REVIEW: RINGO STARR - REWIND FORWARD

3.5/5

Starrboy.

This weekend you may think you can't rock out when your New Music Friday consists of two EPs. But between this and the Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus supergroup of Boygenius' 'The Rest' to complete 'The Record', these plays really are extended. Getting by with a little help from your friends and one member of the Fab Four drumming up his fourth EP, all you need is to 'Rewind Forward' in your tape deck, to shuffle on to the future without forgetting where you came from. "I've loved EPs since they first came out in the '60s. And I head the kids are making EPs and thought, "that's good". Boy, the genius is right. You can almost hear him say this in his accent like replying to everyone who sent him fan mail in' The Simpsons', no matter how many years it takes him. 

The Japanese word for apple, like the green one, may not "even be the best drummer in The Beatles" (Happy Birthday, dear John. We miss and love you. Peace), but this is one album you can put up on your wall like the 'Shadows'. "Somewhere that I know/Down on the road/Where the roses grow so tall/High and low/We come and go/Like shadows on the wall." Simple. Subtle. Bountiful. Beautiful. Just like all the most meaningful messages in life given to us by four lads who crossed Abbey Road to make legend. People always talk about the Lennon and McCartney one/two songwriting punch. Not to mention 'Something' in the soul of the dearly departed George Harrison whose son Dhani seems to be the most successful singers of The Beatles' brood, as pops records have been covered by more soul stars than a train taking you back to Motown. Yet people still forget, even with 'Photograph(ic)' evidence, that this Starr wrote some of the best too. 

Paul gets his in though 'Feeling The Sunlight' on a reunion we've been waiting for ever since this band was on the run ('Get Back!'). "Hey, you, come out of the rain/Dry yourself off, and remember, don't complain/'Cause everything's good, and everything's right/Sharing the love," Starr sings over McCartney muses. Holding up two fingers on two hands for all the peace and love the world needs like those friends that get you until the by and by. Hey, Jude, there's even another iconic character to add to Beatlemania legend in 'Miss Jean' like the man Macca told 'The Girl Was Mine' too. Say, say, say, this tracks feels like the classics of times gone by. Just like rolling the stones of 'Hackney Diamonds' as Liverpool's finest sings, "I can do the shimmy/I can do the shake/I can do the peppermint twist/If that's what it takes". All for a girl "with that nothing but trouble grin." One that in the garden of Eden you, "saw you in the backyard/With a glass of wine/Talking on the telephone/On a private line." 

But 'Rewind Forward' once again, and you'll never walk alone with one of the founding members of rock and roll. It's a beautiful message in sweet sentiment that we need in troubled times like these. "What's your name?/Where are you going to?/What's your game?/Shadows are going through/How can I try to convince you/That love and peace and kindness can change your world?" Ringo sings. Forgetting for most of us he already did, and it already has. Time for the rest to catch on. As peace keeps prevailing like the kaleidoscope of this orange album artwork with Starr's signature sign. EP4 is so much more for your hard day's night. Remember, "Every day there's a new sun rising/Rising up into the night/And every day there's a new horizon." Let it be and come together, because here comes the sun. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Shadows On The Wall', 'Feeling The Sunlight', 'Miss Jean'.