There's so few recordings of the Beatles with Pete drumming that it isn't easy to truly judge him. These BBC recordings are probably the best examples we'll ever have of Pete's natural live playing style, and to me it isn't bad. Pete is competent with this material. But I highly doubt Pete could or would have been capable of playing the parts Ringo did on late original tracks like Rain and Ticket to Ride etc.
It has been said many times. Pete was good with one kind of beat and nothing else. Put him in Rain or Tomorrow Never Knows. Would have probably shit his pants.
@@trollcat_2245 it seems like the only track from the Anthology 2 release that is not available on youtube is exactly the one I wanted to hear the most: Take 1 of Tomorrow Never Knows... if anyone knows where I can find it, please let me know
The Beatles with Pete Best recorded for the BBC on On March 7, 1962, going out on-air on 15 June 1962. Appears Pete was suitable for nationwide BBC broadcasts. But they fired him on 15 August 1962.
Thanks for sharing...I enjoyed listening to those early songs with Pete Best on drums. That’s how they must have sounded when they played in Germany for two years when they were just starting out.
Nuh uh. When they arrived in Hamburg they were amateurish and sloppy. They hadn't found their energy yet. When this radio session took place, the Beatles still had one last obligatory (contract) set of gigs in the Hamburg Star Club later in the year (the Star Club recordings), where they'd played on and off for the past two years. It was the intensity of their Hamburg surroundings and the pressure to play with maximum energy that gave them their tightness and competence. So when they were just starting out in Hamburg two years previously they were much more ramshakle than this radio session. If anything the radio session gives an indication of the character and quality that Hamburg gradually endowed upon them as they toiled night after night, hour after hour, for hours on end. By late 1962, and after two years of slog, they became a powerhouse.
Pete Best was all over the place on the Decca audition, this recording, he is very passable, but obviously George Martin wasn't impressed and was happy they kept Pete for their live shows but wanted to use a session drummer for the recordings.
Yes this is close to how they would have sounded live. The demo was just that, a collection of songs they knew well enough to be able to record quickly in minimal time, but were of high quality as they were studio recordings. 2 stand out as good, like dreamers do and besame mucho. The rest seem like little effort was made
Aha. The Decca audition was a huge important opportunity for them. This was it!! An audition at a big record company! The jangling nerves are truly palpable. I've been a performing musician for 40 years and very sensitive to music so listening to the Decca stuff makes me feel quite uncomfortable at times. Lennon sounds nervous and vulnerable but is a real trooper nonetheless. Paul...oh Paul...oh sheez... Paul is overcompensating and sounds on the verge of sheer panic huh. Secretly quite highly strung in nature anyway, at times during the audition he's trying way too hard...all that overdramatic hammy Elvis impersonating, instead of taking nice slow relaxing deep breaths and finding his true voice. If I were unkind I'd call his Decca performance a "cringe fest". Oddly, it's the young "quiet shy one" - George - who plays swaggering lead guitar and seems quite confident on vocals, breezing sweetly through Take Good Care, and injecting some fun sly humour into Sheik of Araby. Is it just me, or is George the only one who sounds like he's actually enjoying himself?! Luv and blessings from North Yorkshire (even more northern than scousers :)
I think "Memphis Tennessee" is probably the best recorded example of Pete's early drumming style. It's on beat, and powerful. In other early recordings (well, at least one session anyway that I know of) Pete had had his bass drum removed as it overwhelmed the recording equipment, so you really didn't get the "Atom Beat" that he had become known for. But it comes through in Memphis Tennessee here.
I think Pete's drumming was pretty good on Please Mr. Postman, too. I always found the LP version to be a little too restrained and sanitized than this version.
Caveman drumming 🤣🤣 Listening to the 2nd song while reading this made me have a good minute or so of laughter 🤣🤣 That's what it's all about man, great stuff
Thank you for posting this. A great historic recording. One thing that stands out is that the Beatles did not sound distinctive until they played their own song. Otherwise, they were a superb cover band, if you wanted a group that could sound like the original in terms of the vocals and guitars.
