Sunday morning - the heat wave has broken a bit in the Northeast US so it is a bit more humane.
Listening to the couple-years-old Mono remaster of Revolver.
There is a POV about Ringo Starr’s drumming - “he isn’t even the best drummer in the Beatles,” he’s no Bonham or Moon or Watts, etc.
I was listening to two consective tracks that couldn’t speak to this any better: She Said She Said and Good Day Sunshine. I’ll try to add links here, but I am on an iPad so they will be Mobile.
Starting with the latter: man, what deeply simplistic drumming. This single song might represent everything Ringo-haters want to point to. There is nothing that Ringo does here that a first-year couldn’t do - oom-pa beats, a gentle approach, no fills. If you listen a little more critically, you realize that he is “in the pocket” fully (i.e., establishes a great groove with his little oom-pa beat), and you might also note that the drum part is really what the song calls for, but I can see why folks might point to that performance with a “See? Told you!” type of look on their face. Beatles- Good Day Sunshine - YouTube
But when you listen to She Said She Said - jeez, could it be any more different and sophisticated? Ringo establishes this stumble-forward beat - almost sounds like Thelonius Monk on the drums, where the groove and fills sound off and skidding out of control, but somehow they end up on their feet every time. The bass is simpled down a bit (for Paul) so Ringo can stone-skip across the top of the beat in a way that perfectly fits the song. I can’t imagine anyone listening to this performance and not acknowledging the taste and talent required to deliver that. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DlKIsg_XdkI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DDlKIsg_XdkI
I suppose the most important thing to note: while those two drum parts are at opposite ends of the technique spectrum, both fit their songs perfectly. That, to me, speaks loudest. He may not have been rock-bombastic, but he played to the needs of the song. As a musician, and a musician in a band, that is all you can ask.
I agree wholeheartedly. Ringo is such a tasteful, terrific musician. I love to listen to his drumming, what he plays (and what he doesn’t play). I have never understood the belittling of Ringo’s drumming either. To me it instantly shows the person doesn’t know what he’s talking about (or, at best, has a blind spot for some reason).
Ringo is awesome. God forbid the Beatles had a “flashy for flash’s sake” type drummer, rather than a guy whose every beat served the tunes that made up their stunning body of work.
Shakester is right on. Imagine the Beatles with Ginger Baker or Keith Moon in Ringo’s place. Would that make the records better? I think not.
Disagree with one thing in the OP–I think Ringo is actually not unlike Charlie Watts, another player who tends to play very simply, but who just grooves like a motherfucker, and that’s exactly what the Stones need.
Two favorite Ringo licks: the weird, “off” beat on “Ticket to Ride” and the tasty tom tom juju on “Come Together.”
He was a great drummer. That’s why he ended up on the Beatles, they hadn’t had one up to then. My observations are limited in scope, and lack a strong musical background, but Ringo appeared to be the first drummer who was bigger than his drum set. Everyone else seemed to be nothing more than a guy in the back sitting behind the drum set.
The other thing is, despite many things said about Ringo over the years, I’ve rarely heard anyone give him a bad grade as a drummer, and when they do it’s dismissed with the same kind of responses given in this thread.
No argument from me. One of my favorite things about Ringo is his colorful, distinctive drumming. Take almost any Beatles track, remove all the instruments and vocals but drums, and you can still name that tune. His drumming is so creative and so different on every song.
One of my favorite things about that drum part is how up to the first bridge (about a minute in) has those syncopated flams that play against the beat, and then after the bridge, they tighten up into a straight eights groove. Very tasty variation of beat there.
Ringo is one of my favorite drummers. I did not get it when I was young, I wanted flashy fills and bombast, Ginger, Keith, Neil, Lars etc. I saw the light when I grew out of playing Punk Rock and , as a Bassist, found the need for the “Pocket”.
I read an interview with him, in which he said (to paraphrase) " I love to dance and that is what I do behind the drums, I am dancing". That IMHO is the definition of playing in the “Pocket”.
Interesting. Having heard Ringo belittled over the years, I always wondered, because I specifically listen for and like the drums in early Beatles so much. (Don’t know a thing about drumming and drummers.)
The genius of The Beatles was not in the technical virtuosity of any of the band’s instrumentalists or vocalists - their genius lay in their songwriting and their arrangements. Ringo’s drumming is very much on the same level as George’s solos - they both played what was needed/what fit and no more.
To me, The Beatles were an outstanding example of the whole band being much, much more than the simple sum of its parts.
In another band, in a totally different context - Robert Fripp insisted that Bill Bruford should get a composition credit for his work on the piece ‘Trio’ from the album ‘Starless and Bible Black’. Bruford didn’t play a single note on the piece, but Fripp was impressed that the drummer knew when to sit out.
Shouldn’t this thread be named “A Tap of the High Hat - to Ringo Starr’s drumming”?
The consensus of opinion on Ringo’s drumming that I’ve always heard/read is something like “Technically, he’s not that great of a drummer, but he always provided the beat or fill they needed at that particular time in that particular song.”
I can’t really think of more you want from a drummer.
I went through the same process as a bassist. I was inspired to take up the bass when I heard Geddy Lee. Then I got into Steve Harris, and Joey DeMaio (Manowar). I just loved busy, complicated bass lines. But the thing is, while I love playing along with those guys’ records, the kinds music I actually play in public simply don’t call for that kind of bass playing. And it took me way too long to figure that out, but I eventually did. Comes with age, I guess
I just read an interview with Ringo, and he pointed out that he was more popular in Liverpool than the Beatles were before they hit it big. He was the drummer for Rory and the Hurricanes, which was the biggest, most popular band in Liverpool at the time. When it turned out that Pete Best wasn’t going to cut it, the Beatles came to Ringo because he was the best drummer in town.
Agreed. George had to practically drag him to the studio to do “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Clapton wanted to do his own thing; joining the Beatles would have had him chafing at having to do what John and Paul and George Martin wanted.
The Beatles were a songwriting unit and everything they did was in service to the song. They even had the perfect voices for it – few people could complete with cover versions.
You know, Ritchie’s son is no slouch behind the kit either. Zak definitely inherited the Starkey drumming gene, and he learned a thing or two from his godfather as well. I hope he recovers from his current tendon injury and can carry on the family tradition for years to come.
Yes, but according to Clapton, that’s mainly because Eric and George were such good friends. Clapton ended up playing with all four Beatles on solo projects, including playing in John’s Plastic Ono Band. It would have been a rare rock guitarist who would have turned down an invitation to join the Beatles.
