Sentimental Journey (Bud Green, Les Brown & Bon Homer) This 1945 hit for Doris Day got a new arrangement by Richard Perry (who later produced Ringo’s albums ‘Ringo’ (1973) and ‘Goodnight Vienna’ (1974). The orchestral backing was recorded in the USA so all Ringo had to do was to overdub his voice at the Olympic Studios in London on January 14th 1970. Night And Day (Cole Porter) Night And Day, arranged by Chico O’Farrill, was the first song Ringo recorded for the album. It was recorded at Abbey Road on October 27th 1969. Night And Day was originally performed by Fred Astaire and Claire Luce in the 1932 musical play ‘The Gay Divorcee’ and was a 1937 hit for Tommy Dorsey. Whispering Grass (Don’t Tell The Trees) (Fred & Doris Fisher) A mono demo recording of this song was done on February 9th 1970 and handed over to Ron Goodwin by George Martin. Ron was asked to write a new arrangement for the song. The song was later recorded at Morgan Studios on March 5th with a 36-piece orchestra conducted by arranger Ron Goodwin. This song was originally recorded in 1940 by The Ink Spots. Bye Bye Blackbird (Mort Dixon & Ray Henderson) This 1926 song, sung by Eddie Cantor, got its new arrangement from Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees. Maurice conducted the 36-pieceorchestra himself as the song was recorded on March Sth at Morgan Studios in London. Ringo’s vocals were double-tracked. I'm A Fool To Care (Ted Daffan) Recorded at Abbey Road on February 11th with a 15-piece orchestra (including Billy Preston), conducted and arranged by Klaus Voorman. Ringo’s vocals were overdubbed during the same recording session. This song was initially a 1954 hit for Les Paul and Mary Ford. Stardust (Hoagy Carmichael & Mitchell Parish) The orchestral track for this song was recorded on November 7th 1969, the vocal track was added one week later on November 14th. Paul McCartney's arrangement of the song was realised by George Martin. ‘Stardust’ was first recorded as an instrumental in 1927 by Emile Seidel and Orchestra. Words were added later, in 1929, by Mitchell Parish. Blue, Turning Grey Over You (Andy Razaf & Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller) The first take of this song was recorded on November 28th 1969 arranged by Oliver Nelson. Nine more takes with orchestra conducted by Johnnie Spence were recorded on December 4th when Ringo also overdubbed his voice to complete the recording, but a new vocal overdub was recorded on February 24th 1970. Originally a hit for Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra in 1930.Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing (Sammy Fain & Paul Webster) Arranged by Quincy Jones, this song was a 1955 hit for the Four Aces. The first orchestral backing was recorded in the USA. Ringo added his voice on January 14th 1970 at Olympic Studios, London. The song was re-recorded in EMI Studios on February 3rd when arranger Quincy Jones conducted a 16 piece orchestra. The organ was overdubbed by Billy Preston. Eight additional singers, flutes, organ and vibraphone were overdubbed on February 19th 1970. The song was originally a theme from the film of the same name. Dream (Johnny Mercer) Recording started on November 14th 1969. This song was a 1945 hit for the Pied Pipers. A 15-piece orchestral arrangement was added on February 10th, conducted and arranged by George Martin. You Always Hurt The One You Love (Allan Roberts & Doris Fisher) This 1944 hit for the Mills Brothers was arranged by John Dankworth. A 20-piece orchestra conducted by the arranger himself was recorded at De Lane Lea’s Sound Studio in Soho, London, where Ringo also added his voice. The song was mixed during the same session on February 25th 1970. John Dankworth overdubbed sax, piano and drums on March 6th. Have | Told You Lately That | Love You? (Scott Wiseman) The orchestral track was recorded in the USA and sent over toEngland where Ringo added his vocals on February 9th and re- recorded them on February 18th. A 1945 hit for Bing Crosby, this was first performed in 1945 by Lulu Belle and Scotty Wiseman and arranged for this album by Elmer Bernstein. Let The Rest Of The World Go By (Brennan-Ball) This song was from the film ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’ (1944), sung by Dick Haymes. Les Reed arranged the song for Ringo. Recorded at Abbey Road on February 12th 1970. Ringo re-recorded his vocals on February 18th 1970. Collectors note: While working on the ‘Sentimental Journey’ album, Ringo also started work on his own composition ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, at this stage called ‘Gotta Pay Your Dues’ on February 18th with George Martin producing, George Harrison on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass and Stephen Stills on piano. Vocals and drums by Ringo. The song was later re-recorded in 1971. The 1970 version remains unreleased.Even before the break-up of The Beatles was reported in newspapers Ringo Starr decided to record a solo album. When | interviewed Ringo in 1990, just before his 50th birthday, he told the listeners of Swedish radio: ‘wondered, what shall | do with my life now that it’s all over? | was brought up with all of those songs, you know, my family used to sing those songs, my mother and my dad, my aunties and uncles. They were the first musical influences on me. So | went to George Martin and said: ‘Let’s do an album of standards, and to make it interesting we'll have all the arrangements done by different people.” Yes, Ringo wanted to start his solo career by recording old standards from the 1930’s and 1940's for an album to please not only his fans but his dear parents, mother Elsie and step-father Harry Graves. Ringo wanted to do his versions of the songs, old favourites of his, that his parents sang with their friends. Ringo listed possible songs to record, found out in what key they should be sung and finally set about choosing arrangers. Neil Aspinall and George Martin decided that they should get the best arrangers for Ringo. One of them, Quincy Jones, was very surprised, George Martin recalls, when he was asked as he usually worked with jazz arrangements. The ‘Sentimental Journey’ album was recorded between October 27th 1969 and March 6th 1970. The album was released in the UK on Parlophone PCS 7101 (March 27th 1970) and in the US on AppleSW 3365 (April 24th 1970). No singles were released from this album. In the UK charts the album reached number 7, while it reached number 22 in the US Billboard charts. The review, by Andy Gray in New Musical Express, of Ringo’s first album was quite good. It says ‘The songs are all sure-fire and | forecast healthy sales for this LP.’ The album sleeve shows Ringo in front of the Empress Pub in Liverpool, located just around the corner from his birthplace in Madryn Street where he was born on July 7th 1940 and very close to Admiral Grove, his childhood home. Ringo also taped a promotional film for the title track, Sentimental Journey, at the ‘Talk Of The Town’ on Sunday March 15th 1970. It featured Ringo singing and dancing in front of some white-suited dancers and three backing vocalists Doris Troy, Marsha Hunt and Madeleine Bell. The clip, directed by Neil Aspinall and produced by John Gilbert, was shown in the UK on ‘Frost On Sunday’ on March 29th and in the US on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ on May 17th. Staffan Olander, 1995Ce Oe Pa a Cee MOA meme A Tha z aco ee eee ee ae ee had od Pe Ne OT gaa Be ee ced cc ee z Poy sole aca pts hs ae eg aap YOU ALWA fe as ta cdl Bie. Bae aed re peed A te ee b ae! a ALT para