Ringo Starr
had a demonstrated affinity for country music, as heard on such
Beatles
recordings as
"Act Naturally,"
and he sounded as modestly comfortable on this Nashville-recorded session as in any other musical context. The cream of the city's session players backed up the former
Beatle
on a set of newly written songs, and the result was a typical country effort, pleasant as long as you didn't expect too much. Of course, this was the second straight genre exercise for
Starr
, following his pop standards album
Sentimental Journey
, and now he had tackled two styles that depend on vocal stylists for much of their appeal. On both,
Ringo
was
. But with
the Beatles
fading into history, his suddenly front-burner solo career was starting to look like a series of dabblings rather than a coherent follow-up to the group's success. What could be next, an album of
Motown
songs? Wisely, he returned to
-style pop/rock in subsequent releases. [
Beaucoups of Blues
was reissued on August 1, 1995, by
Captiol
with two bonus tracks,
"Coochy Coochy,"
which had been released as the B-side of the single
"Beaucoups of Blues,"
and the six-and-a-half-minute impromptu instrumental
"Nashville Jam,"
which was previously unreleased.] ~ William Ruhlmann