Aug 31, 2020
Ah, Ringo. You poor little goofball. Solo Beatledom was never going to be kind to you, was it? Things got off to a good enough start with a handful of bona fide classics, but affable charm (which was always Ringo's greatest strength) can only carry you so far, and his commercial fall from grace was as calamitous as it was predictable. Not that his compatriots were faring much better in 1977 - Lennon was in house husband exile, Harrison was in a downswing that he wouldn't pull out of until 1987's Cloud Nine, and McCartney's latest Wings album was based on the idea, "Hey, what if we had the guy who's NOT Paul McCartney write most of the songs!" Still, Ringo IV was a dud even by Ringo standards and it gave him the ignoble distinction of being the first Beatle to be dropped by his label. But was the world being too harsh on out hapless former mop top? Listen along as we try to find out!