Ringo gives you many reasons ‘Y Not’ to listen

Ringo Starr has brought us his 16th studio album in “Y Not,” appropriately named for an album that gives you very few reasons to listen other than, “Why Not?”

While the guest list on the album is impressive – Paul McCartney, Joss Stone, Ben Harper – the quality of the album is mediocre. Granted, Ringo has never been particularly audacious, but “Y Not” is ridden with unremarkable, grudging melodies and monotonous vocals guaranteed to make anyone who is not a diehard Beatles fan catatonic with boredom.

The album is exactly what one might expect from Ringo: a moderately creative effort that tends to lean on its guests and whose overwhelmingly optimistic lyrics drop as many names as cliches. In some cases it succeeds; “Walk With You,” featuring McCartney, is a nicely composed track that is at least listenable. 

The rest of the album falls short of anything beyond average music that would garner all the attention of a light pole were it not written by a former Beatle.