Goodnight Vienna

Goodnight Vienna is the fourth studio album by Ringo Starr. It was recorded in the summer of 1974 in Los Angeles, and released later that year. Goodnight Vienna followed the commercially successful predecessor Ringo, and Starr used many of the same players, including Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Robbie Robertson, Harry Nilsson, and producer Richard Perry. The title is a slang phrase meaning "it's all over".

For the 1932 film, see Goodnight, Vienna. For other uses, see Goodnight Vienna (disambiguation).

Goodnight Vienna
Studio album by
Ringo Starr
Released15 November 1974 (1974-11-15)
RecordedAugust 1974
StudioSunset Sound, Producer's Workshop, Los Angeles
GenreRock, pop
Length33:40
LabelApple
ProducerRichard Perry
Ringo Starr chronology
Ringo
(1973)		 Goodnight Vienna
(1974)		 Blast from Your Past
(1975)
Singles from Goodnight Vienna
  1. "Only You (And You Alone)"
    Released: 11 November 1974 (US); 15 November 1974 (UK)
  2. "No No Song"
    Released: 27 January 1975 (US only)
  3. "Snookeroo"
    Released: 21 February 1975 (UK only)
  4. "(It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna"
    Released: 2 June 1975 (US only)

Background and recording

While all three other former Beatles had contributed to Ringo (1973),[1] only John Lennon contributed to Goodnight Vienna. On 17 June 1974, Starr called Lennon, who was about to record his Walls and Bridges album, and asked him to write a song he could include on his next album.[2] Lennon wrote what became the title track, "Goodnight Vienna".[nb 1][3] A demo of "(It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna" was recorded by Lennon on 28 June,[4] with the session musicians from Walls & Bridges and sent to Starr in advance of the sessions. Besides writing and playing piano on the title track,[5] Lennon suggested Starr cover The Platters' hit "Only You (And You Alone)"[6] playing acoustic guitar and providing a guide vocal for Starr to follow.[2] Starr's versions of both "Only You (And You Alone)" and "(It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna" were recorded at a session produced by Lennon.[4][nb 2] Elton John also contributed a track, "Snookeroo", co-written with Bernie Taupin.[7] Harry Nilsson gave Starr the track "Easy for Me", which he later recorded his own version of for his Duit on Mon Dei album.[8]

Release

"Only You (And You Alone)", backed with "Call Me", was issued as an advance single from the album in the US on 11 November 1974, before the album was released.[nb 3][4] In the US the song reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.[10] Goodnight Vienna was released on the same day as the "Only You (And You Alone)" single in the UK on 15 November.[nb 4][4] The album reached only number 30 in the UK, and would be Starr's last chart album in his homeland until 1998. The album was released in the US on 18 November,[nb 5][12] and peaked at number 8, ultimately going gold, and its reviews were generally favourable. It was also originally released in quadrophonic. A promo film for "Only You (And You Alone)" was aired on Top of the Pops on 19 December.[4] On 27 January 1975, "No No Song", backed with "Snookeroo", was released in the US, reaching number 3.[nb 6][14] Nearly a month later, on 21 February, "Snookeroo" was released as a single in the UK, backed with "Oo-Wee".[14]

On 2 June, a special edit of "(It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna" and "Goodnight Vienna (Reprise)" was released as a single, backed with an edit of "Oo-Wee", in the US.[14] The cover artwork for Goodnight Vienna was based on a still from the classic 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Starr's head replacing that of actor Michael Rennie shown standing behind the robot Gort.[15] Rennie's character was the alien Klaatu.[15]

A television commercial, which featured a voiceover from Lennon, depicted the album cover's flying saucer (with Starr) over Los Angeles—landing on the roof of the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood.[2] The commercial was produced by Vidtronics Company Inc.[2] and directed by Stanley Dorfman.[16] Starr returned the favour and did the voiceover for the commercial for Lennon's Walls and Bridges album.[2] Immediately after filming the commercial, on 14 November 1974, the promo film for "Only You (And You Alone)" was filmed.[2] During the video Starr and Nilsson mimed to the song, on top of the Capitol Records Building.[2] A lightweight flying saucer and a forty-foot robot named 'Gort' were placed on the building, accompanied by Starr in a spacesuit, and Nilsson sitting in a rocking chair smoking a cigarette in a brown dressing robe, reading that morning's Los Angeles Times, with a front-page photo showing Starr in his space costume. An orange-clad marching band, and forty actors (who formerly played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz) danced below them at street level.[17] The video aired on BBC TV's Top of the Pops show, on 19 December.[2]

