Flowing like a river to the sea

Time Takes Time - Ringo Starr (1992)

It was the first studio album in nine years from the much maligned Richard Starkey, otherwise known as the former drummer for some Liverpool moptop band. Dropped by Polydor/Atlantic after sharply declining sales in the late '70s, Starr managed only one album with RCA, 1981's Stop And Smell The Roses, before suffering the same fate. Little interest in its Joe Walsh-produced follow-up, Old Wave (1983), prevented that LP's release in both the US and the UK.

A follow-up to Old Wave was begun in 1987 with producer "Chips" Moman in Memphis. Fourteen tracks were allegedly laid down, with appearances from Eric Clapton, Carl Perkins, Dave Edmunds and Bob Dylan. Disillusioned with the results and fading into alcoholic haze, Starr pulled the plug on the project.

Time Takes Time, then, marks Ringo's musical and sober return to form. Breaking from the past affords Starr to start from scratch. Armed with a renewed sense of positivity, the songs presented here are imbued with a long-absent passion. Shedding the dregs of the past allows one to see more clearly the riches there. Thus, while celebrating a victorious present and anticipating a bright future, Time's tunes are still pleasantly tinged with a late-60s pop sensibility.

It would seem Starr himself was elated to finally get the monkey off his back. "Weight Of The World", (85/100), the album's upbeat opening track and lead single, suggests there is a ton of junk in everybody's rearview mirror. Some of it is there by one's own indiscretions, some of it by those of others. Keeping a tight grasp on old pain is an impossible task, carrying it around along the lines of Atlas or Sisyphus is no way to live. Looking firmly forward, Starr realizes, "You either kiss the future or the past goodbye."

"Start swinging," Ringo quips to begin the next track, "Don't Know A Thing About Love", (83). A loose tempo and tight background harmonies from Jellyfish's Roger Manning and Andy Sturmer and the Knack's Doug Fieger and Berton Averre undeniably make this an ideal tune for bopping and swaying. Juxtaposing the amazing technological advances and scientific accomplishments of humankind with the void of love that seems to be left in their wake, the song is co-written by original Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch along with Richard Feldman, who co-wrote "Promises" for Eric Clapton in 1978. These first two tracks are both produced by Don Was and feature keyboards from Heartbreaker Benmont Tench and artful guitar by super-sessionist Mark Goldenberg, all of whom Ringo dutifully thanks at the song's conclusion.

"Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go", (88), is one of three tracks Starr co-wrote for Time, each with art-rocker Johnny Warman, and this one also with former Rod Stewart-heyday writer/guitarist Gary Grainger. Electric Light Orchestra conductor/Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne steps into the production booth for this song, presumably in those rare moments he is not in the actual studio laying down guitar, bass, keys and background vocals for it. Wisely taking his "with a little help from ..." to extremes, Ringo also calls in George Harrison's favourite saxophonist Jim Horn and cellist extraordinaire, Suzie Katayama, with a slew of credits dating back to Earth, Wind & Fire's Powerlight (1983) and Prince And The Revolution's Purple Rain (1984), to contribute their respective talents to this rousing rocker. Ringo reiterates the need to leave disappointment behind, referencing his own "It Don't Come Easy" (1971).

Peter And Gordon singer/guitarist Peter Asher produces "Golden Blunders", (86), Ringo's faithful cover of the Posies single from Dear 23 (1990). If anything, perhaps this version is just slightly more restrained, but Ringo's drumming is excellent and his accent works wonderfully for the lyrics admonishing rushing into a loveless marriage. Asher also supplies tambourine and joins the background choir, as does Andrew Gold, of 1978's "Thank You For Being A Friend" fame, whose guitar solo at 1:38 confers a gentle energy to the song.

