JAZZY REVIEWS: Sentimental Journey - Ringo Starr

If you’re wondering why I am reviewing an album far removed from my usual jazz selections, it’s because I like to try things that pique my interests, and the title of this album did just that. The LP derives its title from a standard song associated with the fine 1940’s Les Brown band and a vocal aptly handled by Doris Day.

The title track is a bit of a slow opener but done well enough by Ringo to keep me from skipping ahead. After a fair opening track things make a dramatic improvement. His rendition of “Night and Day” is straight out of the Sinatra charts. He handles the swinging big band backing quite well and keeps up well enough to make me return to this track often. By the way, the orchestra on the whole album is credited to the Beatles long-time producer George Martin. Track 3 is, by far, my most favorite and keeps this album in my collection. The seldom heard “Whispering Grass” is a masterpiece of both production and vocalizing. The song made popular in the 1940’s by the Ink Spots has always been a favorite of mine and I have tried to collect every version I can find. Ringo steps back into the 1920s for “Bye Bye Blackbird” including a banjo opening that morphs into a full Broadway production. Back to another big 1940s hit by the Mills Brothers, “I’m A Fool to Care”. It’s performed well, but I’m not too keen on the multi-tracking of Ringo to simulate a male trio. Again, the band brings out the best in this selection. He completes side one with the most popular standard of all time, the Hoagy Carmichael composition, “Stardust”. Ringo sings this straight forward with a nice lilting swing arrangement utilizing the full Martin orchestra. This is one song that has been recorded thousands of times and when I hear a good performance it reminds me what a beautiful mix of melody and lyrics Hoagy created.

Side two opens with a Fats Waller number, “Blue Turning Grey Over You”, a nice swinging big band production, but again the “trio” sound is not complimenting to Ringo. It is interesting that he chose to open with the verse though. The newest song on the album “Love Is A Many Splendor Thing” is handled as a 1960’s ballad with a full chorus, sounding more like Andy Williams than Ringo Starr. It’s not bad by any means, but kind of takes away from the sentimentality of the rest of the album. He returns to the multi-tracking for “Dream”, sounding not great but tolerable and nostalgic. The next two selections are the low point of the entire program. The overall production is a clunky mix of 1970s Muzak and bad horn solos, with Ringo in the “trio” setting. The song, “You Always Hurt the One You Love” was popular by both the Ink Spots and The Mills Brothers, but Ringo’s version leaves me not wanting to ever hear it again! Track 11 is just as bad. Somehow, he and George Martin thought making “Have I Told You Lately I Love You” into a rock/twist tempo mess was good. Simply, it was not! Fortunately, the closing track brings them back to something closer to the theme of the album. “Let the Rest of the World Go By” is well done as a sugary ballad production with the Ringo “trio”, a full chorus and orchestra. It’s more of a country setting as Eddy Arnold would do. Not terrible, just rather forgettable.

The entire production is well done, with some amazing tracks and some more mediocre ones. I give Ringo and George credit for releasing something so nostalgic in 1970. It was not well received, but for those of us that enjoy the old standards, it’s a fresh take.

Music: 7/10-Great standard songs for the most part, I could think of a few compositions that would better suit the overall theme. Ringo may not be the best vocalist, but “A for effort”.

Production: 9/10-Excellent engineering, decent arrangements, less “schmaltz” would be better, but there are enough well-done tracks to keep me interested.

As a side note, Paul McCartney tried something similar in 2015 with “Kisses at the Bottom” which won him a Grammy. We will dig into that on a future post.