Ringo Starr’s Ringo Rama CD, released on March 25, 2003, was his first release after the death of his good friend, George Harrison. George was not only Ringo’s former bandmate with The Beatles, but a longtime friend who had been a part of much of Ringo’s post-Beatles work. Ringo has explained often enough that during the Beatles years, George was who he was closest to. It’s only fitting that Ringo included this tribute to George on the CD. Never Without You features Ringo on drums and keyboards, with further support from his Roundheads line-up of Gary Burr on acoustic guitar, Steve Dudas on electric guitar, Mark Hudson on bass and Jim Cox on B3 organ. Although he does not appear in the video, the guitar solo is by Eric Clapton, another good friend of George Harrison’s. Additionally, there is a 12 string acoustic guitar played by Gary Nicholson with background vocals handled beautifully by Mark Hudson and Gary Burr. Rather than touch on all of the references the song contains of Ringo’s dearly missed friend, I will leave those for you to take notice of on your own. Enjoy…

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Ringo Rama (Bonus Dvd) (Dlx) – Deluxe edition of original 2003 Ringo Rama CD with bonus DVD and featuring original version of Never Without You

2) Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo – 2007 hits compilation of Ringo’s big ones, including Never Without You

3) Ringo 5.1 – a special 2008 CD/DVD audio collection of 5.1 (surround) mixes of some of Ringo’s recent favorites (also includes regular stereo mixes of same tracks) featuring Never Without You

4) Live at Soundstage – 2009 CD covering Ringo live on June 24, 2005 at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan Illinois with The Roundheads (Mark Hudson, Steve Dudas, Gary Burr, Mark Hart, Greg Bissonette and Matt Bissonette). Aired on PBS’s Soundstage in August 2005 and featuring Never Without You (live)

5) Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band Live 2006 – 2008 DVD of 2006 concert with Ringo and the All-Starrs (Richard Marx, Sheila E., Hamish Stuart, Edgar Winter, Billy Squier, Rod Argent) featuring Never Without You (live)

6) Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 – 2010 DVD of 2008 concert with Ringo and the All-Starrs (Gary Wright, Colin Hay, Hamish Stuart, Edgar Winter, Billy Squier) featuring Never Without You (live)

7) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Back Off Boogaloo – Ringo Starr and The Roundheads, 2005 This week’s VOW is to get you ready, in case...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – “Sometimes” (extra from ‘Vertical Man’ sessions) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. By the...

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. By the summer of 1998, Ringo Starr was way overdue to get a CD out. He had not had a studio release since 1992′s Time Takes Time and had since struck up a musical partnership with musician/songwriter Mark Hudson. Besides, the recent success of the Beatles Anthology series had effectively added a lot to the younger generation of Beatles fans, making the timing of a fresh new release a good bet. Most of the tracks on Vertical Man were actually recorded the previous year and included an impressive list of supporting musicians other than Ringo and Mark. Among them were Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh, Scott Weiland, Brian Wilson, Steven Tyler, Alanis Morissette, and Timothy B. Schmidt. I should probably mention that Paul McCartney and George Harrison made a few contributions as well. Additionally, Steve Dudas began playing bass and guitar for Ringo on this CD and is still with him today.

While not a huge commercial success, Vertical Man is one of my favorite solo efforts by Ringo and it was his biggest seller since his 1976 album Ringo’s Rotogravure. The CD was released in June of 1998, with a single release out the following month of a track on the CD called La De Da. The La De Da single contained the album track, plus a rearranged edit of the song that differs from the album version. There was also a song called Everyday that was not included on Vertical Man. The first 30, or so, copies of ‘VM’ delivered to each Best Buy store received a free 3-track second CD of bonus music (called a Best Buy Exclusive, or BBE). The BBE’s track listing was Mr. Doubleitup, Sometimes and Good News. Mr. Doubleitup and the La De Da b-side Everyday also appeared as bonus tracks on the Japanese edition of VM, but the other two BBE tracks, to my knowledge, have never surfaced anywhere else. I have decided to include one of these as this week’s BROW. Sometimes is Ringo back in that country vein he’s been known to be partial to over the years, which makes for a unique sort of BROW. Ringo sings, plays drums and a little piano on the track. Mark Hudson plays bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, some piano and shares background vocals with ex-Eagle Timothy B. Schmidt. Steve Dudas also plays electric and acoustic guitar. Pedal steel guitar is played by Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and the main pianist is Jim Cox.

Cover art for Vertical Man BBE Bonus Disc, 1998

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Vertical Man
– Original 1998 Vertical Man CD featuring La De Da, 1998

2) Ringo Starr VH1 Storytellers – Live performances by Ringo Starr and the Roundheads including La De Da, 1998

3) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Vertical Man – EPK, 1998 One of my favorite Ringo Starr album’s is 1998′s Vertical...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – “Good News” (extra from ‘Vertical Man’ sessions) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. With Ringo...
3. New Ringo album will also feature Paul Ringo is putting out a new album due on the...

One of my favorite Ringo Starr album’s is 1998′s Vertical Man. The hit single off the album was called La De Da and along with Ringo’s regular band (Mark Hudson, Steve Dudas and Jim Cox), was his brother-in-law, Joe Walsh (doing that nice guitar work), and backing vocals by about 43 others including Paul McCartney, Barbara Bach, Steven Tyler, Nils Lofgren and Timothy B. Schmidt.

Note: Originally this post featured the La De Da promo video, but since this video has been pulled by You Tube, I have modified the post to feature the actual press kit (EPK) for the Vertical Man album which has some good snippets of La De Da and other songs on the album along with some interesting commentary from Ringo Starr. Enjoy.

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – “Sometimes” (extra from ‘Vertical Man’ sessions) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. By the...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – “Good News” (extra from ‘Vertical Man’ sessions) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. With Ringo...
3. New Ringo album will also feature Paul Ringo is putting out a new album due on the...