Leaving Atlantic Records after the sales disaster of
Ringo the 4th,
Ringo Starr signed to CBS's Portrait label and returned to the record racks after only seven months with
Bad Boy. Working again with
Vini Poncia and a largely pseudonymous band (lead guitar by "Push-alone" and bass by "Diesel"),
Starr turned out a competent effort with a few interesting song choices, notably the old
Benny Spellman tune "Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)" (bet it was a favorite back in Liverpool) and
Gallagher & Lyle's "Heart on My Sleeve," along with some that were beyond him, such as
the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go." But
Starr needed more than competence to reverse his career decline, and
Bad Boy sold only to the same hardcore
Beatles collectors who had pushed
Ringo the 4th into the lower reaches of the charts for half-a-dozen weeks. ~ William Ruhlmann