The old addage “when you’re on a good thing, stick to it” comes to mind today as Ringo Starr announces the release of his second album with T Bone Burnett as producer – due out on April 24.
It’ll be called Long Long Road and it follows on from last year’s well-received Look Up, a welcome return to the country/Americana style that Ringo, and his audience, are very comfortable with. Under the direction of Burnett, Ringo is having something of a late career revival and reaching new audiences.
Recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles, the 10-song album features collaborations with Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sarah Jarosz, and St. Vincent.
And a CD in a good old-fashioned plastic jewel case:
Talking about the new album Ringo says “I’m blessed to have T Bone in my life right now and working with me on these records. After we did the last record, which I love listening to, this one just sort of happened. I like to say sometimes I make the right moves, like you can go left or right at any point, and one of the right moves was hooking up with T Bone for Look Up, and now for this one, which I’m calling Long Long Road, because I’ve been on a long long road.”
Renowned music photographer (and good friend of Ringo’s) Henry Diltz shot the album cover, as well as additional photos for the album packaging. If you don’t think you’ve seen his work before, it’s almost certain that you have! Check out the link above to his official page. Since the 1960s he’s been snapping rock royalty. His photographs of The Doors, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young, James Taylor, Paul McCartney plus countless others have graced more than 250 album and magazine covers.
And he wrote and directed the new 50 minute Episode 9 of the Disney+ series, so Apple is obviously sending quite a bit of work his way. Hopefully soon we’ll get the Oliver Murray take on the making of ‘Real Love’, with even more previously unseen footage?
It didn’t last long. Some helpful readers pointed out we’d left out Ringo’sStop & Smell The Roses – the numbered, liquid vinyl edition – limited to 400 copies.
And the other Ringo Starr was a red vinyl re-issue of his 14th studio album, Choose Love from 2005. This had first been slated for Record Store Day Black Friday, but was quietly removed from official lists prior to the day. It’s popped up again on the Friday Music site, this time with a late January 2026 release date (though knowing Friday Music that is extremely likely to change):
Then Dark Horse Records announced it would be issuing a further title from the Yusuf/Cat Stevens back catalogue that the label now has the rights to. It’s called Tell ‘Em I’m Gone and it will be on yellow vinyl:
So, each of these were duly added into a revised graphic and we were just about to re-publish when last Friday came news of yet another collectable, this time linked to the Beatles’Anthology re-issue – and in particular Anthology 4. On it are the 2025 re-mixes of ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ and they are now being released as a limited edition, double A-side 7″ translucent milk white vinyl single. This is the 2025 mix of both songs.
There’s been no indication of a CD version of the single being made available (except for Japan where there’s been an exclusive Japan-only CD announced). Nor has there been any talk of updated versions of the ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ EPs (or “maxi-singles”) which were originally released to accompany Volumes 1 and 2 of Anthology back in 1995 and 1996. That means all of the extra tracks on those EPs will remain unavailable, with the exception of the song ‘This Boy’, which has been added to the Anthology Volume 4 discs.
The ‘Free As A Bird’ (2025 Mix)/’Real Love’ (2025 Mix) 7″ coloured vinyl single is only available from Beatles official stores (e.g. in the UK or the US), or from certain Universal Music online stores (eg. this one in Germany).
So, it has been a most busy time for any Beatle collector who is a completist. There’s been so much product so fast it’s been difficult to keep up.
To help, here’s our updated visual. If you want everything, this is what you’ll need to order. There are no fewer that 51 items here! This has got to be unprecedented in the run-up to Christmas:
It’s been a busy time over the last few weeks and months for Beatle collectors.
There’s been so much product announced it’s hard to keep on top of it.
So, we decided to made a visual representation for you, the avid completist, so that you can keep track.
If you want everything, THIS is what you’ll need to order:
Screenshot
(Click on the image to see a larger version)
Have we forgotten anything?
FYI, the Ringo StarrChoose Love LP announced for Record Store Day Black Friday 2025 seems to have quietly slipped off the list again, so we have not included it here.
As if we didn’t have enough Beatle or Beatle-related product between now and Christmas….
Now comes news that four coloured vinyl LPs from the Ringo Starr camp are due October 24.
