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Photograph is the unofficial sequel to Postcards from the Boys, 2004's disappointing collection of postcards Ringo sent to friends, fellow Beatles included, over the years. Both books were published in lavish, signed limited editions by England's Genesis Publications, which specializes in issuing expensive, signed limited editions. The posh Photograph came out two years ago with a print run of 2,500. For those who can't afford to mortgage their home, Photograph has just been released as a $70 (in Canada) large mass-produced coffee-table book.
The results this time are far more satisfying. Photograph is Ringo sharing his photo album with his fans, showing snapshots of his life from him as a baby to today. It's charming and personal, and the closest we'll ever get to an autobiography from Mr. Starkey.
The Beatles, of course, appear in most photos, though they don't appear until p.82 of this 302-page tome. That's good. The first section allows the reader to get to know Ringo, illustrating his difficult childhood against the backdrop of grim, postwar Liverpool, and establishing who he is before he became famous.
Ringo
is a happy lad in those shots but his brief captions relate a
rough upbringing. “Admiral Grove was uglier than it looks in
this photo,” he describes the stark rowhouses he called home
with his beloved mum, Elsie, and his stepfather, Harry. There are as
many pictures of hospitals and nurses as there are of classmates, given
how Ringo was hospitalized for long periods as a boy. A few photos
show him playing hookey from the hospital by spending his birthday in
London with an uncle.
Suddenly,
Ringo enters his teenage years and plays drums. We see several
pictures of him in clubs in various bands, but Rory Storm
and the Hurricanes dominate. His captions tell us that Rory was
Merseyside's top band before The Beatles rose. Ringo poses with as
many girls as drums, and he comes off as a carefree lad, like any teenage boy playing in a rock band. And boy does he look
young.
In these pages, Ringo is the most candid he's ever been in print or in front of a camera, but only in short captions that accompany his pictures and, frankly, he doesn't offer details or wild stories in these pages. (This is Ringo, after all, not John or George.) Ringo keeps it simple and to the point, much like his drumming. Why did he leave Rory Storm and join The Beatles? “I just loved the band,” he answers, “that's why I moved.”
The
Beatles photos are private shots, capturing him and his bandmates, for example,
sequestered in the Georges V Hotel in Paris in January 1964. There's
Paul mugging in a beret and George washing his hands in an ornate
bathroom. Ringo writes, “I never had a bathroom in Liverpool.” In
New York as they took American by storm the following month, we see
Brian Epstein and George Martin sporting ridiculous Beatle wigs, John
wearing strange glasses and a hat, and Paul vamping in shades and unbuttoned shirt like a young
Elvis (above). This is a world of hotel rooms and limousines.
There's nobody else around except The Beatles and their inner circle.
Fans appear intermittently, like a carload of excited teens somewhere between Washington and Miami. There are shots of police cars escorting them, and even a toll booth, which blew Ringo's mind. He found Murray the K “great,” but unsurprisingly thought Phil Spector “really weird.”
Most
of the Beatles photos are in black-and-white though a few, like Miami
in February 1964, are in glorious colour. They're snapshots of
friends, vacation pictures we all take, like the one of Ringo, his
first wife Maureen, John and Cynthia proudly holding some fish they
caught on a trip.
Ringo's
companions were, of course, The Beatles, but you won't find revealing
moments here that'll deepen your understanding of his old band. There
are a few shots of John and Paul singing during the sessions for A
Hard Day's Night, but
disppointingly Ringo's text offers no insight into these moments.
One
highlight are the pictures taken from a little-known stopover in
India during the Asian leg of their 1966 summer tour. Ringo snaps
colour shots of his bandmates walking down the streets of Delhi using a
fish-eye lens (above). The result is trippy and captures the mood
of the era. It's the first time I've ever seen the Beatles
in India in 1966. Another psychedelic effect is the prism lens Ringo
uses during the Hey Bulldog session of February 1968.
After that, The Beatles are rarely seen. Instead, we glimpse Ringo with actor friends and on various film sets, such as Who drummer, Keith Moon, and singer Harry Nilson.
The Rowboat verdict: Photograph is fun viewing for Beatles fans and, while you learn more about Ringo, you won't gain any insight into The Beatles.