While Paul McCartney is showering us with a flood of re-releases from his second band, Ringo Starr is persistently releasing new music – and at a remarkable pace: The soon-to-be 86-year-old has released five EPs so far this decade alone, LONG LONG ROAD is the successor to LOOK UP, which was released just last year, his return to the country genre after 55 years. The following applies to the new record: Never change a winning team.
Once again, T Bone Burnett tailored the majority of the songs to him, and again they recorded in Nashville and LA. And so we hook up with the two of them again and go a little further together on the long, long path of the Beatles legend. In the first piece, Starr reminds us of the beginning of the war in Liverpool in 1940 with the line “I was born to hunger”. The turn into the brightest spotlight in pop history is commemorated with the lyrics “The long and winding road is more than a song / Tomorrow never knows what goes on” from the reworking of his ’05 song “Choose Love”.
With the Carl Perkins cover “I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore” he also remembers how he re-sung the rockabilly legend’s songs “Matchbox” and “Honey Don’t” as part of the Fab Four. LONG LONG ROAD is the sound of a person who seems to be completely at peace with himself, who looks back reverently, confidently forward – and in between simply enjoys making exactly this music. It’s a pure joy to listen to. Choose life, choose love. Ringo has it figured out.
