"Stop and Smell the Roses" by Ringo Starr – ***

First released: 1981

After the disasters of "Ringo’s Rotogravure", "Ringo the 4th" and "Bad Boy", Ringo was determined to get back on top with an album like "Ringo" or "Goodnight Vienna". It featured songs by George and Paul and was planned to have songs by John as well, but Ringo chose not to record them after Lennon’s death. Probably a wise choice at the time, but at this point, I would still like to hear Ringo record his own versions of "Life Begins at 40" and "Nobody Told Me". The CD booklet discusses the whole lengthy story of these recordings and adds six extra tracks that were recorded at the time, but left off the final album. I really liked this album back in 1981, although I thought Ringo’s remake of "Back Off Boogaloo" was abysmal.