Choose Love (album)

Choose Love is the fourteenth studio album by English singer-songwriter Ringo Starr.

Choose Love
Studio album by Ringo Starr
Released	7 June 2005
Recorded	Mid-2004 – early 2005
Studio	Roccabella (UK) Whatinthewhatthe? (Los Angeles) The Village Recorder (Los Angeles)
Genre	Rock
Length	44:36
Label	Koch CNR
Producer	Ringo Starr Mark Hudson
Ringo Starr chronology
Tour 2003 (2004) Choose Love (2005) Ringo Starr and Friends (2006)
Singles from Choose Love
"Fading In Fading Out" Released: 2005 (promo only)

Background and recording

Recorded throughout 2004 into 2005, using the same team that created Vertical Man (1998) and Ringo Rama (2003), 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". As ever, a Starr album would be lacking if it did not include some celebrity guests and Choose Love does not deviate from the formula; it features Billy Preston and Chrissie Hynde as its most notable guests.

Release

Choose Love was released on 7 June 2005 in the US,^{[nb 1]} and on 25 July in the UK.^[1] There was an edition of the album that was a dual disc (CD on side, DVD on the other), with the DVD component featuring bonus features on the making of the album.^{[nb 2]}

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]
entertainment.ie	[4]
The Essential Rock Discography	5/10[5]
The Music Box	[6]
Star-News	(favorable)[7]

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".

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Fading In Fading Out"	Richard Starkey Mark Hudson Gary Burr	3:55
2.	"Give Me Back the Beat"	Starkey Hudson Burr Steve Dudas Dean Grakal	3:53
3.	"Oh My Lord"	Starkey Hudson Burr Dudas Grakal	5:32
4.	"Hard to Be True"	Starkey Hudson Burr	3:27
5.	"Some People"	Starkey Hudson Burr Dudas Grakal	3:17
6.	"Wrong All the Time"	Starkey Hudson Burr	3:30
7.	"Don't Hang Up" (featuring Chrissie Hynde)	Starkey Hudson Burr	3:27
8.	"Choose Love"	Starkey Hudson Burr	3:07
9.	"Me and You"	Starkey Hudson Dudas	2:15
10.	"Satisfied"	Starkey Hudson Gary Nicholson	3:19
11.	"The Turnaround"	Starkey Hudson Burr Dudas Grakal	3:54
12.	"Free Drinks"	Starkey Hudson Burr Dudas Grakal	4:45

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.^[8]

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[clarification needed] 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"

Production 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

Charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[9]	29