Ringo Starr, Look Up, review: his best since the post-Beatles highs of the 1970s Staff, 1/10/2025 Ringo Starr's latest album, "Look Up," is a vibrant exploration of Americana, showcasing his playful spirit and rich collaborations. With revered producer T. Bone Burnett, the album weaves together rootsy sounds and heartfelt lyrics, marking a noteworthy return to form for the beloved drummer at 84.,The Brighton duo Lambrini Girls unleash their feminist-punk fury in their debut album, "Who Let the Dogs Out." Tackling issues like nepotism and police brutality, their energetic sound and bold lyrics promise to captivate audiences, solidifying their place as one of Britain's most promising new bands.,Bob Vylan's remixed anthem "Dream Bigger," featuring Amy Taylor, captures the struggle against societal obstacles with a feminist edge. This punk-rap collaboration merges powerful messages with catchy beats, showcasing the band's dynamic range and engaging themes.,Ethel Cain's chilling new track "Perverts" delves into darker themes, contrasting her earlier viral success. This introspective piece reflects her evolving artistry, challenging listeners while embracing a haunting narrative style.,Franz Ferdinand's "Audacious" combines upbeat rhythms with a Beatles homage in its optimistic chorus. From their sixth album, the track stands out with its easy-going fun, even if it lacks the explosive energy of their earlier hits.,Joy Crookes teams up with Vince Staples in "Pass the Salt," delivering a rhythmic critique of jealousy and gossip within friendships. This collaboration highlights Crookes' talent while fusing sharp lyrics with engaging melodies.,The Waterboys' "Hopper's On Top" serves as an upbeat introduction to their concept album, blending psychedelia with folk-rock to explore the life of actor Dennis Hopper. Featuring collaborations with renowned artists, the track showcases the band's distinctive storytelling flair. A new album from a Beatle is always a cause for celebration. Even if it's Ringo, who, in purely musical terms, will always somehow be the least of four equals. In his glory days, Ringo Starr was beloved for the drily witty, gently clownish personality that bound the complex characters of his musical partners together just as much as his imaginative drumming. His voice may be gritty and unlovely, his songwriting skills rudimentary, but he added salt-of-the-earth flavour to the most revered canon in pop history. Looking fit and stylish at the grand old age of 84, his guest appearance drumming at the O2 Arena with Paul McCartney last month was treated like a religious miracle.
Still, a little bit of Ringo goes a long way, which has been the challenge of his solo career. The good news is that his 20th album may genuinely be his best since the post-Beatles highs of the 1970s. On Look Up, Ringo saddles up for a foray into the heartland of Americana. Revered producer and songwriter T. Bone Burnett conjures a set of original songs informed by 1950s-style country balladry and early rock'n'roll. It is a good fit. Teenage Richard Starkey got his stage name for his love of Westerns (and jewellery). The covers he favoured in the Beatles (Matchbox, Honey Don't, Act Naturally) had country roots. His second solo album, Beacoups of Blues, was recorded in Nashville in 1970.
Burnett's old-fashioned sound turns up the reverb for a rich, rootsy ambience featuring unfussy but brilliant playing. No one is going to turn down a call from Ringo, and his bands always boast the best musicians around. Never Let Me Go is a lost cousin of Love Me Do, lifted by glorious harmonica playing from Mickey Raphael, while the swinging Breathless has the springy joy of a Buddy Holly rocker adorned by rippling acoustic lead from country prodigy Billy Strings. The lovely Come Back is a campfire stroll with backing vocals that would make Paul McCartney swoon. The gentle I Live for Your Love sounds like John Lennon in a country dream, replete with Harrison like weeping guitar. Eagles' leading man Joe Walsh pops up on slide on crunchy rocker Rosetta, and top session bassist Dennis Crouch locks in with Ringo throughout as an impeccable rhythm section. There is one cheesy Ringo original, Thankful, full of his trademark exhortations to "peace and love."
In his enthusiastic liner notes, Elvis Costello suggests Look Up is like "a follow-up to Beatles for Sale" in which "Ringo sings all the songs." It is not far from the mark, albeit does anyone really want to hear a Beatles album on which Ringo sings all the songs?