Goodnight Vienna was reissued in the US, this time by Capitol in February 1981.[nb 7][10] The album was remastered and reissued on CD on 30 November 1992 in the UK,[nb 8][18] and on 23 March 1993 in the US,[nb 9][18] with three bonus tracks:[18] 1972 hit single "Back Off Boogaloo", its B-Side "Blindman" and an extended version of the McCartney-penned "Six O'Clock", a shorter version of which had earlier appeared on the LP version of Ringo.[7]

Track listing
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[19]
Billboard(favourable)[20]
Christgau's Record GuideB−[21]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[22]
The Essential Rock Discography5/10[23]
MusicHound2/5[24]
Record Collector[25]
Rolling Stone(favourable)[26]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[27]

Side one

  1. "(It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna" (John Lennon) – 2:35
  2. "Occapella" (Allen Toussaint) – 2:55
  3. "Oo-Wee" (Vini Poncia, Richard Starkey) – 3:45
  4. "Husbands and Wives" (Roger Miller) – 3:34
  5. "Snookeroo" (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) – 3:27

Side two

  1. "All by Myself" (Poncia, Starkey) – 3:21
  2. "Call Me" (Starkey) – 4:07
  3. "No No Song" (Hoyt Axton, David Jackson) – 2:33
  4. "Only You (And You Alone)" (Buck Ram) – 3:26
  5. "Easy for Me" (Harry Nilsson) – 2:20
  6. "Goodnight Vienna (Reprise)" (Lennon) – 1:20

1992 bonus tracks

  1. "Back Off Boogaloo" (Starkey) – 3:22
  2. "Blindman" (Starkey) – 2:46
  3. "Six O'Clock (Extended Version)" (Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney) – 5:23

Personnel

Charts

Notes
  1. The title was, as Starr commented, "a Northern Expression [...] which means 'I'm getting out of here'."[3]
  2. Lennon's versions of "Goodnight Vienna" and "Only You" appear on the 1998 box set John Lennon Anthology.
  3. US Apple 1876[9]
  4. Album: UK Apple PCS 7168;[11] Single: UK Apple R 6000[9]
  5. US Apple SW-3417[12]
  6. US Apple 1880[13]
  7. US Capitol SN-16219[10]
  8. UK Parlophone CDEMS 1467[11]
  9. US Capitol CDP 7 80378 2[12]

References
  1. Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980 (illustrated ed.). New York: Backbeat Books. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-87930-968-8.
  2. Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith, eds. (2001). The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970–2001 (reprint ed.). London: Music Sales Group. ISBN 978-0-7119-8307-6.
  3. "A Space Odyssey". NME. NME Originals. 2 (3): 91. 2005.
  4. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  5. Blaney, John (2005). John Lennon: Listen to This Book (illustrated ed.). [S.l.]: Paper Jukebox. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-9544528-1-0.
  6. Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980 (illustrated ed.). New York: Backbeat Books. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-87930-968-8.
  7. Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980 (illustrated ed.). New York: Backbeat Books. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-87930-968-8.
  8. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  9. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  10. Whitburn, Joel (2007). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research. p. 801. ISBN 978-0-89820-172-7.
  11. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  12. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  13. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  14. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  15. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  16. "Goodnight Vienna". The Beatles Bible. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  17. Shipton, Alyn (2013). Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter (First ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 379, 381, 381. ISBN 978-0190263546.
  18. Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  19. Ruhlmann, William. "Goodnight Vienna – Ringo Starr". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  20. Bob Kirsch (ed.), "Top Album Picks", Billboard, 23 November 1974, p. 80 (retrieved 22 November 2014).
  21. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 13 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  22. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th edn). London: Omnibus Press. p. 1984. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  23. Strong, Martin C. (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Edinburgh, UK: Canongate. p. 1028. ISBN 978-184195-827-9.
  24. Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz (eds), MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; ISBN 1-57859-061-2), p. 1083.
  25. Staunton, Neil (February 2018). "Ringo Starr Ringo; Goodnight Vienna". Record Collector. p. 104.
  26. Nolan, Tom (24 April 1975). "Ringo Starr: Goodnight Vienna". Rolling Stone. p. 62. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  27. Brackett, Nathan, with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th edn). New York, NY: Fireside. p. 777. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  28. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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  34. "norwegiancharts.com Ringo Starr - Goodnight Vienna". VG-lista. Archived from the original (ASP) on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  35. "The Official Charts Company Ringo Starr - Goodnight Vienna" (PHP). The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  36. "allmusic ((( Goodnight Vienna > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  37. "Ringo Starr: Goodnight Vienna" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  38. "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1975". RPM. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
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  41. "British album certifications – Ringo Starr – Goodnight Vienna". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  42. "American album certifications – Ringo Starr – Goodnight Vienna". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
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