They are his first four solo releases, beginning with his solo debut Sentimental Journey, produced by George Martin and originally released in 1970, now on custom “buttermilk yellow” vinyl:
Also from 1970 comes Beaucoups of Blues, back in print on custom “baby blue” vinyl and in a gatefold jacket. Recorded in Nashville and produced by the legendary slide player Pete Drake:
The great Ringo album is pressed on “molten lava” custom vinyl and comes with the original 24-page booklet included in a gatefold jacket. Looks good actually:
And last but not least, Ringo’s fourth studio album Goodnight Vienna. Like the Ringo album this is one of his best, once again collaborating with the greats: John Lennon, Elton John, Dr. John, Billy Preston, Robbie Robertson, Jesse Ed Davis, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann and Harry Nilsson. Produced by Richard Perry, the LP features the Lennon penned title track plus other standouts like ‘No-No Song’, ‘Only You (And You Alone)’ and ‘Occapella’. This one is pressed on “psychedelic waves” custom vinyl:
At the moment these appear to be only available vie Ringo’sofficial store and through official Universal Music stores (for example here’s the US Udiscover Music store). Not sure if they’ll get a wider release.
First up is the next installment in the ongoing George Harrison/Zoetrope disc back-catalogue series, Living In The Material World:
Featuring the 2024 50th anniversary mix of the album, this will come in a numbered sleeve with an insert of the original cover art. Hopefully it will be easier to secure than the Zoetrope edition of All Things Must Pass from Record Store Day earlier this year! It quickly became as rare as hen’s teeth.
Also on Dark Horse is a Billy Idol 12″ single picture disc. It features the track ’77’ which was on his LP Dream Into Itfrom earlier this year. The song is a collaboration with Avril Lavigne, but the version with her has so far only been available as a digital download. She didn’t make the cut for the version on the physical release. Well, now we get both versions on this 2-sided picture. Side 1 features the duet with Lavigne, while Side 2 is the album version.
A third Dark Horse Records title for RSD Black Friday is only appearing (so far) on the UK list. It looks to be a follow-up to last year’s RSD collaboration between Dhani Harrison and Carmen Rizzo. That was called Dreamers In The Field and featured world music artists Huun-Huur-Tu. This time Ivan Shopov is also involved and special guests are the New Bulgarian Voices and composer/choir leader Georgi Petkov. The album is called Ascending Into Silence. Very interesting stuff:
And lastly, there’s also the now almost obligatory RSD Ringo Starr re-issue on coloured vinyl from Friday Music. It’s his Choose Love from 2005 and it is the first time this record has been available on vinyl, so that makes it interesting. It’ll be on ruby red vinyl:
UPDATE: Despite being published on early RSD Black Friday 2025 lists, this Ringo Starr release seems to have quietly slipped off those same lists in recent days. We’ll keep an eye on it to see if it re-appears and will let you know.
The Beatles have announced this week that the new CEO of their company, Apple Corps Ltd., will be Tom Greene. He replaces Jeff Jones, who ran the company for almost 18 years and decided to step away from the job last year.
In a group statement, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison and Sean Ono Lennon joined together to say: “We are thrilled to welcome Tom Greene as CEO. We have a lot of exciting plans and Tom’s experience and vision make him the perfect person to join us in making it all happen.”
Variety reports that while Greene (pictured above) has no music business experience, he comes to the role with a strong entertainment background having been Chief Operating Officer of BLAST “a competitive entertainment company working with the biggest video game developers and publishers in the world on the production, commercialization and audience growth of their e-sports programs”.
Prior to that Greene was at Wizarding World Digital and Pottermore, the official hubs and parent companies of the Harry Potter franchise – with “over 50 million members, supported by immersive digital experiences, daily content publishing and an innovative e-commerce offering.” Greene was Group Commercial Director for Pottermore from 2015 through 2018, then moved to Wizarding World Digital, where he acted as COO, then General Manager.
In taking on his new role, Greene will still maintain his position on the board of directors for both BLAST and Pottermore.
Greene, who won’t start until September, said “It is a huge honor to lead Apple Corps into this new phase of its history. Like so many people around the world, I grew up in a household obsessed with the Beatles and their music. At a time when the world might need more of the Beatles’ spirit, there are so many new and innovative ways to bring their unique magic to all generations of fans. I cannot wait to get started.”
It’s going to be very interesting to see where the company goes in the future. With his e-commerce background will this mean that physical product from The Beatles is set to take a back seat? Hope not.
The entertainment bible Variety is reporting that at last there is definite movement on Paul McCartney’s on-again, off-again animated children’s feature film, High In The Clouds.