Burnett drafts in quality female singers to prettify Ringo's low voice, including Alison Krauss, Molly Tuttle and the Lovell sisters from Larkin Poe. But there's only so much attention they can take from the Starr. The patina of age creeping into Ringo's voice is nicely suited to world-weary lament Time On My Hands, which would be a standout track in any ex-Beatles catalogue. I suspect Look Up will be a source of much pleasure to those of us who still like to compile imaginary albums by the former Fab Four. Neil McCormick
Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira are very, very angry, and they don't care who knows it. The Brighton duo known as Lambrini Girls rip into everything from sexual harassment in the workplace and the prevalence of "nepo babies" in the arts to homophobia and police brutality on their ferocious debut album, Who Let the Dogs Out.
The past two summers have seen Lambrini Girls enrapture festival crowds with their furious, frantic vein of feminist-punk - as well as Lunny's love for crowd-surfing, swearing, scaling sound towers and inciting mosh pits - from Beaded Theory to Glastonbury. A stint supporting Idles in the autumn ramped up the hype, as did Kerrang and NME covers and a sold-out forthcoming headline tour, championed by Iggy Pop.
The music is simple: Lunny's screeching vocals coupled with her thrashing away on an electric guitar, while Macieira finds her manic groove on bass. Opener Bad Apple, which takes aim at dodgy police officers ("Officer, what seems to be the problem? / Or can we only known post-mortem / Not just bad apples / It's the whole rotten tree") possesses the record's most impressive musicality, as strings crash and collide into a sound that begins to resemble sirens. Special, Different, too, about neurodiversity, establishes itself as a nu-metal-tinged banger right off the bat, as if Bikini Kill's gender manifestos had been thrust into a metal grinder with Limp Bizkit.
Elsewhere, you can't help but giggle at the nail-on-the-head hitting of Filthy Rich Nepo Baby, which skewers the never-ending procession of 'posh toffs' pretending to be working class to earn credibility as rockstars with lyrics such as "Charlotte wants to sound like Blondie / But can't book her own gigs / She's a Baroness you see" and "I heard that Rod Stewart's nephew's best-friend-twice-removed is the next big thing"). Big D--k Energy - listen closely, and you can just detect the ghost of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' Bad Reputation in the opening chords - takes on performative, pseudo-woke "bros" haunting the dating pool: "I'm one of the nice guys, so why won't you have sex with me?". Lambrini Girls' music is not for everyone, but nor is it meant to be, and, taken as a statement of intent from one of Britain's most hyped new bands, it's a pretty ballsy one. Big d--k energy, indeed. Poppie Platt
By Poppie Platt
Bob Vylan (featuring Amy Taylor), Dream Bigger
Punk-rap band Bob Vylan's single Dream Big, a brazen anthem about the difficulty of "making it" when society wills you to fail, featured backing vocals from singer Bobby's young daughter, nieces and nephews. This remixed version recruits their close friend Amy Taylor, of rip-roaring Aussie rockers Amyl and the Sniffers, to add a witty, feminist-edge.
Ethel Cain, Perverts
The titular track from the Floridian singer's second album is chilling, challenging, and takes her down a much darker path than the one trodden on Preacher's Daughter (2022) - a viral banger-filled album that spawned breakout single American Teenager, ruminated on life in the US South and its unrelenting obsession with religion and made Cain a darling of indie kids everywhere - perhaps in an attempt to slow down her growing fame.
Franz Ferdinand, Audacious
Taken from the Scottish band's new - sixth - album, The Human Fear, opener Audacious begins like a Madness song then descends into pure Beatles-homage on its optimistic chorus, as frontman Alex Kapranos sings "Don't stop feeling audacious / There's no one to save us / So just carry on". It lacks the irresistible energy of their Noughties hits - Take Me Out, No You Girls - but it's easy, breezy fun.
Joy Crookes (ft. Vince Staples), Pass the Salt
The talented South London singer-songwriter teams up with acclaimed LA rapper Vince Staples for a rhythmic takedown of a jealous mutual-friend intent on spreading malicious rumours.
The Waterboys, Hopper's On Top (Genius)
The Scottish stalwarts go down the concept album route on new album Life, Death and Dennis Hopper (released on April 4), which features collaborations with Bruce Springsteen and Fiona Apple, among others. The upbeat title track fuses psychedelia and their usual folk-rock to introduce us to the life of the late American actor and rebel Denis Hopper, told with characteristic flair by frontman Mike Scott.