Ringo 2012 is Ringo Starr’s seventeenth solo studio album. It features nine songs and lasts less than 30 minutes, making it his shortest album to date.
The album was produced by Starr, and recorded at his Rocca Bella studios in the UK and US. Working titles included Motel California, Another #9, and Wings.
It features re-recordings of two older songs: ‘Step Lightly’, which Starr recorded for 1973’s Ringo, and ‘Wings’, originally on 1977’s Ringo The 4th. It also contains a cover of Buddy Holly’s ‘Think It Over’ which had previously appeared on the 2011 Holly tribute album Listen To Me.
The song ‘In Liverpool’ was his third about his birth city in three consecutive albums, following the title track of Liverpool 8 and Y Not’s ‘The Other Side Of Liverpool’.
I came to the conclusion a while ago that I do not want to write an autobiography, because all anybody wants is those eight years from 1962 to 1970, and I would have ten volumes before we got there. So I thought I’ll do it in song, and do vignettes of certain aspects of my life.
Newsweek, Spring 2012
The release
Ringo 2012 was released on 30 January 2012, and on the following day in the USA, on compact disc, vinyl, and digital download.
There was an Amazon.com exclusive DVD edition containing commentary on each of the songs.
The album charted at number 80 on the US Billboard 200, selling 6,348 copies in the first month.
It fared less well in the UK, peaking at number 181 and selling just 752 copies by the end of February 2012.
I have all the albums Ringo made, starting with Sentimental Journey and finishing with the two ep’s he made recently. One is better (‘Ringo’) than the other (‘Old wave’ and ‘Stop! And smell the roses’), but from time to time I play his albums. Ringo, I respect you and wish you all the best.