My 7th nominee in my 2nd Beatles Solo Project is Ringo’s Vertical Man album from 1998. Like with Paul’s Flaming Pie album from 1997, Ringo’s 11th solo effort borrows inspiration from the Beatles’ Anthology releases. Paul and George even make guest appearances.
Among the tracks on Vertical Man is Ringo’s solo cover of “Love Me Do”! Though he performed on the Beatles’ original, the recording most fans know has Ringo relegated to playing the tambourine and not the drums. (The original “Love Me Do” has Ringo on drums, but it was withdrawn in 1962. It was recovered and is now on the Beatles’ Past Masters compilation.) Of the new songs, “La De Da” is most associated with Ringo’s easygoing persona. Other highlights include “What in the World” with Paul, and “King of Broken Hearts” with George on slide guitar. Another highlight is a spirited cover of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away,” featuring Tom Petty, Alanis Morisette and Steven Tyler. Ringo’s other guests on Vertical Man are Joe Walsh, Ozzy Osbourne, Nils Lofgren, Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson, Timothy B. Schmit, Scott Weiland, Sir George Martin, wife Barbara Bach and daughter Lee Starkey.
Vertical Man is the first of five studio albums Ringo subsequently co-produced with Mark Hudson. They first worked together in 1992 when Ringo recorded the Time Takes Time album. The other albums they produced together are I Wanna Be Santa Claus (Ringo’s Christmas album in 1999), Ringo Rama (2003), Choose Love (2005) and Liverpool 8 (2008).
Trivia: The album’s title (and song) comes from a quote from a book Ringo's stepdaughter Francesca Gregorini won at school (i.e. ”Let's hear it for the vertical man, there's always so much praise for the horizontal one.”).
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