The magazine says that “Celine Dion, Himesh Patel and Hannah Waddingham will lead the voice cast of High in the Clouds….which [production company] Gaumont (“Ballerina”) is producing and repping internationally.”
“Inspired by the children’s adventure book by Paul McCartney, Geoff Dunbar and Philip Ardagh, High in the Clouds will also bring together Idris Elba, Lionel Richie, Ringo Starr, Jimmy Fallon, Clémence Poésy, Pom Klementieff and Alain Chabat.”
There’ll also be six original songs by McCartney in the film, which – back in 2023 – was budgeted at €28 million (US$31.7 million). It’ll be directed by Toby Genkel (The Amazing Maurice), and will have a screenplay by Jon Croker (Paddington 2), with Patrick Hanenberger (The Croods, Lego Movie 2) as production designer. Paul McCartney will also voice one of the main characters.
And here’s the exciting bit. Oscar winner Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille, Up, Inside Out, Coco) will score the feature with the original soundtrack set to be released by Universal Music Group. So, we’ll be getting at least six new Paul McCartney songs.
The cast and the characters they voice are:
Himesh Patel (Yesterday) as the main character, Wirral Céline Dion (Academy Award winner for Best Song) as Sugartail Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) as Gretsch Paul McCartney as McKenzie Idris Elba (Luther) as Barrel Lionel Richie as Gladstone Ringo Starr as Roy Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show) as Froggo Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter) as Doris Pom Klementieff (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning) as Mina Alain Chabat (Night at the Museum) as Bigsby
Two things to note:
You’ll notice on the official poster (above) it says “Coming 2027“, so we’ve still got a while to wait.
Secondly, if you’re wondering about someone who is missing in all this latest reporting on the film, you’re not wrong. When we said this has been an on-again, off-again project across a number of years we weren’t kidding.
Way back in 2015 there were prolific reports on social media showing Paul working with none other than Lady Gaga on one of the key songs for the film. This photo from Instagram dates back to February that year. So, High In The Clouds the movie has been on the boil at least 10 years now. In fact first reports of an animated film based on the book date back to 2013.
This doesn’t mean that Gaga’s contribution has been ditched. She’s just not in a speaking role. Maybe her song will be in the opening and closing credits? Here’s a happy-snap from the same 2015 recording session with Gaga, with Paul and all the musicians in the studio. You can also see Paul’s regular drummer Abe Laborial Jr. at his left shoulder.:
As is the way with these things ideas, concepts and themes morph. The synopsis of the book now looks distinctly different to that of the film.
Plot of the book (as per the 2005 book cover): “Forced to leave his woodland home, destroyed by the expansion plans of the evil Gretsch, Wirral the squirrel vows to find the fabled land of Animalia, where all the animals are said to live in freedom and without fear. Wirral’s personal quest turns into a full-blown plan to save enslaved animals everywhere.”
Plot of the film (as per the 202 Variety article): “Follows the journey of a headstrong teenage squirrel, Wirral, who lives in Gretschville, a city where music has been banned by a diva-owl, Gretsch, who wants to be the only singer in town. Determined to overthrow Gretsch and bring music back to his town, Wirral joins forces with an underground band of legendary musicians who hide high in the clouds, in a secret place called Harmonia.”
Quite different, don’t you think?
Still, this promises to be a fun watch with a special soundtrack album as an added bonus.
Lots of Beatle book news around at the moment. We’re a little slow getting to this one, but Paul McCartney has flagged a big Wings book retrospective due later this year – November 4 to be precise. It’s called Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
Clearly this is still a work very much in production but the book promises over 100 black and white and colour photographs, many previously unseen, and will draw on over 500,000 words and dozens of hours of interviews with McCartney and numerous key players in and around the band. Most probably it is designed to tie in with Morgan Neville’s forthcoming documentary film Man on the Run, which will also tell the story of McCartney’s life following the breakup of The Beatles and the formation of Wings. That film (due later this year or early next) is also based on access to never-before-seen archives of Paul and Linda’s home videos and photos, as well as new interviews. (See The Paul McCartney Project for more on this).
25th anniversary? Didn’t The Beatles Anthology documentary series, CD’s and vinyl begin to come out back in 1995? Shouldn’t it be the 30th anniversary? Well no, not for the book which was first published as a hardback in the year 2000. This time it’s paperback only. Fans are already asking if the release might be associated with some sort of The Beatles Anthology CD/vinyl re-issue too? Or maybe the documentary series has been refreshed as is slated for streaming? Or re-issue on DVD or Blu-Ray. We don’t know as yet…..
