen Brennan
Arranged by Les Reed
First released by Dick Haymes in 1944
Track 13. Written by Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler
Arranged by ??
First released by Ethel Waters in 1933
Track 14. Written by John Lennon
Arranged by George Martin
First released by Ringo Starr/The Beatles in 1968

This album was actually recorded in 1970 and was titled Sentimental Journey and was Ringo's first solo album. The album is a collection of old standards that were chosen by Ringo and his family and friends and then arranged and orchestrated by producer George Martin, Quincy Jones, Nelson Riddle, Paul McCartney and others. (Sidenote: this was recorded in 1970, years before albums like this became a trend and gave us similar albums by Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt and Barbara Streisand.)

With John, Paul and George all making solo albums I didn't want Ringo to feel left out. So what I'm going to do is move Ringo's Sentimental Journey album from 1970 to 1968. We can do this for two reasons; A) Ringo released two albums in 1970 almost back to back and B) there are no songs on the album that were written after 1960, most were written years or even decades before, so we are not messing up any time frames. This also allows us to use John's Goodnight which he wrote for Ringo to sing. That song's orchestral backing fits in nice with the rest of the album.

As for when it would have been recorded, I am using the 10 days when Ringo was absent when he quit the band during the White album sessions. This means that Ringo never quit, he was just busy with his album. George Martin had been recording the songs backing tracks while serving as executive producer for the other three projects and slipped in these sessions to finish the recording.

I made no changes to the track list aside from adding John's Goodnight and one outtake, Stormy Weather.