The Beatles Plus 50 It was fifty years ago today…

Ringo’s fifth album — released on this day in 1976 — bears the distinction of being the last record to feature contributions from all four Beatles. Does that make it a major piece of work? Em, not really.

The songwriting contributions from the three other Fabs — Paul’s “Pure Gold,” John’s “Cookin’ (In the Kitchen of Love),” and George’s “I’ll Still Love You” — are not among their best. Eric Clapton chips in with “This Be Called a Song,” which sounds like it was thrown together over a cocktail hour. Ringo’s own efforts, and those of the other writers involved, are undistinguished at best, throwaway at worst.

Wikipedia notes that Ringo later “attributed this downward turn to his ‘[not] taking enough interest’ in music, saying of himself and friends such as [Harry] Nilsson and Keith Moon: ‘We weren’t musicians dabbling in drugs and alcohol; now we were junkies dabbling in music.’ Starr, Nilsson and Moon were members of a drinking club, the Hollywood Vampires.” Ringo’s career and life would continue on this trajectory until the mid-80s, when he finally bottomed out and cleaned up.