to question ringo's drumming ability is just absolute proof that you must be a retard

Ok,never heard this song before. Not bad, Don't know about it being a prime example of Ringo's drumming. But I never thought Ringo was a bad drummer anyway.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

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71Tele

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BluzDude
Ringo is a good drummer.

That being said, What I don't like is that flat, thumpy sound he (or George Martin) created about 1/2 way through the Beatles career and has stuck ever since.

I love that sound. For me the best snare sound he ever got was not on a Beatles record, but on John Lennon Plastic Ono Band. One thwack of that snare and you know exactly who it is. Listen to his snare on "Isolation" and the very simple - yet perfect - fills he does.

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Ringo plays all the drums on Plastic Ono Band, making it the only Beatle solo album that has two Beatles playing together throughout the entire album.

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tatters

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71Tele

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BluzDude
Ringo is a good drummer.

That being said, What I don't like is that flat, thumpy sound he (or George Martin) created about 1/2 way through the Beatles career and has stuck ever since.

I love that sound. For me the best snare sound he ever got was not on a Beatles record, but on John Lennon Plastic Ono Band. One thwack of that snare and you know exactly who it is. Listen to his snare on "Isolation" and the very simple - yet perfect - fills he does.

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?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="

Ringo plays all the drums on Plastic Ono Band, making it the only Beatle solo album that has two Beatles playing together throughout the entire album.

Never thought about that, but it's true...POB has a very cohesive sound, compared to other Beatle solo albums because it has such a small, tight band - just Lennon, Voorman and Ringo, with Billy Preston on a couple of songs. Many of the other Beatle solo albums suffered from sideman's disease, imo. While we're on the subject, I happen to think Paul's drumming on his first album and on Band On The Run was excellent.

Yes Paul's drumming on McCartney and Band on the Run are good. Check out Electric Arguments! Even better! While the sideman issue isn't as big to me, there were some great sidemen on Mind Games, which is a fantastic album, I actually think it is more interesting than Imagine.

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whitem8
Yes Paul's drumming on McCartney and Band on the Run are good. Check out Electric Arguments! Even better! While the sideman issue isn't as big to me, there were some great sidemen on Mind Games, which is a fantastic album, I actually think it is more interesting than Imagine.

Was Jessie Ed Davis on Mind Games? One of my favorite guitarists of all time.

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whitem8
Yes Paul's drumming on McCartney and Band on the Run are good. Check out Electric Arguments! Even better! While the sideman issue isn't as big to me, there were some great sidemen on Mind Games, which is a fantastic album, I actually think it is more interesting than Imagine.

Yeah but really. Ringo is no Abe Laborien Jr.

sweetcharmed of course he isn't. But Abe is also mimicking very much Ringo's drum lines and patterns, just with a lot of power. Ringo was more subtle.

I agree with the above opinions re: Ringo's superlative drumming on the Plastic Ono Band sessions but at the (nearly-guaranteed) risk of falling on deaf ears, I'll opine that his best drumming may be found on Yoko's POB album, moreso than John's. Search out "Why" or "Why Not" in particular.

I still prefer Barrie Jenkins.

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More Hot Rocks
His drums always sounded like he was hitting Chase And Sandborn coffee cans. Maybe not his fault but yes he was lucky.

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BluzDude
Ringo is a good drummer.

That being said, What I don't like is that flat, thumpy sound he (or George Martin) created about 1/2 way through the Beatles career and has stuck ever since.

I think this is a major part of the Ringo sucks myth.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-15 20:25 by bustedtrousers.

[www.ringostarr.com]

I think for a long time no one could really hear Ringo that well. For sure someone from a young generation, used to much better audio would think the older Mono vinyl recordings a joke, and his drumming negligible.
The new remasters are amazing in the quality; so the last 10-15 years everyone has been ale to fully hear him and realize how good he was.
Lots of mentions of his toms, but his cymbals were great too. he bashed them well. E.g the bridge in "Night Before" when he works the bell on the ride cymbal - I didn't know Ringo even knew the bell existed. LOL

Just listen to this drum extravagance from Ringo. He is all over the place just doing the hard core back beat psychedliced up! Wonderful. Like a full spring day.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-13 13:28 by whitem8.

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whitem8
Yes Paul's drumming on McCartney and Band on the Run are good. Check out Electric Arguments! Even better! While the sideman issue isn't as big to me, there were some great sidemen on Mind Games, which is a fantastic album, I actually think it is more interesting than Imagine.

So do I. I've probably listened to Mind Games more than any other Lennon album. I played that one and George's Living In The Material World to death when they first came out in '73. BTW, what have you heard about the upcoming release of McCartney Deluxe?

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Glam Descendant
I agree with the above opinions re: Ringo's superlative drumming on the Plastic Ono Band sessions but at the (nearly-guaranteed) risk of falling on deaf ears, I'll opine that his best drumming may be found on Yoko's POB album, moreso than John's. Search out "Why" or "Why Not" in particular.

I'm familiar with "Why", as it was the B-side of Lennon's single, "Mother". Remove the "vocals", and what's underneath sounds like a really good Velvet Underground jam.

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tatters

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whitem8
Yes Paul's drumming on McCartney and Band on the Run are good. Check out Electric Arguments! Even better! While the sideman issue isn't as big to me, there were some great sidemen on Mind Games, which is a fantastic album, I actually think it is more interesting than Imagine.