Rather than being a biography, with each release this series is growing as the go-to reference place for detailed information on each and every Wings or solo Paul McCartney album or individual song. This second volume covers off a further 250 entries, including 26 previously unreleased songs. It is packed with technical info on the recordings, personnel and who-played-what, anecdotes and the background to how each song and album came about.
The book kicks off in 1990 with the triple LP live album Tripping the Live Fantastic, the record that launched McCartney into the Nineties, and ends with Complete Kisses, another foray into performing live – but this time a live streamed concert he gave in support of his jazz-influenced album Kisses on the Bottom from 2012. In between there is a wealth of information on Paul’s solo studio albums over this period, but also some much-needed analysis and detail on his many classical, operatic and experimental outings from the time – like his Liverpool Oratorio with Carl Davis, Standing Stone, Ecce Cor Meum, his Ocean’s Kingdom ballet music, plus Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest where he appears for the first time with collaborator Youth under the nom de plume, TheFireman. There’s also a chapter on the very experimental Liverpool Sound Collage with the Super Furry Animals, and another musical style departure called Twin Freaks, under yet another pseudonym, Twin Freaks. To date very little has been written about these eclectic but fascinating additions to his canon, so this book is immediately a very welcome research window into some of McCartney’s more obscure yet interesting musical moments. Bravo!
For how Perasi constructs each entry in the book see our review of Volume 1because the same format is used here. As for information on what is coming next, Perasi says there will be a Volume 3 starting at 2013 with the album New and moving forward, then a Volume 4 looking at Paul McCartney’s many collaborations and appearances on other people’s records (fascinating!), and then a Volume 0 is promised as a mystery surprise finale. As to just what this contains we’ll have to wait and see.
Well, Luca Perasi is nothing if not prolific because today he’s announced yet another new book called Ringo Starr: I Play the Piano If It’s in C. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1997.
As the title suggests, this covers the first twenty-eight years of Ringo Starr’s solo career. Luca says, “The book is the first ever to explore in such depth Ringo’s post-Beatles production, from Sentimental Journey until his All-Starr Band tour in 1997.”
“The title recalls a verse from his song ‘Early 1970’ and is a half-joking reference to the fact that Ringo is not really a composer but is still capable of producing great music. He’s been defined as a drummer who plays melodically, as a guitarist, and it’s time to explore his production historically and critically.”
Like the McCartney volumes, this book tells the stories behind 157 of Ringo’s songs released between 1970 and 1997 – including songs written by other composers plus 23 unreleased tracks – each with detailed information on musicians and recording dates, anecdotes and contemporary interviews.
“During the period under consideration, Ringo goes through different phases of his career; he starts as an outsider, but he manages to achieve great success until 1974, first with the two singles ‘It Don’t Come Easy’ and ‘Back off Boogaloo’, and then with the albums Ringo and Goodnight Vienna,” explains Perasi. “During the second half of the seventies, he became increasingly marginalised in the music business, and the eighties opened amidst a thousand difficulties, with Ringo failing to revive his career through the project of an album in Memphis and his alcohol addiction.”
Out now, Ringo Starr: I Play the Piano If It’s in C. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1997is available worldwide from Amazon in both hardcover and paperback. For the USA click here, and the UK click here.
A Volume 2 will follow in 2026. See what I mean about prolific?
The folks at Friday Music have just announced two coloured, limited edition vinyl editions of a 2007 Ringo Starr title, Live At Soundstage.
One is on burgundy swirl vinyl:
The other is on gold metalic:
It’s the first time this live performance has been on vinyl. It was originally a CD-only release which came out in 2007.
Recorded in 2005 for a televised Live At Soundstage concert held at the beautiful old Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois, it features Ringo with his band The Roundheads – Greg Bissonette, Matt Bissonette, Gary Burr, Steve Dudas, Mark Hart & Mark Hudson.
The band work their way through some great tracks including ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, ‘Photograph’, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘Don’t Pass Me By’, ‘Back Off Boogaloo’ and this one, ‘Octopus’s Garden’:
The venue looks amazing, Ringo is clearly in fine voice, and the band is tight:
The records come in a gatefold sleeve and both are available for pre-order now. They’ll ship in Spring. The burgundy swirl LP is here, and the gold metalic is here.
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