6 years after his last solo project, former Beatles drummerRingo Starrhas returned to the music scene for a new album. Ahead of the slated Sam Mendes biopic starringBarry Keoghan as the Englishman, Starr returned to the booth for the first time since the release of his landmark 20th studio album,What’s My Name, which was originally announced as his final album, as he announced plans to focus on less-demanding EPs.
Despite that promise, Starr couldn’t stay away from the studio for long, as album 21 arrives in the form ofLook Up. However, instead of aiming for the signature rock sound that molded him into the legend he is today, Starr returns to offer something different from his usual sound through the realm of the country genre. But how does the rock and roll pioneer fair after his genre switch? Here’s every song onLook Up, ranked.
11"You Want Some"
The Album’s Weakest Track
It’s almost ironic that there are only two songs on this album with no features, and they both encompass the best song on the album andthe worst song on the album.Even more ironic is how both songs feel like anthitheses to each other. The best is a masterful remedy for heartbreak, while “You Want Some” feels like a lazy plea for love.
Not to say that there’s anything wrong with pleading for love, aseveryone loves a good romantic song, even when it’s about begging for romance. The problem is that the lyrics feel empty and devoid of emotion beyond that longing, which is a shame when the album has shown it is more than capable of showcasing such a high level of emotion. This song just … chooses not to.
10"Never Let Me Go"
Disappointing Follow-Up to a Trio of Great Tracks
Coming after “Time on My Hands,” the sentiment is there and it insinuates that the tracklist even tells a story. Going from one track about losing a love to a track about never letting go of a new love is simple, but effectively resonant. Sadly,on its own merit, the song doesn’t resonate in the same way that the previous three tracks do and halts the album’s hot track of having no skippable songs.
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“Never Let Me Go” isn’t necessarily a bad song as much as it is a song that one can do without. It’s not a song that demands a re-listen after listening to the album once in full. For future listens of this album, it’s okay to skip “Never Let Me Go.”
9"I Live For Your Love" feat. Molly Tuttle
Great Vocal Range, But the Lyrics Leave a Lot to Be Desired
One of the best additions to this album is Molly Tuttle, as her duets with Ringo Starr make for a consistent highlight to the album. This song is no different, but out of the four songs that she features on, this is easily the weakest of them all. There’s nothing that Tuttle or even Starr do wrong, vocally. In fact, hearing their voices intersected with one another remains as thunderous and engrossing as it is on “Look Up,” “Can You Hear Me Call,” and “String Theory.”
Theproblem is that the lyrics just don’t elevate the song to the level that it needs to be. It doesn’t help that this is one of the shorter songs on the album, therefore the lyrics are minimal to begin with. That said, what lyricsarethere just feels like a retread of previous tracks like “Never Let Me Go,” about staying in the moment of loving someone. Both songs share the same sentiment and are read as generic love songs.
8"Thankful" feat. Alison Krauss
A Solid Finale With Country Music Royalty
“Thankful” marks the final track on the album and while not ranked among the very best songs on the album, it’s a strong way to end the album nonetheless. It’s a more than decent effort that resonates all the stronger if one considers that this could be the final song for any Ringo Starr album, if not potentially his final song, period. Starr has flirted with his swan songs before, as recently as the last album, but this feels different.
The song doubles as a goodbye to a love that’s been the recurring theme of this album, and potentially an underlying subtext of Ringo saying goodbye to his audience.“Thankful for this moment here / And thankful you are here” easily could be the singer acknowledging he is nearing the end of his career at age 84, but grateful for the devoted audience who have stuck around all this time. It’s oddly poetic.
7"Rosetta" feat. Billy Strings and Larkin Poe
Starr’s Collaboration Is Impressively Subtle
It’s the subtle things that this song does best. The “Rosetta” phrase gets a little too repetitive pretty quickly, but it also works as a double entendre, in a sense. When looking at lyrics like “I’ve been haunted by your ghost” and “We could always reel and rock,” the song feels like it could just as easily be about the search for a woman named Rosetta as much as it can be about a search for the actual stone. The stone is obviously less impactful than talking about love, but it’s a covert use of lyricism that’s nonetheless impressive if it was intentional.