Where on earth are your ears?? One of the Beatles most outstanding qualities was their ability to take somebody's composition and give it truly unique treatment and double the energy, and make it their own. Have you heard the Isley Brother's "Twist and Shout"? They took Some Other Guy and transformed it from a cool swinging groove a la Ray Charles into a fervent sweaty rock powerhouse played at breakneck speed. Rock And Roll Music is also rather different to the original. They became Hamburg's biggest and best thing doing exactly this - blasting out covers with new fresh in yer face energy...while very occasionally slipping in their own songs bit by bit. One of my least favourite performances on the Star Club gig recording is I Saw Her Standing There which just seems to dawdle along compared to the comparatively ecstatic performances of Red Hot, Long Tall Sally etc (seems they got it together for PPM album - lose that pointless harmonica and up the tempo et voila - exuberance incarnate!). They did a version of Over the Rainbow. Again, I doubt you'll ever hear them sounding like the original Dorothy in the Wizard Of Oz. :p
@@PhilKelley Well will you look at that. Someone emotionally mature enough to realise his temporary shortcomings and no touchy delicate pride at risk of public ruination. Thanks me. Then honours me by telling me I've inspired the desire to research and learn. Doesn't get all paranoid by my jokey condescending reference to The Wizard of Oz. An awesome example of easy natured humility and grace. Take note, all you butthurt wannabe Beatle know-it-alls and inflexible Pete Best apologists. The route to truth and real knowledge is smoother when you can admit you don't know something and may be in error. Phil I wish you many happy auditory experiences and auspicious meetings with awesome spirits. Best regards, Phil "Uberbeast" F******y (UK)
@@uberbeast113 You set me on a real adventure. I found a table of all of the songs the Beatles covered on Wikipedia, which includes a reference to the original. Wow! This is going to take a while to listen to them all - Beatles covers vs. originals. Thank you for your guidance on this. I have been a Beatles fan since Meet The Beatles came out (surprisingly, my mother bought the album and introduced us to the Beatles). I knew a lot of the songs on that album were covers, but had not taken the time to check out the originals on some of them. My view of the Beatles as a cover band is being totally revised.
@@PhilKelley I'd like to join you on that adventure as I have only heard a few of the original tracks that The Beatles clearly loved so much. I've heard enough to recognise a formula which seems to be: take original. Inject amphetamines mixed with alcohol and sweat. Increase tempo. Mach schau. :)
Wow... how they had progressed from this [and The Quarrymen & Silver Beetles]... and mid-way into their career, to "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966)... to "Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / In The End".
@@djdomato wow, interesting... Paul is so versatile... I'm just learning about the Beatles history and I feel so guilty that I preemptively judged McCartney all these years, the dude really is a musical genius with perfect pitch and all that (despite not knowing how to read music in terms of "theory" but he "feels" music) The dude was really mistreated while in the Beatles huh... just goes to show that people do not appreciate "good, honest, psychologicaly stable" people, they love to be used and abused by john lennon types. Holy crap, sorry McCartney, I'm really sorry
Better than Decca but Paul is still trying to sound like Roy Orbison and Pete is terrible as usual. Tough for a singer to concentrate with Pete making that racket back there. What a different band with Ringo
@@mangomonkey6938 How predictable that you wouldn't reply, because you got nothin'! Pete was a terrific drummer--his Beatle bandmates sacked him over petty jealousies. Disgraceful. smh
@@Cosmo-Kramer Thank you for the rude reminder. I need nothing but the facts. Pete was a lousy drummer. His timing was dreadful and his fills were repetitious and mediocre. He was a pounder with no subtlety or creativity. When they could find no other drummer, Pete was in, and when mach shau was the order of the day, his bombastic style was acceptable but he clearly was not a good drummer and he certainly did not improve at the same rate as the others. If his popularity was a factor with the others it was only icing on the cake of their discontent. He wasn't a friend and he wasn't a virtuoso - he had nothing to offer them - and history has illustrated that his absence was the final ingredient in their success. The fact that they were so successful - the most successful pop band in history - proves that.
