Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Always Look Up, never walk along the pavement with shuffling feet and with your head bowed as if defeated by the innocuous and the beige, stride with purpose, with thanks, and with a song, no matter which, in your heart; for the best way to annoy the doom laden and the sad sacks who proclaim disaster upon every soul don’t wish you to see the sunrise above your head and take in the marvel of all that creation has to offer.
The legendary Ringo Starr’s first full album since 2019, and his first that has the genre of Country woven through it completely in more than half a century, sees the Liverpool drummer team up with producer and co-writer T Bone Burnett, the result is an assured acclaim, an album full of Ringo spirit, and one to which the listener doesn’t just enjoy, but comes to respect.
Look Up exemplifies the way in which Ringo has pushed his music and his life since building on the All-Starr Band name, bringing in a rotation of musicians and names to achieve a galaxy like performance to the images and meanings that required in depth exploration, and in this brand-new release the temptation of Nashville heroes and heroines rightly take centre stage.
With a veritable who’s who, which includes Alison Kraus, Larkin Poe, Paul Franklin, and the exceptional Molly Tuttle, adding depth and emotional Country spirituality to the framework of the album, what Ringo Starr and T Bone Burnett have fashioned and constructed is a piece of human art, it is honest, positive, direct, and fruitful, and as tracks such as the grand gesture of the opener Breathless leads the way, Time On My Hands, I Live For Yor Love, String Theory, and Thankful all controlling the convincing narrative, so the delight of the album takes shape, and it is one to which the listener can feel the immediacy and pride stride forth.
The multiple Grammy Award winner, a member of one of the greatest groups have conquered the world, never seems to be short of an idea and a deep meaningful application to his music, and whilst it may have been more than 50 years since his last foray into the world of country, the results of this wonderful diversion speak for themselves; a record of illumination…an album to Look Up to.
Ian D. Hall