Editor's Note: During April 1998, we featured Ringo's Stop and Smell the Roses album. Please tell us what you like or don't like about the album and rank it from 1 ( positively awful) to 10 (great beyond your wildest dreams). Fans' Reviews follow the General Commentary. Send your comments to gshultz@airmail.net , and be sure to include your name. Click here to read reviews of other Ringo albums.
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There was a two-year interval between the release of Bad Boy and Ringo’s
eighth album, Stop and Smell the Roses. The gap between albums was in partly
due to the fact that in the spring of 1979 Ringo had suffered a life-threatening
illness. Then in February of 1980 filming began on the movie Caveman in
which Ringo had the starring role. By the summer of 1980, however, Ringo
was ready to return to the recording studio. This time his idea was to make
a record with the help of his “three brothers”, John Lennon, Paul
McCartney, and George Harrison. Somewhere along life’s way other friends
were brought into the act.
With recording sessions going on in France, Los Angeles, England, and the
Bahamas, Stop and Smell the Roses turned out to be the global album that
Ringo had envisioned way back in 1973 with Ringo. The list of producers,
Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stephen Stills, Ron Wood, Harry Nilsson,
and Ringo himself was as varied as the list of locations.
In June, Paul sent Ringo some demos for consideration. The project began
in earnest in July of 1980 when Paul arranged for studio time at Super Bear
Studios at Bear Les Alpes, France. Paul also arranged for the musical talents
of Laurence Juber on guitar, Howie Casey on sax, and Lloyd Green on pedal
steel guitar. Ringo and Paul and company worked from July eleventh until
the twenty-first and at the end of the eleven days had four songs ready
to go. Two songs, “Private Property” and “Attention,”
were written by Paul. The third was Carl Perkin’s countrified “Sure
to Fall.” Paul played bass and piano on these songs and ,with Linda,
supplied backing vocals. The fourth song , “You Can’t Fight Lightning”
was credited to Ringo and had a slightly different musical line up. “You
Can’t fight Lightning” features Ringo on guitar, Paul on drums,
Barbara Bach on maracas, and Linda McCartney among others singing backing
vocals. Ringo was so pleased with the song that he would later want it to
be the lead-off single as well as the title of the album.
In 1982, Paul produced The Cooler, a movie short starring Ringo and featuring
“Private Property,” “Attention” and “Sure to Fall.”
Paul, Linda, and Barbara also had parts in the short film which premiered
at the Canes Film Festival that year.
In August of 1980 Ringo teamed up with Stephen Stills in Los Angeles where
he recorded the Stills/Stergis creation, “You’ve Got a Nice Way
” as well as “Red and Black Blues.” Stephen Stills produced
both songs. The other musicians were Michael Stergis on rhythm guitar, Mike
Finnigan on piano and organ, and Harley Thompson on bass. In early September
the group got together again to record a song Ringo had written called “Wake
Up.”
In September, Ringo met another friend, Ron Wood, at Cherokee Studios in
Los Angeles. The pair recorded the Starkey/Wood composition “Dead Giveaway.”
Also during the Cherokee sessions the group recorded “Brandy.”
On November fourth, Ringo met his dear friend Harry Nilsson as well as a
select group of studio musicians for an all-day session at Evergreen Studios
in Burbank, California. On that day, work was done on the Nilsson/Starkey
composition “Stop and Take the Time to Smell the Roses” as well
as the Nilsson penned “Drumming Is My Madness” and a remake of
Ringo’s “Back Off Boogaloo.” Ringo added vocal overdubs at
Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas in early December.
On November nineteenth Ringo joined George Harrison at Harrison’s Friar
Park Studio. Between November nineteenth and twenty-fifth Ringo and George
recorded a song George had written for Ringo called “Wrack My Brain”
as well as the old fifties song, “You Belong to Me.” The backing
track for George’s tribute to John, “All Those Years Ago,”
was also recorded at this time. Other musicians taking part in the sessions
were Herbie Flowers on bass and tuba, Al Dooper on piano and guitar, and
Ray Cooper on piano and percussion.
Later in November, John Lennon and Yoko Ono visited with Ringo and Barbara
at the Plaza Hotel in New York. John had three songs in mind for Ringo,
“Life Begins at Forty” and “Nobody Told Me” and “I’m
Stepping Out.” The two made plans to record these in the new year.
