I always feel a bit mean when slagging off Pete. On one hand he definitely dragged them down, but on the other hand I realise that at the time of this recording he had been playing drums for less than two years. The others had all played since they were 14, but he was a late starter. Bearing that in mind, he actually wasn't THAT bad for someone who was basically what you'd call in music terms "Grade 2". It's just that he was way, way behind the others. They got him so they could go to Hamburg (it's telling that they knew he had drums before this but didn't ask him to be their drummer) and John says that in Hamburg he and George and Paul would stomp their feet on the stage to keep him in time, and then Pete worked that four-in-the-bar feel into his playing. That bass drum beat became the foundation of his style and then I guess he learnt to do some cymbal work as well and that embellished it a bit, but he never learnt to do any fills (well, just one). I guess that sort of style worked okay in nightclubs when they were just playing rock songs, but the moment he got to Abbey Road and was asked to do something different it all fell apart.Guru-Deva wrote: ↑Sat Oct 28, 2023 4:53 pm Unfortunately Pete's playing still spoils every track for me.
He really is irredeemably lousy isn't he?
I'm a drummer myself and have spent many years trying to play with that swing and verve that Ringo plays with. Over the years, I've found the Decca session (or audition or test or whatever) increasingly difficult to listen to and it's down to Pete.
I know the boys aren't on best form, but it's Pete that is by far the worst.
I also feel bad for him because he was no different from hundreds of other ordinary musicians on Merseyside (or anywhere for that matter). It was just his misfortune to have recorded this tape with a band that went on to be the biggest thing in music. So forever after he's had this unwelcome spotlight shone on him, which is obviously much worse in the internet age. He was okay, he could hold his own as a competent if idiosyncratic rock drummer but placed alongside John, Paul and George he suffers heavily in comparison (and of course with Ringo's recordings). I have sympathy for the guy, but at the same time I'm so glad Ringo got to be their drummer. Even with a session drummer at EMI, he would have been the one playing on all those BBC shows and Ed Sullivan. It just wasn't meant to be. As cruel and unfair as it sounds, he was a placeholder member.
Yes, but it sounds very strange.Does the technology allow a clean removal of Pete's noise yet?
Anyone fancy making a Japage 3 version of the Decca stuff?