"All In The Name Of Love", (76), is a fairly standard glove-dove-love song but is notable for being Mark Hudson's first appearance on a Ringo album. Providing some percussion and background vocals here, Hudson would go on to be a major collaborator on Ringo's next four studio albums, writing, producing and playing most of the material from Vertical Man (1998) until a falling out during the Liverpool 8 (2008) sessions. Written by Jerry Lynn Williams, who played guitar with a young Jimi Hendrix for Little Richard as a youngster, and later wrote songs for blues legends like Clapton, B.B. King and Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, "All" is the first of two Phil Ramone-produced tracks on Time.

Johnny Warman signed with Starr's Ring O' Records label in 1977, managing a European-only 7" and one album, Hour Glass, released only in Germany, before its bankruptcy the next year. Obviously staying in touch, the second Starkey/Warman effort on Time is "After All These Years", (85). Lynne delivers a '50s feel in producing this track, from his piano hammering to his spot-on Chuck Berry guitar impersonation. There is a sense, then, of pressing on in the face of lost innocence in this happy song, mostly concerned with "dancing ... on a Saturday night" and "rocking all over the world."

The Jellyfish return on "I Don't Believe You", (86). Written by Sturmer and Manning, appropriating glorious Beatlesque chord progressions, harmonies, handclaps and even a title full of personal pronouns, this might be the closest cousin to an early Fab Four track on the album. The song, despite evincing the frustration of a guy sick of being lied to, still preserves the celebratory feeling of the album under Don Was' production. Tench returns behind the piano and organ, while Storyville's David Grissom drops by on acoustic guitar. Though never officially released on a Jellyfish album, a demo of this track does appear on the Fan Club rarities boxset (2002).

Phil Ramone's second production credit is on the third Starkey/Warman composition, the socially conscious but respectfully complex "Runaways", (90), (http://www.mediafire.com/?up8vb6c61m8ldzv). This song is quite a departure from what might be considered the usual Ringo fare. There is no chummy goofiness, no aggrandized self-referentializing, no easy answers given. Invoking the dangerous air of solitude it describes, "Runaways" is indeed a sober moment on a rather cheerful CD, but still in no way oppressive. Super-sessionist Michael Thompson accompanies former Steely Dan member and Doobie Brother Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on guitar, while Harry Nilsson joins the chorus of back-up vocalists in one of his final recordings before his untimely death.

The incontrovertible goodvibes are back "In A Heartbeat", (88), (http://www.mediafire.com/?mnmffsxipm8xgmp). This can be mostly attributed to the awesome "doot-doot-doot" of none other than Beach Boy Brian Wilson, a guy who knows a thing or two about creative, euphoric background harmony. The Dianne Warren-penned song is a self-described cloud chaser, lavishing true love on a lucky recipient, a too-rare security by way of an equally touching and catchy "I'll be there" no matter what vow.

That could be a very strong ending for Time right there. Ringo, however, pulls out one more, slightly harder, a little more aggressive, which actually effectively brings the album to an even more satisfying finish. Producing both, Don Was brings strings to the album's energetic closer, "What Goes Around", (88), giving it a distinct but never less enchanting feel. Once again taking encouragement from an unusual source, literally digging it from the ashes of failure, Ringo and his crew, including Sturmer, Manning and Gold, recite the famous karmic maxim that everybody eventually gets what they deserve. Whether or not there is any evidence of that in the actual world, this song is confident in its determined zeal.

The Japanese edition of Time also features Ringo's straightforward take on the Otis Blackwell/Elvis Presley hit, "Don't Be Cruel". Produced by Lynne, it also ended up as a b-side on the "Weight Of The World" cd-single. The b-side of the German "Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go" single is "Everybody Wins", co-written by Ringo with Warman and produced by Asher. It was re-recorded in 2010 under its proper title, "Everyone Wins" for Y Not.

Despite the four-headed producer beast, Time Takes Time maintains a sense of cohesion. It sounds good, feels good and it's also good to have a Ringo album where he is the sole drummer. Saturating the market over the last dozen years with fluctuating solo records and an endless string of live albums with diminishing All-Starr bands has obscured the fact that there is life in Ringo Starr's catalogue. It is no waste to take time, yes, to smell the roses, and to hear Ringo at his best.

Time Takes Time (album): 85/100.