Goodnight Vienna

For 1932 film, see Good Night, Vienna.

Goodnight Vienna
Studio album by Ringo Starr
Released	15 November 1974
Recorded	August 1974
Genre	Rock and roll, pop
Length	33:40
Label	Apple/EMI
Producer	Richard Perry
Ringo Starr chronology
Ringo (1973) Goodnight Vienna (1974) Blast from Your Past (1975)

Goodnight Vienna is the fourth album by Ringo Starr. It was recorded in the summer of 1974 in Los Angeles, and released later that year. Goodnight Vienna followed the commercially successful predecessor Ringo, and Starr used many of the same players, including Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Robbie Robertson, Harry Nilsson, and producer Richard Perry. The title comes from an English slang phrase meaning roughly, "It's all over".

While all three other Beatles had contributed to Ringo, only John Lennon contributed to Goodnight Vienna. Like Ringo, this album also became a hit, though a slightly less successful one.

An advance single from the album, Starr's cover version of The Platters' "Only You (And You Alone)", reached #6 on the American charts, before the album was released in November. Goodnight Vienna peaked at #8 in the United States, ultimately going gold, and its reviews were generally favourable. A second single, "No No Song" reached #3 in the American charts. However, the album reached only #30 in the United Kingdom, and would be Starr's last chart album in his homeland until 1998.

The cover artwork for Goodnight Vienna was based on a still from the classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Starr's head replacing that of actor Michael Rennie. Rennie's character was the alien Klaatu, a name later adopted by a Canadian band falsely rumoured to be the Beatles under a pseudonym. In the movie, Klaatu had come to Earth to deliver the message that the entire planet needed to adopt peaceful ways, a message that comports with Ringo's personal mantra "peace and love."

A television commercial, which featured a voiceover from Lennon, depicted the cover's flying saucer (with Ringo) over Los Angeles—landing on the roof of the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. Starr returned the favour and did the voiceover for the commercial for Lennon's Walls and Bridges album.

Goodnight Vienna was remastered and reissued on CD in 1992 with three bonus tracks: 1972 hit single "Back Off Boogaloo", its B-Side "Blindman" and an extended version of the McCartney-penned "Six O'Clock", a shorter version of which had earlier appeared on LP version of "Ringo" (US 8-track cartridge and the original release cassette versions of the "Ringo" album featured the extended version). It was also originally released in quadrophonic.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Rolling Stone	(not rated) link

Track listing

1. "It's All Down to Goodnight Vienna" (John Lennon) – 2:35
   • Featuring Lennon on opening count-in and piano and Billy Preston on clavinet
2. "Occapella" (Allen Toussaint) – 2:55
   • Featuring Dr. John on piano and backing vocals
3. "Oo-Wee" (Vini Poncia/Richard Starkey) – 3:45
   • Featuring Dr. John on piano
4. "Husbands and Wives" (Roger Miller) – 3:34
   • Featuring Carl Fortina on accordion
5. "Snookeroo" (Elton John/Bernie Taupin) – 3:27
   • Featuring Elton John on piano and Robbie Robertson on guitar
6. "All By Myself" (Vini Poncia/Richard Starkey) – 3:21
   • Featuring Lennon on guitar
7. "Call Me" (Richard Starkey) – 4:07
   • Featuring Klaus Voormann on bass guitar, Steve Cropper on electric guitar, David Foster on piano
8. "No No Song" (Hoyt Axton/David Jackson) – 2:33
   • Featuring Nilsson on backing vocals and Nicky Hopkins on electric piano
9. "Only You (And You Alone)" (Buck Ram/Ande Rand) – 3:26
   • Featuring Lennon on guitar, Cropper on guitar, Preston on electric piano, an Nilsson on backing vocals
10. "Easy For Me" (Nilsson) – 2:20
    • Featuring Lincoln Mayorga on piano
11. "Goodnight Vienna (Reprise)" (John Lennon) – 1:20
    • Featuring Lennon's intro, 'OK, with gusto, boys, with gusto!'

1992 Reissue bonus tracks

12. "Back Off Boogaloo" (Starkey) - 3:22
    • Originally released as a single in 1972
13. "Blindman" (Starkey) - 2:46
    • Originally released as the b-side to "Back Off Boogaloo" in 1972
14. "Six O'Clock (Extended Version)" (McCartney) - 5:23

External links

• JPGR's Goodnight Vienna site