REVIEWS AS SEEN IN:

RINGO STARR VAMPIRE WEEKEND OMARION OK GO MIDLAKE LITTLE STEVEN

Y Not PREMIERE ISSUE [Hip-O Records/UMe]

JOHN FOGERTY His dream comes true

PAT METHENY For most of his solo EXCLUSIVE A new way to play

ALICIA ORIANTHI career, Ringo Starr got This is it KEYS + by with a little help from How exploring classic PERFECT LIVE SOUND sounds pointed her TV’S BEST BANDS his friends—the strength to the future or weakness of his albums tended to rise and fall depending on the caliber

of guest songwriters and players on hand, most particularly his FIGHTING THE ‘LOUDNESS WAR’ former Beatles bandmates. His partnership with producer Mark JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 VOLUME 01, ISSUE 01 PERIODICAL $5.95 U.S. / $6.95 CANADIAN

Hudson changed that beginning in the late 1990s, allowing COVER_FINAL.indd 1 1/11/10 1:39 PM Starr’s star to shine with or without the aid of his big-name pals. With the end of that relationship, Starr has for the first time “As modestly ebullient and taken on sole production duties on his latest, Y Not. One might expect a certain amount of self-indulgence from an artist who, at straightforwardly charming age 69, is finally set loose on the board alone, but Y Not is as modestly ebullient and straightforwardly charming as the man as the man himself.’ himself. Starr presides ably over a group of A-list musicians that includes Joe Walsh on guitar, Benmont Tench on keyboards and Don Was on bass, and the leader of the band himself sounds as sprightly as ever behind both the drum set and the microphone. Typically, the album’s highest and lowest points come on the only occasions when one of those famous friends happens by: Paul McCartney provides a gently supportive counterpoint on the strikingly poignant “Walk With You” (written by Starr and Van Dyke Parks), while Starr relegates himself to playing Joss Stone’s second banana on the truly unfortunate “Who’s Your Daddy.” For most of Y Not, Starr gets by just fine on his own. –Chris Neal - M Music & Musicians January/February 2010