@@nsantorelli7794 No, George Martin didn't want to take any risks. His exact words in The Beatles anthology interview with him were that he didn't even know who Ringo was and had already booked Andy White for the session, someone who he definitely knew could get the job done at the time. It wasn't because he thought Ringo was bad, it was because he literally didn't know him yet. Once again, Ringo >>> Pete
@@retrogorilla Because playing bass was all he could do, right? Nevermind the years of friendship and songwriting him and John had by this time! Oh wait... His bass playing is solid too 😜
How do you mean? Mo Tucker seems to me very much a "feel" drummer, very primal, tribal...more than a great technician. Best was no technical virtuoso either, but he also had sod all feel for the music. Always feels like he's barely able to keep up, in other words he was very much carried by the energy of the other three. It's very likely that between 1960 and '62 Lennon became the piledriving relentless bulldozer of a rhythm player to make up for the lack of energy coming from the drums
hello. first, thank you for your posts. you had posted rehearsals of john coltrane, i wanted to listen to them again but i can't find them. please have you deleted this post? could you please repost this repeat? thank you in advance .best regards from france
I see what you did there. And I agree. So do Lennon and Harrison, who each let it slip that they deemed The Beatles to be at their absolute peak during Pete's two years.
its such a shame that this recording is in such a poor state, pete best seems to be at his apex here whereas all other recordings of him drumming with the beatles seem to be half-assed. here he rips it the fuck up
I think the difference is the following. With Kaempfert in '61, Bert didn't care for loud rock 'n roll and wouldn't let Pete use his full kit. At Decca on New Year's Day in '62, Pete and the lads were hungover, had just driven 10 hours to the audition, and were forced to play songs they didn't want to play. Additionally, there were major tech problems with the equipment, and they didn't know how to record Pete's normal drumming, which he consequently toned down for them. And at the June of '62 EMI audition, George Martin abruptly changed the arrangement of, "Love Me Do", telling Pete to use a different drum pattern than the one he'd been playing the song with in the clubs and rehearsals all along. So it threw him off in that one take Martin provided to Anthology. But if you talk to the engineers working the audition, they were fine with Pete. Norman Smith said, *"The problem wasn't with how Pete was playing, but rather what he was being asked to play with the new arrangement, which was a terrible arrangement."* And the other engineer that fateful day, Ken Townsend, said, *"I didn't see any reason why Pete should be replaced with a session pro."*
@@Cosmo-Kramer And yet...despite what certain people may have said all those years ago - any good creative passionate musician knows that in all the recorded music featuring Best on drums there is not one moment where something he does makes the ears prick up or get the heart beating. It is lame.
@@uberbeast113 There are no recordings of Ringo drumming for any band during, or before, Pete's two-year tenure as The Beatles' drummer. Don't compare Ringo on your favorite Beatles songs with Pete on low-quality recordings from when they weren't yet famous and had no real experience in the studio.
@@Cosmo-Kramer my go-to comparison is Pete Best circa mid '62 v R Starr circa late '62 @ Star Club eg Red Hot and Long Tall Sally. Ringos drumming is power house. Best not in the same league
@@Cosmo-Kramer Good sir, I've played music inc drums since pre teen 1982. Whether recordings are hi or lo fi...musicianship and energy shines through. Some of my favourite performances are extremely grainy lo fi bootleg tape recordings of Mahavishnu Orchestra from the early 70s, for example.
Best finds one single approach per song and plays it through from beginning to end. The overall effect is a wall of noisy sound. Not nearly as creative or unpredictable as Ringo Starr. Starr incorporated air and silence into his beats.
Petes drumming was a bit erratic and too loud also speeding up in Mr Postman. He would have done better to muffle the drums with varying amounts of blankets inside. Ask Me Why was much better.
