Y Not

This article is about the Ringo Starr album. For the music festival, see Y Not Festival.

Y Not
Studio album by Ringo Starr
Released	12 January 2010 (2010-01-12)
Recorded	2009
Genre	Rock
Length	36:49
Label	Hip-O, UMe
Producer	Ringo Starr, Bruce Sugar
Ringo Starr chronology
Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band Live 2006 (2008) Y Not (2010) Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 (2010)
Singles from Y Not
"Walk with You" Released: (2009)

Y Not is the 15th studio album by Ringo Starr, released on January 12, 2010 on the Universal Music Enterprises and Hip-O Records reissue labels. The first single from the album, "Walk with You", released 22 December 2009, features shared vocals with fellow former Beatle Paul McCartney. In addition to McCartney, the album also includes collaborations with Joe Walsh, Joss Stone, Van Dyke Parks, Ben Harper and Richard Marx. It was the first album of his career which Starr primarily produced (he had previously co-produced several albums).

The album debuted at No. 58 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, with 7,965 copies sold in the US during the first week of release. This is the highest Ringo Starr US album chart peak since 1976. As of February 2010, the album has sold over 30,000 copies worldwide.

In the U.S., the release of the album perpetuated the fact that The Beatles, either as a group, or as solo artists, have released or charted at least one song or album every calendar year since 1964.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Fill in the Blanks" (featuring Joe Walsh)	Richard Starkey, Joe Walsh	3:14
2.	"Peace Dream" (featuring Paul McCartney on bass)	Starkey, Gary Wright, Gary Nicholson	3:34
3.	"The Other Side of Liverpool"	Starkey, Dave Stewart	3:23
4.	"Walk with You" (lead single, a duet with McCartney)	Starkey, Van Dyke Parks	4:42
5.	"Time"	Starkey, Dave Stewart	3:49
6.	"Everyone Wins" (a re-recording of a song originally released in 1992 as a B-side)	Starkey, Johnny Warman	3:54
7.	"Mystery of the Night"	Starkey, Richard Marx	4:05
8.	"Can't Do It Wrong"	Starkey, Gary Burr	3:45
9.	"Y Not"	Starkey, Glen Ballard	3:49
10.	"Who's Your Daddy" (featuring Joss Stone)	Starkey, Joss Stone	2:29
Total length:			36:49

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	60/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Los Angeles Times

Reviews for Y Not were mostly mixed. Review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a score out of 100 based on critic ratings, rated the album 60 out of 100, based on 11 reviews. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine rates Y Not three out of five stars, stating that "that friendly, shambling sound is Ringo, something Y Not proves without a shadow of a doubt by sounding virtually interchangeable with its immediate predecessors [...] Starr is all about cheerful reminders of happy times filled with Peace Dreams and memories of "The Other Side of Liverpool."" He concludes that "like there was on Liverpool 8, there is charm to Starr’s tried and true: exciting it is not but it’s as comforting as an old friend who doesn’t change, he just stays the same."

Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine rates the album two out of five stars. He explains that "it's nice to imagine that Ringo Starr's post-Beatles inability to produce much of consequence stems from his band-established character [...] this failure, as especially evidenced on Y Not, seems more predicated on some dearth of actual songwriting talent than the near-novelty quality of his persona." Although he contradicted that "to like it might even feel like charity, and would be excusable if the album's only fault was being mired in silliness", he concluded: "Flush with broad sentiment and a messy spread of good feelings, Y Not finds the funniest Beatle on the outside of the joke."

Los Angeles Times's Randy Lewis rates Y Not three out of four stars. He explains that "the importance in life of sustained effort along a particular direction" is "a thought that's inescapable listening to the latest release from former Beatle Ringo Starr." He also states that "he spends a bit of time here simply banging away happily [...] But the heart of the 10-song collection comes from his continued exploration of how to hold onto noble ideals in the face of ever-rising cynicism and violence." He concludes that "he holds securely to an upbeat perspective that borders on cliché [...] that's somehow reassuring coming from the guy who's spent most of his life in an intimate relationship with time."

Weeks on Billboard Album Chart

• Week 1 - #58
• Week 2 - #136

Personnel

• Ringo Starr – Lead Vocals, Drums, Keyboards, Piano, Backing vocals, Percussion
• Steve Dudas – Guitar
• Benmont Tench – Organ, Piano
• Michael Bradford – Bass guitar
• Bruce Sugar – Engineer, Co-producer, Keyboards
• Keith Allison – Guitar, Backing vocals

Guest musicians

• Don Was – Bass guitar ("Who's Your Daddy"), Upright bass ("Can't Do it Wrong")
• Joe Walsh – Guitar ("Fill in the Blanks", "Peace Dream" and "Everyone Wins"), Bass guitar, Backing vocals ("Fill in the Blanks")
• Dave Stewart – Guitar ("The Other Side of Liverpool" and "Time")
• Paul McCartney – Bass guitar ("Peace Dream"), Additional vocals ("Walk With You")
• Billy Squier – Guitar ("The Other Side of Liverpool", "Can't Do it Wrong")
• Edgar Winter – Horns ("Can't Do it Wrong"), Tenor and alto sax ("Who's Your Daddy"), Backing vocals ("Peace Dream", "Everyone Wins")
• Joss Stone – Lead vocals ("Who's Your Daddy")
• Ben Harper – Backing vocals ("Peace Dream")
• Richard Marx – Backing vocals ("Mystery of the Night")
• Ann Marie Calhoun – Violin ("The Other Side of Liverpool", "Walk With You" and "Time")
• Tina Sugandh – Tabla and chanting ("Peace Dream", "Y Not")
• Cindy Gomez – Backing vocals ("The Other Side of Liverpool" and "Time")

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalogue #
United States	12 January 2010	Hip-O, UMe	CD	B0013792-02 (6 02527 27380 8)
		Universal	LP	B0013792-01
South Korea	18 February 2010	Hip-O, UMe	CD	DC6420/272 738-0 (8 808678 243253)

References

• The Beatles and solo discography on vinyl: Ringo Starr 180 g LP "Y NOT"