True, there was a slightly jokey nature to a few of them, playing up to his clownish public persona, which probably didn’t help with his artistic credibility in the long term.
It’s a pity, because The Beatles pretty much wrote the book on producing striking, memorable album sleeves, and some very effective artwork also adorned many of Ringo’s records during the first half of his solo career. Ringo certainly seems to think it’s not worth the bother these days, as most of his covers from the past 20 years are barely distinguishable from one another (hell, he doesn’t even think it’s worth recording full albums any more, more recently opting for EPs instead – and even they have virtually interchangeable artwork).
Especially when the golden age of album artwork – the kind of intricate imagery which used to eat up gatefold LP sleeves in the ‘70s, for example, or strike supremely cool marketing poses on ‘80s CD cases – must seem a dim and distant memory. I guess when your solo career spans half a century, it must be challenging to keep coming up with fresh ideas for your album artwork.