So do I. I've probably listened to Mind Games more than any other Lennon album. I played that one and George's Living In The Material World to death when they first came out in '73. BTW, what have you heard about the upcoming release of McCartney Deluxe?

Just that McCartney I and II will be given the deluxe make over ala Band on the Run. They will both be re-released with tons of bonus materials. What they are I am not sure....

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whitem8

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tatters

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whitem8
Yes Paul's drumming on McCartney and Band on the Run are good. Check out Electric Arguments! Even better! While the sideman issue isn't as big to me, there were some great sidemen on Mind Games, which is a fantastic album, I actually think it is more interesting than Imagine.

So do I. I've probably listened to Mind Games more than any other Lennon album. I played that one and George's Living In The Material World to death when they first came out in '73. BTW, what have you heard about the upcoming release of McCartney Deluxe?

Just that McCartney I and II will be given the deluxe make over ala Band on the Run. They will both be re-released with tons of bonus materials. What they are I am not sure....

Can't understand why he's doing McCartney II Deluxe instead of doing Ram Deluxe.

some credit should go to engineer geoff emerick, for it was his idea to move the mics closer to the drums, which was unheard of back then. EMI were very strict about their mic placements, worried that if they were too close to the instruments they might get damaged. but emerick experimented and the beatles were blown away by the drum sound that he got.

My favorite Ringo drum sound is on Come Together. It has a sensuality that you can usually only get with well-miked tabla drums.

for those not in the know, "pisces apple lady" is from leon russell's third album, which features an all-star line up of mick jagger, bill wyman, charlie watts, george harrison, ringo starr, klaus voormann, delaney bramlett, bonnie bramlett, eric clapton, joe cocker, jim horn, jim gordon, steve winwood, and merry clayton.

Tatters from what I understand he will be doing a deluxe version of all his releases. He started with Band on the Run, now McCartney and I think wanted to have McCartney II with it. Ram hopefully will be great! I would love on either Ram or Redrose Speedway a whole show from the University tour. The Mess from that European tour is phenominal! A great song that was a B side, but then put on the deluxe re-release of Redrose Speedway... Love it!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-14 11:03 by whitem8.

He was the perfect drummer for the Beatles. He may have seemed like a fish out of water outside that context, but you can never take away that position.

>The Mess from that European tour is phenominal!

I agree. I played my sister's copy more than the A-side ("My Love").

With the BOTR package including a dvd of the unaired TV film "One Hand Clapping" I'm hoping a RED ROSE SPEEDWAY package will include his tv special that *was* aired way back when, "James Paul McCartney".

And a deluxe WINGS OVER AMERICA is forthcoming -- that could ideally include 2 films from that tour, "Wings Over The World" and "Rockshow".

Edited to add: apologies for further shifting the topic away from Ringo, I was responding to a prior post and forgot the thread's topic!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-14 07:52 by Glam Descendant.

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ineedadrink
i saw an interview with ringo years ago and he said he tried to get levon helm's drum sound by putting towels on his drum heads.

He started doing that during the recording of the White Album just to get a different sound, not imitating Helm. He used it on the Apple roof, and I'm sure he used it on Lennon's Plastic Ono Band. Big Pink came out in August of '68, and I'll bet Starr had no idea what gear Helm was using.

I always have a swell time reading opinions on subjects like this...there's a whole lotta good drummers on every site on the net isn't it...



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71Tele
I'm sorry, I can't believe the ignorance here about Ringo.

I can, unfortunately. Par for the course.

After all, wasnt he in a 'boy band' ?

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dcba
I still think ... he's the luckiest Brit of the 20th century...

heh, i have been saying this for decades. my wife and i used to give out the "ringo" for similarly current very fortunate people.

Ringo was a good drummer for the group he was in, however he was replaceable as evidenced by the fact that the Beatles replaced him for a tour in 1964.
Some of the comments I've read about how Ringo could adopt to other styles where other drummers couldn't (Keith Moon) are somewhat reaching. By that logic, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd was an excellent drummer. Mason could play jazz style, or harder rock as it was necessary. Likewise Keith Moon could be more subtle and controlled then some have stated. He didn't always bash around the drums. Listen to Tommy, Quadrophenia and especially Who By Numbers. Moon's drumming is incredibly controlled on these albums. Finally in regards to Moon not being able to keep time signatures on Who Are You, the song this is usually attributed to (but not for certain) is Music Must Change, a bluesy, jazz style number with little percussion. Pete Townshend is the one to whom the Moon comment about being the best "Keith Moon style drummer in the world" is attributed to when he couldn't get the drums right. Townshend though has been known to embellish (or forget) the truth. On Pete's demo there is no percussion on Music Must Change, and by this point in the group, Pete would add instrument's where he wanted them. So its doubtful that Music Must Change was the song in question (if there was even a song in question).
So to sum up my ramblings, simply because a drummer can change styles doesn't mean they are necessarily good, but just that they know time signatures and music. Not being a drummer I can't state what makes a good drummer or what doesn't but from my own reading, I would believe it to be the drummer that can enhance the group's sound and give it a unique quality. Ringo I don't think did this with the beatles. There is nothing in his drumming that if I were to hear a Beatles song that I didn't know and didn't recognize that I would say "hey that's the Beatles because of Ringo's drumming".