and on 28 September in the US. The title track was released as a single in the US, backed with the non-album track "Coochy Coochy" on 5 October 1970 and in Australia on 3 December 1970. The album fared better in other countries, peaking at number 34 in Canada, number 33 in Australia, and number 21 in Norway.

Album cover design and Art direction, John Kosh with The front cover of Beaucoups of Blues, according to Sorrells Pickard, was taken outside musician Tracy Nelson's (Mother Earth – The Blues Broads) smokehouse however, the album never materialised. Beaucoups of Blues was remastered and reissued on CD in 1995, on 1 May in the UK,

Writing for Rolling Stone, Charles Burton remarked: "If Beaucoups of Blues reminds one of any record, it's Nashville Skyline, only instead of being lovable, spaced-out Bobby Dylan in front of those luxurious Nashville backups, it's lovable Richard Starkey who is crooning his heart out." In an interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone on 8 December 1970, John Lennon called the album "a good record", but qualified that comment by saying he "didn't feel as embarrassed as I did about [[Sentimental Journey (Ringo Starr album)|[Starr's] first record]]".

In Melody Maker, Richard Williams remarked on Starr's limitations as a vocalist but found that his "conviction and charm" were such that Beaucoups of Blues "forces one to abdicate from any hip posture and admit, just this once, to sheer uncomplicated enjoyment". Williams acknowledged the key roles played by Drake and guitarist Chuck Howard, before concluding: "One can imagine … that Ringo had a ball making this album. I had a ball listening to it." In his combined review of all the former Beatles' 1970 solo releases, Geoffrey Cannon of The Guardian rated Beaucoups of Blues as his favourite, saying: "The result is superb. Not because Ringo is a good singer, but because, this time, he's let himself be used well. People who work with men like Pete Drake and Charlie McCoy don't go wrong." Writing in Saturday Review magazine, Ellen Sander described the LP as "so protective and perfect a presentation of a vastly underestimated singing talent" and paired it with Harrison's All Things Must Pass as solo albums that "delight in their individuality while recognizing, but not relying on, a former mode of expression". Village Voice critic Robert Christgau believed Starr was trying to impersonate Buck Owens while singing flat, if not entirely faint, but concluded that "both the songs and Pete Drake's production bespeak a high-quality obsession – the music sticks. And Ringo is still Ringo, which means he's good at making himself felt." Among reviews of the 1995 reissue, Q magazine described it as "always likable and original" and "a collection of contemporary country songs, delivered by Ringo Starr in a languidly melancholic style curiously reminiscent of Michael Nesmith".

Track listing

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Personnel

  • Ringo Starr – vocals, acoustic guitar; drums on "Nashville Jam"

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Legacy

All of the songs on the album were first released by Starr. Cover versions followed, including several produced by Pete Drake.

In 1970 George Morgan released his version on "I Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way" as a single, produced by Pete Drake and engineered by Scotty Moore. It later appeared on the 1971 album Real George. In 1971 Jerry Lee Lewis covered "I'd Be Talkin' All the Time" on There Must Be More to Love Than This, with Buddy Harman on drums.

In 1972 Sorrells Pickard, who played on the album and wrote four of the songs, released his own versions of "$15 Draw" and "Without Her" on his self-titled album, produced by Pete Drake. In 1974 songwriter Buzz Rabin released his own version of "Beaucoups of Blues" on his album Cross Country Cowboy, produced by Pete Drake.

In 1976 Starr sang with Guthrie Thomas on Starr's own "Band of Steel" on Guthrie's album Lies and Alibis. The song was considered for inclusion on Beaucoups of Blues.

References

; Footnotes

; Citations

  • JPGR's Beaucoups of Blues site