This clearly lays to rest that Pete was not a good drummer. He, and the rest of the band, sound fantastic. Notable is his subtle drumming on ask me why
From about 1:16 to 1:28 is horrendous. Pete has some interesting ideas, but he can’t execute them. He frequently overplays, and messes up the end of his fills. He also rushes the hell out the end of Please Mr. Postman, starting at 5:57. They got noticeably tighter when Ringo came along.
@@nsantorelli7794 Band members get kicked out all the time, that's how the business works, what makes Pete so special? He still had a good life post-Beatles. Ringo was THE band member, history has shown that, the chemistry, the popularity, the drumming creativity, all of it. History has proven that. Was Pete good? Yes. Just not good enough, which sucked for him (for a time at least)
Pete's timing isn't too awfully bad but it has no fills or rolls no changes the same thing all the way through no pausing or cymbal or hi-hat work very plain sorry mr. Best but I would have replaced you with Ringo also
I know very little about drumming but on the first and second track the drumming seems to be overwhelming the rest of the sound. As someone mentioned, Mo Tucker style from the Velvet Underground. Maybe that sound could have worked but that's not what they were aiming for surely. I wonder to what extent Best was fired for his technique rather than his personality
Here's my humble take for what it's worth .. first cha cha boom was corny. Second.. they were all rough at the beginning. Third.. nothing against Ringo, I saw him with his all star band and they were good. However, had they kept Pete, he would have grown with the rest of them professionally. Anyway, Pete was Best and Ringo was a Starr.😂❤🎸🎸🎸🥁🎹🎤
Give me a break with all the pro Pete comments; there’s a reason John, Paul, & George replaced Mr Best, who surely did not live up to his name, with Liverpool’s best R&R drummer at that time, Ringo Starr…I’ve been listening to & studying the music of The Beatles for most of my 65 years on the planet and nothing Pete Best ever played with them impressed me or held my interest…he was mediocre at BEST…the recording engineer in Hamburg took his bass drum away because his coordination was so erratic which explains the lack of bottom on those recordings, the engineer at Decca said he wasn’t good enough to record, and, thinking Pete was still in the band, George Martin hired session drummer Andy White…but here’s my bottom line…if you have an opinion about Pete Best you better be a musician (I am) every musician familiar with Pete’s recordings with The Beatles that I’ve asked ‘would you want him in your band?’ all gave an emphatic ‘NO’; he may have been a handsome fella back in the day & a nice guy but he was not a very good drummer
@@pinksax so Mr Martin was lieing when discussing this on The Anthology? I don’t need to read anything to know Pete was, to quote Lennon, a crap dummer; I have ears and can hear that he was not very good…the only reason we’re still discussing The Beatles 60 years down the pike is their unparalleled success with Ringo as their drummer…but forget all that…I have been a professional musician for over 50 years and based on Pete Bests’s recordings with The Beatles, I would never have him in my band…are you a musician? if not, what is your opinion based on? peace out brotha
i have to ask if pete was so bad then why was the audience scraming and clapping?? also were there articles or reviews in england back then calling for a new drummer???
Pete Best wasn't bad, he was one of the best drummers in two cities (Hamburg and Liverpool). He was far and away the most popular Beatle, and to answer your last question, no, of course there weren't any calls by the press for a new Beatles drummer. Such thinking would've been absurd--Pete's signature Atom Beat *defined* The Beatles sound, and took them from being a bum band when he joined to the hottest ticket in two cities just 4 months later. He was sacked over petty jealousies, nothing else. Disgusting.
Anyone who thinks Pete could play drums should get their hearing and sanity checked. Just muddy cacophony to me, versus the world’s most tasty drumming from Ringo. Every thing else on this tape is clear, the drums are muddy and the beat is inconsistent, there are no cymbals heard, and the BBC knew how to set microphones and do a mix. They tried to bury Pete. Didn’t use enough dirt if you ask me.
It's a little extreme to say that he couldn't play drums--I would say that he could play drums, but not as well as he could have, and certainly not as good as Ringo.
Ridicules drumming, speeds up, slows down, plays some measures with a straight beat and then at times goes to a back beat for a measure, or half measure even, which is the sign of a drummer who doesn't listen to whats going on, a bad drummer and a drag on any band he played in. Not impressed and exhausted by old B.S.