Tragically, John’s murder put a permanent end to those plans.
Ringo was devastated by John’s death and for a time interest in his
new album waned. However, by mid-February of 1981, ten songs had been selected
for inclusion on the album. They were: “You Can’t Fight Lightning,”
“Attention,” “Private Property,” “Nice Way,”
“Wake Up,” “Wrack My Brain,” “Dead Biveaway,”
“Brandy,” “You Belong to Me,” and “Stop and Take
the Time to Smell the Roses.” Can’t Fight Lightning was Ringo’s
choice for the title of the new album. The original cover art featured Ringo
with bolts of lightning sparking from either side of his head. This photo
was eventually rejected when the title of the album was changed, but it
does grace the cover of the 1989 compilation CD, Starrstruck.
Can’t Fight Lightning failed to generate the excitement at Columbia
that Ringo thought the album deserved. Ringo was also upset with the company
for its failure to let him use the Portrait Records jet while promoting
Caveman. In April, Columbia granted Ringo a release from his contract and
in July of 1981 Can’t Fight Lightning was submitted to Neil Bogart
at Boardwalk Records.
Ringo appreciated Neil Bogart’s enthusiasm for the record and signed
on with Boardwork Records. At Neil’s suggestion, the album title was
changed to Stop and Smell the Roses. A new cover was shot to reflect the
change in title. It depicts Ringo dressed in a policeman’s uniform
and clutching a bouquet of red roses. The title and cover art were not the
only changes. Three songs, “You Can’t Fight Lightning,” “Brandy”
and “Wake Up,” were dropped from the original line up. “Sure
To Fall,” a new version of “Back Off Boogaloo” and “Drumming
Is My Madness” were added.
In September, videos were made for “Wrack My Brain” and “Stop
and Take the Time to Smell The Roses.”
Stop and Smell the Roses was released in October of 1981. The album rose
to number ninety-three in the charts. The first single, “Wrack My Brain”
reached number thirty-eight.
When the CD version of Stop and Smell The Roses was released in 1994, five
bonus tracks were added. These were “You Can’t Fight Lightning,”
“Red and Black Blues,” “Brandy,” “Wake Up”
and the original vocals version of “Stop and Take the Time To Smell
the Roses.” An anti-handgun message that Ringo had recorded in 1981
was also included.
I think that album is great! His drumming sounds marvellous and strong at "Private Properties", "dead giveaway", "Drumming is my madness" . His vocal sounds great in every songs, and i give a 10 to this album. Best regards from Brazil, waiting for Ringo's tour ! Bye.
~ Raul / Brazil
I read once in MOJO Magazine that this 1981
album was considered by many as the worst record ever made. I just don´t
understand that! Not only there are MANY records one can´t even listen
to, just as bad they are, but this Ringo effort is decent, to say the least.
I think this album is much underrated and recevied exaggerated criticism.
It´s maybe true that the ten songs contained
in the original LP are not "hits" nor powerful enough tracks,
but are easy listenable music, fun and truly pop. The present of George
and Paul was serviceable to the album, not just decorative to atract Beatle
buyers. "Wrack My Brain", penned by Harrison, was a 1974 left-off
track that Ringo used well for this album. It´s poppy fun. Macca's
compositions are simpler than ever, but "Private Property" is
catchy at least. "Stop and Take the Time..." grows slowly into
you after several hearings, an inspired piece that wasn´t certainly
designed for radio. "Dead Giveaway" rocks and the country flavor
of "Sure to Fall", "You Belong to Me" and "Nice
Way" (this last one is my fave) make a good trio. Maybe the lesser
numbers are "Drumming Is My Madness" (dunno, it could have been
funnier and rockier) and the unexplainable remake of "Back Off, Boogaloo"
with evident Nilsson influence in the Beatles lines chorus.
All in all, this is always a good record to
singalong and hear peacefully. Let´s not be unfair with could have
been (with bigger support from the record company and the buyers) Ringo´s
comeback to form. It seems also that John's demise damaged the critics and
public reaction to this effort rather than help it leave the ground.
