Choose Love (album)
Choose Love is the fourteenth studio album by English singer-songwriter Ringo Starr.
Background and recording
Recorded throughout 2004 into 2005, using the same team that created Vertical Man and Ringo Rama, 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 well as lyric checking the Starr solo single "It Don't Come Easy". Starr's albums are known for including celebrity guests; Choose Love features Billy Preston and Chrissie Hynde.Release
Choose Love was released on 7 June 2005 in the US, and on 25 July in the UK. There was an edition of the album that was a dual disc, with the DVD component featuring bonus features on the making of the album.Reception
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".Personnel
Personnel per booklet.;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 "Wrong All the Time"
- 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 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"
- 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