@@martindumas4572 Why? Don't need to be to hear what's going on, but yes I play drums, guitar, piano, and also trumpet competitively from age 12 to 17, so I know my way around a time signature and Pete was bad in my opinion, but not just my opinion I guess, but others as well. I won't debate so don't waste your or my time, don't like my opinion? Ignore it then. Just an random opinion.
@@chrishughes5049 you are not the only one. I am a musicion as wel for over 25 years. I played in lots of bands and yes I played the role of Ringo as wel. I don't criticize you or other musicians, but I think it's boring to hear the same story. Don't forget if you are a real Beatles fan Pete is also a part of Beatles history!!!
@@martindumas4572 Well, Pete does alright and it must have been tough at the time, but if he was really invested in the project and showed a willingness to improve or accept constructive criticism(from all the other band members and Tony Sheridan) he might be actually doing something today. Pick up gigs done to relive the past not included....he is a part of history, not sure if it is as a part of the Beatles though really. More for NOT being a Beatle or almost a beatle or whatever. Yeah yeah yeah. Ringo was a drummer, Pete had a drum kit and made a noise with them and not a very satisfying one. Just how I hear it. cheers
Chris Hughes Okay I am sorry. Maybe I was a little bit rude and I agree that Ringo was a more professional drummer but the sound quality is so poor you can hardly hear Pete. If you listen to Roy Orbison's Dream baby Paul's bass intro was way to fast. As a drummer you can't make it sound right. If you listen to Money version with Pete Best at Decca, not the remastered version but on the raw unpolished tape Pete's version rocks more than Ringo's. But that"s my opinion. Cheers mate.👍
There's so few recordings of the Beatles with Pete drumming that it isn't easy to truly judge him. These BBC recordings are probably the best examples we'll ever have of Pete's natural live playing style, and to me it isn't bad. Pete is competent with this material. But I highly doubt Pete could or would have been capable of playing the parts Ringo did on late original tracks like Rain and Ticket to Ride etc.
It has been said many times. Pete was good with one kind of beat and nothing else. Put him in Rain or Tomorrow Never Knows. Would have probably shit his pants.
Four years from this to “Tomorrow Never Knows”.
Great tune, with Ringo doing some impressive, innovative drumming. Not so sure that Pete would've done as good.
That's such an amazing fact. Almost unbelievable.
@@waynej2608 keys to my heart from The Pete Best Combo has similar beat i think you should listen that song
@@trollcat_2245 it seems like the only track from the Anthology 2 release that is not available on youtube is exactly the one I wanted to hear the most: Take 1 of Tomorrow Never Knows... if anyone knows where I can find it, please let me know
@@waynej2608 what do you mean? it's Pete Best who is playing drums on these records
The Beatles with Pete Best recorded for the BBC on On March 7, 1962, going out on-air on 15 June 1962. Appears Pete was suitable for nationwide BBC broadcasts. But they fired him on 15 August 1962.
Pete would have been good enough
Thanks for sharing...I enjoyed listening to those early songs with Pete Best on drums.
That’s how they must have sounded when they played in Germany for two years when they were just starting out.
Nuh uh. When they arrived in Hamburg they were amateurish and sloppy. They hadn't found their energy yet. When this radio session took place, the Beatles still had one last obligatory (contract) set of gigs in the Hamburg Star Club later in the year (the Star Club recordings), where they'd played on and off for the past two years. It was the intensity of their Hamburg surroundings and the pressure to play with maximum energy that gave them their tightness and competence.
So when they were just starting out in Hamburg two years previously they were much more ramshakle than this radio session. If anything the radio session gives an indication of the character and quality that Hamburg gradually endowed upon them as they toiled night after night, hour after hour, for hours on end. By late 1962, and after two years of slog, they became a powerhouse.
How they sounded in the Cavern & all the other clubs we saw them at in Liverpool & area!
Great stuff, and nice work from Pete Best!