What’s also enjoyable are the slow rise of the back-up vocals slowly joining Starr in expressing this kind of affection on the microphone. He’s solo throughout, but as the song goes, he’s slowly echoed by additional voices.It makes the song feel like a changing tide.
6"String Theory" feat. Molly Tuttle and Larkin Poe
Another Collab Captures An Infectious Spirit
A title like “String Theory” lives up to expectations for any string lovers out there hoping for a melody of string instrumentation. The string work acoustic against background drums works almost like a ballad with the vocals of Tuttle, Poe, and Starr together.The combination is serene in the purest sense of the word.
The energy behind this track is infectious to say the least. Which is especially impressive as the second to last track on the album. The second to last track for any album can sometimes be the death knell for a project, used as mere filler that no one is going to remember before the epilogue. Instead, “String Theory” is not only better than the final track, but it holds up as one of the better tracks on the album.
5"Breathless" feat. Billy Strings
Kicking Things Off in Style With A Strong Opener
“Breathless” is the first track of Look Up, and it not only kicks the album off in style, but does so by setting the tone for the listener’s expectations. Anyone expecting a drastic shift from Ringo Starr’s typical sound can rest assured when they hear that “Breathless” is a welcome fusion of Ringo’s classic sound that dates back to his days with the Beatles, and the sound that encompasses the classic sensibilities of the country genre.
Track one is undoubtedly country, but it’s also unquestionably Ringo Starr.It’s the marriage of two distinct sounds where one happily lends to the other rather than duel with it. The first track lets the listener know from the get-go that anyone going into this album worried if Starr’s experiment would sully one of these key sounds can now rest easy. Strong start for the album that only goes up from here.
4"Look Up" feat. Molly Tuttle
The Second Track Continues a Hot Streak
If the first track, “Breathless,” exists to catch the listener’s attention, then track two manages to grip them and refuse to let go for the remainder of the album. The title track of an album can sometimes be the most important track on the album. It produces the same effect as a movie where a character utters the title during the dialogue. That typically signals a turning point in the project and, oftentimes, a pivotal one.
“Look Up” is no different. Ringo Starr echoing the title of his album through this track isn’t just a wink and a nudge to any listener paying attention, but practically even more of a thesis statement to the album’s messaging than the first track is. The track is bolstered all the more by vocals from Molly Tuttle, who delivers a great alley-oop to Starr as any featured companion should on a song.
3"Come Back" feat. Lucius
A Litany of Emotion
After two disappointing tracks in “Never Let Me Go” and “I Live For Your Love,” “Come Back” brings the album back to prominence.It surprisingly finds a way to pack a bevy of emotions into one. It’s somber to hear someone bemoan about begging their love to return, but it also makes for a perfectly catchy country single. It’s hard not to find one bopping their head and whistling in unison with the song the longer they listen.
While it is a common feat in the realm of music, it nonetheless takes a special set of skills to craft a song that remains catchy with a lighthearted tone despite housing dark, sad lyrics. It’s why some listeners can’t stoplistening to the saddest songs, and “Come Back” can be put into that same camp for many.
2"Can You Hear Me Call" feat. Molly Tuttle
An Expertly Constructed Duet
This is a different kind of duet for Tuttle and Starr as a duet compared to previous tracks featuring Tuttle. While there are parts where their verses are still merged together, but this track has the adage of both singers basically taking turns. One croons on the first half of a verse, while the other picks it up in the second half. Within a few verses, they are side by side once again.
The construction of the song is kind of genius. Subtle, but genius nonetheless, as it’s a detail that’s easy to miss. This is a song about two lovers trying to find each other, find each other’s voices, or their call, rather. Both of these voices are separate, but the more they search for each other, the closer they come to finding each other all over again, as symbolized by Tuttle and Starr having their voices come together.
