Ringo Starr "Sentimental Journey" Apple PCS 7101 1U/1U UK 1st press 1970

	£		16
	$		21

Ringo Starr ? "Sentimental Journey"  Apple Records ?PCS 7101  UK 1st pressing. Vinyl, LP, released in 1970.
The vinyl appears to have been lightly played and is in great condition. It plays through beautifully on my stereo - no hop, stick or jump. The sleeve has some slight ring-wear back and front but is otherwise in great shape, no rips or writing. The spine is intact and completely legible. Matrix / Runout Side 1 : YEX 771-1U Matrix / Runout Side 2 : YEX 772-1U
"Sentimental Journey" is Ringo Starr's debut solo studio album, released in 1970, as the Beatles were splintering apart. Although Starr was the third member of the group to issue solo work (after George Harrison and John Lennon), "Sentimental Journey" is notable for being the first non-avant-garde studio album by a member of the band, in light of the experimental, soundtrack or live releases his aforementioned band-mates had already released. Paul McCartney's debut, "McCartney", would follow three weeks after "Sentimental Journey's" release. Recording of the album was completed in early March 1970, with "Sentimental Journey" being rushed out a few weeks later to avoid clashing in the shops with the Beatles' impending final album "Let It Be" in May.
The idea for a solo album first came from the rest of the Beatles, who said that Starr should do a solo record, despite his minimal songwriting abilities, and later from his mother Elsie Starkey and step-dad Harry during one day at their Liverpool home. His mother said that Starr had good vocals. The plan was to create an album of standards that would reflect his mother's favourite songs, even asking them and other members of his family to choose the tracks. Starr engaged the services of Beatles producer George Martin to helm his solo debut, shortly after the Beatles' "Abbey Road" (1969) came out.
Starr had one song each arranged by different musicians, ranging from fellow-Beatle Paul McCartney, and Martin himself to Richard Perry, Quincy Jones, The Bee Gees' Maurice Gibb, Hamburg-pal Klaus Voormann, and Elmer Bernstein among others, as Starr thought the album would have a flavour to it. Author Bill Harry states that on 1 October 1969, Starr asked Count Basie to write an arrangement score for "Night and Day"; the finished score arrived to Starr on 6 October. However, Chico O'Farrill received credit for the arrangement.
"Sentimental Journey" was released in the UK on 27 March 1970 and in the US on 24 April 1970. It received fair reviews upon its release, although many critics found the idea of Starr covering standards a bit odd considering his musical background. His fame in the Beatles was all that was required, however, to get it all the way to number 7 in the UK – with no single release to promote it – and number 22 in the US. The album sold 500,000 copies in the US, within the first two weeks of release.
Among his fellow Beatles, in an interview with BBC Radio's Johnny Moran, George Harrison described "Sentimental Journey" as "a great album" and "really nice". Conversely, John Lennon told Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner in December 1970 that he was "embarrassed" by Starr's debut. Starr later said of "Sentimental Journey": "The great thing was that it got my solo career moving – not very fast, but just moving. It was like the first shovel of coal in the furnace that makes the train inch forward."
The album cover consisted of a photograph by Richard Polak, showing a pub, 'The Empress' in Dingle, Liverpool, located close to Starr's place of birth. The superimposed figures in the windows of the pub are Starr's relatives. To promote the album, Starr appeared in a promo video, which was directed by Neil Aspinall, for the album's title track on the show 'Talk of the Town' on 15 March, and on 29 March for 'Frost on Saturday', hosted by David Frost, which showed the video that was made for Talk of the Town. In the U.S. it appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show'.