Pete Best was all over the place on the Decca audition, this recording, he is very passable, but obviously George Martin wasn't impressed and was happy they kept Pete for their live shows but wanted to use a session drummer for the recordings.
I just loved it just as Good The Early Beatles At The BBC. 62
Please Mister Postman kicks butt! Excellent!
I heard another live of the BBC recording with the Peat Best and the Beatles it was a half an hour long on RUclips.
man i have fallen into a rabbit hole
Don't fall to deep Sir.
They sound much better here than at Decca. Especially McCartney.
Yes this is close to how they would have sounded live.
The demo was just that, a collection of songs they knew well enough to be able to record quickly in minimal time, but were of high quality as they were studio recordings.
2 stand out as good, like dreamers do and besame mucho.
The rest seem like little effort was made
Aha. The Decca audition was a huge important opportunity for them. This was it!! An audition at a big record company! The jangling nerves are truly palpable. I've been a performing musician for 40 years and very sensitive to music so listening to the Decca stuff makes me feel quite uncomfortable at times. Lennon sounds nervous and vulnerable but is a real trooper nonetheless. Paul...oh Paul...oh sheez... Paul is overcompensating and sounds on the verge of sheer panic huh. Secretly quite highly strung in nature anyway, at times during the audition he's trying way too hard...all that overdramatic hammy Elvis impersonating, instead of taking nice slow relaxing deep breaths and finding his true voice. If I were unkind I'd call his Decca performance a "cringe fest".
Oddly, it's the young "quiet shy one" - George - who plays swaggering lead guitar and seems quite confident on vocals, breezing sweetly through Take Good Care, and injecting some fun sly humour into Sheik of Araby. Is it just me, or is George the only one who sounds like he's actually enjoying himself?!
Luv and blessings from North Yorkshire (even more northern than scousers :)
@@uberbeast113 In show business, it's a "trouper," not a "trooper.
Very steady!
I think "Memphis Tennessee" is probably the best recorded example of Pete's early drumming style. It's on beat, and powerful. In other early recordings (well, at least one session anyway that I know of) Pete had had his bass drum removed as it overwhelmed the recording equipment, so you really didn't get the "Atom Beat" that he had become known for. But it comes through in Memphis Tennessee here.
He's ATOMIC BEAT........ MR. BEST
I think Pete's drumming was pretty good on Please Mr. Postman, too. I always found the LP version to be a little too restrained and sanitized than this version.
Caveman drumming 🤣🤣
Listening to the 2nd song while reading this made me have a good minute or so of laughter 🤣🤣
That's what it's all about man, great stuff
do you guys know who was singing in the 1st song? it sounds so "different"
@@FeelingShred It was Paul. A very young Paul.
wow! great find
lovely
They really came together with Ringo a year later.
This is the way they should release this. As a 'Radio Debut Program' remixed.
Thank you for posting this. A great historic recording. One thing that stands out is that the Beatles did not sound distinctive until they played their own song. Otherwise, they were a superb cover band, if you wanted a group that could sound like the original in terms of the vocals and guitars.
Where on earth are your ears?? One of the Beatles most outstanding qualities was their ability to take somebody's composition and give it truly unique treatment and double the energy, and make it their own. Have you heard the Isley Brother's "Twist and Shout"? They took Some Other Guy and transformed it from a cool swinging groove a la Ray Charles into a fervent sweaty rock powerhouse played at breakneck speed. Rock And Roll Music is also rather different to the original. They became Hamburg's biggest and best thing doing exactly this - blasting out covers with new fresh in yer face energy...while very occasionally slipping in their own songs bit by bit.
One of my least favourite performances on the Star Club gig recording is I Saw Her Standing There which just seems to dawdle along compared to the comparatively ecstatic performances of Red Hot, Long Tall Sally etc (seems they got it together for PPM album - lose that pointless harmonica and up the tempo et voila - exuberance incarnate!).
They did a version of Over the Rainbow. Again, I doubt you'll ever hear them sounding like the original Dorothy in the Wizard Of Oz. :p
@@uberbeast113 Thank you for the correction. I will have to check out those originals vs. The Beatles covers.