It was a good gesture from Ringo to not include
any Lennon-penned number. By the way, "Life Begins at Forty" is
not a great piece and "Nobody Told Me" and "Steppin' Out"
(had Ringo include them) maybe would have spoiled the later release of "Milk
and Honey". I know there was a fourth Lennon song considered for its
inclusion. Paul was lucky that Ringo didn´t include "Take It
Away". Even the original song that later became George´s tribute
to John ("All Those Years Ago") was intended for this album, along
with some Ringo's half-penned number as well.
I prefer the original cover. It was more
suitable for Ringo. The CD bonus tracks are all good to excellent. "Brandy",
for instance, should have been in the original album. Don´t forget
"Red and Black Blues" also. So, after all, I give this album a
6.
~ Leonardo / Peru
I was very disappointed when I bought Stop
and Smell the Roses. I have the cd version with the bonus tracks,
which makes it a little better, but I would have to rank this as my least
favorite Ringo album. In my opinion Ringo is way too cool and too
much of a rocker to have released songs like "Drumming Is My Madness"
and "Stop And Take The Time To Smell The Roses." Those songs
sound like music he should have released when he's 64. Wait, that's
in the not too distant future, maybe he should have released them when he's
84. They sound like rock and roll for the Retirement Home. "Drumming
Is My Madness" could have possibly been saved if there was some extended
"mad" drumming, but a couple of seconds of going crazy on drums
cannot compensate for lyrics like those. I think whoever convinced
Ringo to include those songs but leave off the bonus tracks "Wake up,"
"Red and Black Blues," "Brandy," and "You Can't
Fight Lightning" was trying to sabotage what could have been a pretty
decent album. Those four bonus tracks are far superior to most of
the album, in my mind at least. And why does it seem that Ringo could
only release ten short songs per album? It doesn't seem like people
who bought the original version of this album got very much for their money,
especially when you consider that "Back Off Boogaloo" was a cover
version of Ringo's own song. There are a few pretty good songs on
here, but nothing that stands up to Ringo's best work. I would rate
this album as a 3, one for the best song, George's "Wrack My Brain,"
one for the two contributions by Paul, and one for the Carl Perkins song
"Sure to Fall."
~ Travis Truitt
While it's not my favorite Ringo record, it certinally is not the worst album ever!! I remember buying it the day it came out, I still have the receipt in my scrapbook. (Ok, ok, I'm a fan, what can I say?) I also remember the inner sleeve smelled like roses for a short time. There are some good tunes here, and besides, Ringo is always the one who is able to get the ex-Beatles to work on his solo recordings, even if they are all not in the studio at the same time. So what!!
We love it. I give it a 5.
~ DanaJ
"Wave to a guy in a Porche....cause
he knows how to live!!!"
This line alone warrents the album a 7 on the Ringo scale, I smile
everytime a see a Porche...and I wave.
~ Jeff Scott
Toronto Ontario Canada
I remember playing this album incessantly
when it came out...and I hadn't listened to much music after John had been
murdered up until this album. This has many good reasons to do so
(even more so with the CDs bonus tracks, especially "Can't Fight Lightning",
"Brandy" - makes me feel like crying - and the original "Stop
And Take The Time To Smell The Roses". It's great that
Ringo's playing with all these different bands (Stephen Stills' touring
band, what was left of Wings, Hari's studio band, and even the Crusaders),
and Ringo sounds like he's having a lot of fun. The only drawback
is that this approach with different producers makes this sound like a bunch
of singles (A and B sides) than an album. Perhaps that's the point.
Is it possible to get
"Attention" out of your head? I've never been able.
Myself, I'd rather listen to "Wrack My Brain" than watch tv.
(George covered much the same territory again with "Blood From A Clone".)
And "You Belong To Me" is far more Ringoish than "Only You".
"Sure To Fall" surpasses any Decca/BBC version. You might
wonder why Stephen Stills needed help to rewrite "Love The One You're
With", but I'm not going to complain because "Nice Way" is
a much better (sexism free) song. I have no quibble with the bonus
anti-handgun spots, but has anyone else noticed that in some of the publicity
shots for this album (and even some others from 1981), that Ringo has a
handgun? That always made me a bit queasy. But the cover does
capture one of the few beard free moments of Ringo's adult life. Anyhow,
for anyone who doesn't want to stop and smell the roses, smell this!
~ Steven B. Topping
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This page was last updated Nov. 12, 1998.