| What's My Name | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 25 October 2019 (2019-10-25) | |||
| Recorded | 2019 | |||
| Studio | Roccabella West, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 34:00 | |||
| Label | UMe | |||
| Producer | Ringo Starr | |||
| Ringo Starr chronology | ||||
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| Singles from What's My Name | ||||
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What's My Name is the twentieth studio album by English singer-songwriterRingo Starr. It was released on 25 October 2019 through Roccabella andUniversal Music Enterprises. The album was again recorded at Roccabella West, Starr's home studio, and features collaborations withJoe Walsh,Benmont Tench,Edgar Winter,Steve Lukather,Richard Page, andWarren Ham.[1] It also includes a cover ofJohn Lennon's "Grow Old with Me", on which Starr invitedPaul McCartney to sing and play bass guitar,[1] and a solo version by Starr of "Money (That's What I Want)", aMotown song previously recorded bythe Beatles.[2]
Several of the tracks were written with previous collaborators based around comments Starr has made. "What's My Name", the title track and first single, was composed byColin Hay, and comes from a chant Starr has used in concert.[2] Starr co-wrote "Gotta Get Up to Get Down" with his brother-in-lawJoe Walsh after a comment Starr made at a dinner they had withKlaus Voormann, while Starr composed "Thank God for Music" withSam Hollander, who then wrote "Better Days" on his own based on an interview Starr gave toRolling Stone.[2] The song "Magic" is a collaboration withSteve Lukather, whom Starr has worked with on his two previous studio albums.[2]
The album was recorded inLos Angeles at Starr's home studio, Roccabella West,[3] with Starr saying that he did not "want to be in an old-fashioned recording studio anymore" and that he had "had enough of the big glass wall and the separation", saying recording at his home has been good for himself "and the music".[4] Starr decided to record a cover ofJohn Lennon's "Grow Old with Me", a song recorded during the Bermuda sessions for Lennon'sDouble Fantasy (1980), after meeting producerJack Douglas by chance. Douglas, who had producedDouble Fantasy, asked Starr if he had listened to the Bermuda recording sessions, and supplied them to Starr when he mentioned he had not. Starr was impressed by the song, and decided to record his own version.[3] Starr askedPaul McCartney to perform on the track.[1] The song's string arrangement incorporates a motif from theGeorge Harrison-penned song "Here Comes the Sun", giving all four Beatles a presence on the recording.[5] McCartney, Harrison, and Starr briefly considered recording "Grow Old With Me" as part of the mid-1990s Anthology reunion and archival projects; it was one of four songs included on a cassette tape given byYoko Ono to McCartney, Harrison, and Starr. Starr's cover of "Money (That's What I Want)", recorded before the "Grow Old with Me" cover was envisioned, was an attempt to create a modern version different from theMotown original and the Beatles' 1963 cover.[3] The recording incorporates the use ofautotune on Starr's voice.[6]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 61/100[7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| NME | [9] |
What's My Name was released on 25 October 2019.[10] It received mixed reviews upon its release.NME's Rhian Daly commented that the album "dares you to continue listening, to see if you can make it through its first song without spontaneously combusting from second-hand embarrassment, a spectral groan of “Grandaaad” escaping from your ashes as they sizzle and singe."[9]AllMusic'sStephen Thomas Erlewine commented that "the spirits are sunny and the songs tuneful, it's hard not to findWhat's My Name ingratiating, even though much of the album is so good-intentioned, it's silly."[8]
In a positive review, Mark Smotroff ofAudiophile Review felt thatWhat's My Name described the record as "a lot of fun to listen to, one of the hallmarks of the best Ringo records", praising the album's "celebratory party-like modern indie rock flavor".[6] Smotroff, similar toRolling Stone reviewer Brenna Ehrlich, praised the record's ensemble of veteran performers "comfortab[ly] doing what they do together",[6] and being "the sound of a klatch of seasoned performers letting loose".[11] Ehrlich felt the fun nature of the album was essential to how a quality Ringo Starr record should be.[11] Several reviewers such as NME cited Starr's cover of "Grow Old with Me" to be the highlight of the record.[9][5][6]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Gotta Get Up to Get Down" | 4:20 | |
| 2. | "It's Not Love That You Want" |
| 3:34 |
| 3. | "Grow Old With Me" | John Lennon | 3:18 |
| 4. | "Magic" |
| 4:09 |
| 5. | "Money (That's What I Want)" | 2:56 | |
| 6. | "Better Days" | Sam Hollander | 2:50 |
| 7. | "Life Is Good" |
| 3:10 |
| 8. | "Thank God for Music" |
| 3:38 |
| 9. | "Send Love Spread Peace" |
| 2:58 |
| 10. | "What's My Name" | Colin Hay | 3:45 |
| Total length: | 34:00 | ||
| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] | 43 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] | 121 |
| Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[14] | 34 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[15] | 128 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] | 40 |
| Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[17] | 98 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[18] | 49 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[19] | 43 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[20] | 39 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[21] | 50 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[22] | 99 |
| USBillboard 200[23] | 127 |