@@PhilKelley Well will you look at that. Someone emotionally mature enough to realise his temporary shortcomings and no touchy delicate pride at risk of public ruination. Thanks me. Then honours me by telling me I've inspired the desire to research and learn. Doesn't get all paranoid by my jokey condescending reference to The Wizard of Oz.
An awesome example of easy natured humility and grace.
Take note, all you butthurt wannabe Beatle know-it-alls and inflexible Pete Best apologists. The route to truth and real knowledge is smoother when you can admit you don't know something and may be in error.
Phil I wish you many happy auditory experiences and auspicious meetings with awesome spirits.
Best regards, Phil "Uberbeast" F******y (UK)
@@uberbeast113 You set me on a real adventure. I found a table of all of the songs the Beatles covered on Wikipedia, which includes a reference to the original. Wow! This is going to take a while to listen to them all - Beatles covers vs. originals. Thank you for your guidance on this. I have been a Beatles fan since Meet The Beatles came out (surprisingly, my mother bought the album and introduced us to the Beatles). I knew a lot of the songs on that album were covers, but had not taken the time to check out the originals on some of them. My view of the Beatles as a cover band is being totally revised.
@@PhilKelley I'd like to join you on that adventure as I have only heard a few of the original tracks that The Beatles clearly loved so much. I've heard enough to recognise a formula which seems to be: take original. Inject amphetamines mixed with alcohol and sweat. Increase tempo. Mach schau. :)
Thanks a lot for sharing this rare pearl, my friend! All the best and keep on rockin' !
Again... thank you for the audio clip, High Deaf... and for the Boston 1966 (Suffolk Downs). :-)
Wow... how they had progressed from this [and The Quarrymen & Silver Beetles]... and mid-way into their career, to "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966)... to "Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / In The End".
This must be live in Manchester 1962
The only records accessibles with Pete on drums, considering the live recording in the Cavern that is held by Sir Paul.
There's also the Decca auditions which you can find here on RUclips
@@imthatcook5355 It's true, but I mean live recordings in front of an audience.
Who's singing in the first song? It sounds so... uhm... "different" to what we're used when we think of Beatles.
@@FeelingShred it's Paul
@@djdomato wow, interesting... Paul is so versatile... I'm just learning about the Beatles history and I feel so guilty that I preemptively judged McCartney all these years, the dude really is a musical genius with perfect pitch and all that (despite not knowing how to read music in terms of "theory" but he "feels" music) The dude was really mistreated while in the Beatles huh... just goes to show that people do not appreciate "good, honest, psychologicaly stable" people, they love to be used and abused by john lennon types. Holy crap, sorry McCartney, I'm really sorry
They sound a lot better (more experienced and/or less nervous) than on the Decca audition
Better than Decca but Paul is still trying to sound like Roy Orbison and Pete is terrible as usual.
Tough for a singer to concentrate with Pete making that racket back there.
What a different band with Ringo
@@mangomonkey6938 pete was fine dont be a sheep if he was so bad why did they get so far with him???
@@nsantorelli7794 I'm working currently and can't take the time to respond now, but I will tonight. 😃
Or soon, at any rate. Work is CRUSHING me!
@@mangomonkey6938 How predictable that you wouldn't reply, because you got nothin'! Pete was a terrific drummer--his Beatle bandmates sacked him over petty jealousies. Disgraceful. smh
@@Cosmo-Kramer
Thank you for the rude reminder.
I need nothing but the facts. Pete was a lousy drummer. His timing was dreadful and his fills were repetitious and mediocre. He was a pounder with no subtlety or creativity. When they could find no other drummer, Pete was in, and when mach shau was the order of the day, his bombastic style was acceptable but he clearly was not a good drummer and he certainly did not improve at the same rate as the others. If his popularity was a factor with the others it was only icing on the cake of their discontent. He wasn't a friend and he wasn't a virtuoso - he had nothing to offer them - and history has illustrated that his absence was the final ingredient in their success.
