Choose Love (album)

2005 studio album by Ringo Starr

Choose Love

Studio album by

Ringo Starr

Released

7 June 2005

Recorded

Mid 2004–early 2005

Studio

Roccabella U.K., Whatinthewhatthe?, Los Angeles, The Village Recorder, L.A.

Genre

Rock

Length

44:36

Label

Koch (US)
CNR (UK)

Producer

Ringo Starr
Mark Hudson

Ringo Starr chronology

Tour 2003
(2004)

Choose Love
(2005)

Ringo Starr and Friends
(2006)

Singles from Choose Love

"Fading In Fading Out"
Released: 2005 (promo only)

Choose Love is the 14th studio album by Ringo Starr, released in 2005.

Background and recording

Recorded throughout 2004 into 2005, using the same team that created Vertical Man (1998) and Ringo Rama (2003), Starr produced the set with longtime musical partner Mark Hudson and performed it with their studio team. The title track has a Beatles-like "Day Tripper" guitar riff with a coda similar to "The Word" and mentions the Beatles songs "The Long and Winding Road", "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "What Goes On". As ever, a Starr album would be lacking if it did not include some celebrity guests and Choose Love does not deviate from the formula; it features Billy Preston and Chrissie Hynde as its most notable guests.

Release

Choose Love was released on 7 June 2005 in the US,^{[nb 1]} and on 25 July in the UK.^[1] There was an edition of the album that was a dual disc (CD on side, DVD on the other), with the DVD component featuring bonus features on the making of the album.^{[nb 2]}

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[3]
entertainment.ie	^[4]
The Essential Rock Discography	5/10^[5]
The Music Box	^[6]
Star-News	(favorable)^[7]

Choose Love failed to chart in both the UK and US, where both Vertical Man and Ringo Rama had seen commercial success. The album received strong reviews upon its release and preceded another promotional tour with Starr and his studio band, called "The Roundheads".

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Fading In Fading Out"	Richard Starkey Mark Hudson Gary Burr	3:55
2.	"Give Me Back the Beat"	Starkey Hudson Burr Steve Dudas Dean Grakal	3:53
3.	"Oh My Lord"	Starkey Hudson Burr Dudas Grakal	5:32
4.	"Hard to Be True"	Starkey Hudson Burr	3:27
5.	"Some People"	Starkey Hudson Burr Dudas Grakal	3:17
6.	"Wrong All the Time"	Starkey Hudson Burr	3:30
7.	"Don't Hang Up" (featuring Chrissie Hynde)	Starkey Hudson Burr	3:27
8.	"Choose Love"	Starkey Hudson Burr	3:07
9.	"Me and You"	Starkey Hudson Dudas	2:15
10.	"Satisfied"	Starkey Hudson Gary Nicholson	3:19
11.	"The Turnaround"	Starkey Hudson Burr Dudas Grakal	3:54
12.	"Free Drinks"	Starkey Hudson Burr Dudas Grakal	4:45

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.^[8]

Musicians

Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, vocals, intro/outro demo tape on "Oh My Lord", organ, loop on "Free Drinks"
Mark Hudson – bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, sax arrangement, harmonica
Gary Burr – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals, bass, slide guitar
Mark Mirando – electric guitar, backing vocals
Dan Higgins – horns, saxes, woodwinds
Gary Grant – horns
Jim Cox – horn arrangement, piano, sax arrangement, woodwind arrangement
Robert Randolph – lead guitar
Steve Dudas – electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Billy Preston – piano, B3 organ, backing vocals on "Hard to Be True"
The Rose Stone Choir – backing vocals on "Oh My Lord"
Rose Stone – choir arrangement on "Oh My Lord"
Ringo Starr, Mark Hudson, Gary Burr – uboo^{[clarification needed]} drum band on "Hard to Be True"
John Amato – saxes
Chrissie Hynde – lead vocals on "Don't Hang Up"
Barbara Bach – devil voice on "The Turnaround"
Dean Grakal – background vocals on "The Turnaround"

Production

Ringo Starr, Mark Hudson – producers
Bruce Sugar – recording
Kevin Churko, Gary Burr, Steve Dudas – additional recording
Dave Way – mixing
Lior Goldenberg, Ghian Wright, Andy Brohard – assistant engineers
George Marino – mastering
Tyrone Drake – art direction, design
Barbara Starkey – cover photo
Ringo Starr, Barbara Starkey, Mark Hudson, Gary Burr, Edward AJAJ, Teness Herman – additional photos

References

Footnotes

^ US Koch KOC-CD-550
^ US Koch KOC-CD-9919

Citations

^ Jackson, Andrew Grant (2012). Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of the Beatles' Solo Careers. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-8108-8223-2.
^ Choose Love at AllMusic
^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th edn). London: Omnibus Press. p. 1984. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
^ "Ringo Starr – Choose Love". entertainment.ie. 28 July 2005. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
^ Strong, Martin C. (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Edinburgh, UK: Canongate. p. 1028. ISBN 978-1-84195-827-9.
^ Metzger, John. "Ringo Starr – Choose Love (Album Review)". Musicbox-online.com.
^ "New CD Releases". Star-News. 9 June 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
^ Choose Love (Booklet). Ringo Starr. Koch, Koch Entertainment LP. 2005. KOC-CD-9919, KOC-CD-9950.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)