Bill Starr

Ever since leaving the Rolling Stones, Bill Wyman has been keeping a low profile – which isn't quite the same thing as keeping quiet. About a decade after quitting the world's greatest rock & roll band, he formed the Rhythm Kings, a loose collective of friends, pros, and all-stars, all gathered to play the blues, soul, R&B, and old-time rock & roll that his old group no longer played. While the concept for the Rhythm Kings was similar to Ringo Starr's ever-changing All-Starr Band, Wyman's group was more of a studio creation than Ringo's ready-for-the-road carnival, which hauled out the old hits for an appreciative audience nearly every summer in the late '80s and '90s…

Within the span of five years, Ringo Starr was able to muster up seven Top Ten singles, with three of them coming from the self-titled Ringo album. Taking all of these tracks and adding three more, Blast From Your Past ends up being a worthy ten-song collection of Starr's best solo tunes…

Within the span of five years, Ringo Starr was able to muster up seven Top Ten singles, with three of them coming from the self-titled Ringo album. Taking all of these tracks and adding three more, Blast From Your Past ends up being a worthy ten-song collection of Starr's best solo tunes…

When Bill Wyman left the Rolling Stones, he didn't leave music at all. Instead, he went back to the songs he loved growing up, whether it was rock & roll or big band or folk/skiffle. Now, those tracks make up the majority of songs performed during Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings Live, taped during a Berlin concert in June 2005. Supported by a talented cast of musicians including guitarist Albert Lee, Wyman and company are introduced one by one, with each then joining in for a fun and lively boogie version of "I Got a Woman." Each member of the band takes their turn on lead vocals, with Albert Lee taking charge during the swinging, big band bop of "Jump, Jive and Wail," while "Baby Workout" has the soulful pipes of Beverley Skeete.

An overlooked gem is rediscovered. A 1985 LP that went largely unnoticed on its release, Willie and the Poor Boys was an exercise in nostalgia for Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and a bunch of his musical pals. The LP was put together by Wyman as a means of raising funds to help out The Faces founder Ronnie Lane, then suffering greatly from Multiple Sclerosis. A major benefit – the A.R.M.S. Concert – had been mounted in September 1983, and Willie and the Poor Boys was an outgrowth of that effort, employing many of the musicians involved in the original concert.

The central theme here was apparently at some point motorcycle songs, although only about half of the 31 songs here ended up being motorcycle songs. Those tracks alone, however, make this collection very unusual to start with. And the lineup of songs and players includes a name that was to become famous a few years later – Paul Simon in his Brill Building period working under the moniker Tico & the Triumphs, doing "Motorcycle," and an original credited to J. Landis…