The fact that they were so successful - the most successful pop band in history - proves that.
dream baby and picture of you. never released in album official.
Effin guy with the tribal drumming....slamming!
baaaaaaa
pete sounded great here clearly he was more than adequate......
He does sound good here, but he's not exactly doing anything creative either. He was good, but limited
@@calebsankey6945 so was ringo martin didnt want him either lol
@@nsantorelli7794 No, George Martin didn't want to take any risks. His exact words in The Beatles anthology interview with him were that he didn't even know who Ringo was and had already booked Andy White for the session, someone who he definitely knew could get the job done at the time. It wasn't because he thought Ringo was bad, it was because he literally didn't know him yet. Once again, Ringo >>> Pete
@@calebsankey6945 McCartney isn't doing anything special whatsoever on the bass either....I suppose he's a hopless case as well?
@@retrogorilla Because playing bass was all he could do, right? Nevermind the years of friendship and songwriting him and John had by this time! Oh wait... His bass playing is solid too 😜
Pete sounds like Mo Tucker here..like early Velvets.
Mo keeps better time.
How do you mean? Mo Tucker seems to me very much a "feel" drummer, very primal, tribal...more than a great technician. Best was no technical virtuoso either, but he also had sod all feel for the music. Always feels like he's barely able to keep up, in other words he was very much carried by the energy of the other three. It's very likely that between 1960 and '62 Lennon became the piledriving relentless bulldozer of a rhythm player to make up for the lack of energy coming from the drums
He sounds like if I had discovered the Velvet Underground in junior high and said "I'll just drum like Moe Tucker" and kept at it for like a week
Why don't universal records release this on CD?
Pete sounds like he's playing on a packing case.
hello. first, thank you for your posts. you had posted rehearsals of john coltrane, i wanted to listen to them again but i can't find them. please have you deleted this post? could you please repost this repeat? thank you in advance .best regards from france
They would not have made it with out Ringi,sad but true
What was the recording date for the second show? Not noted.
Did any other group pick up Pete Best? He sounds ok on Sweet Dream, but His work on Memphis is pretty messy.
Straight after The Beatles he joined Lee Curtis All Stars, then later formed his own group The Pete Best Band
Pete Best for ever 😎 Ringo Never 👎🏽
The original will always be Best.
I see what you did there. And I agree. So do Lennon and Harrison, who each let it slip that they deemed The Beatles to be at their absolute peak during Pete's two years.
@@pinksax They're nerds, who relate to the nerdy Ringo stealing the handsome jock's place in the band. Pathetic.
Alguien x favor me puede decir cómo se llama la última canción muchas grasias.
se llama A Picture of you
its such a shame that this recording is in such a poor state, pete best seems to be at his apex here whereas all other recordings of him drumming with the beatles seem to be half-assed. here he rips it the fuck up
I think the difference is the following. With Kaempfert in '61, Bert didn't care for loud rock 'n roll and wouldn't let Pete use his full kit. At Decca on New Year's Day in '62, Pete and the lads were hungover, had just driven 10 hours to the audition, and were forced to play songs they didn't want to play. Additionally, there were major tech problems with the equipment, and they didn't know how to record Pete's normal drumming, which he consequently toned down for them. And at the June of '62 EMI audition, George Martin abruptly changed the arrangement of, "Love Me Do", telling Pete to use a different drum pattern than the one he'd been playing the song with in the clubs and rehearsals all along. So it threw him off in that one take Martin provided to Anthology. But if you talk to the engineers working the audition, they were fine with Pete. Norman Smith said, *"The problem wasn't with how Pete was playing, but rather what he was being asked to play with the new arrangement, which was a terrible arrangement."* And the other engineer that fateful day, Ken Townsend, said, *"I didn't see any reason why Pete should be replaced with a session pro."*
@@Cosmo-Kramer And yet...despite what certain people may have said all those years ago - any good creative passionate musician knows that in all the recorded music featuring Best on drums there is not one moment where something he does makes the ears prick up or get the heart beating. It is lame.
@@uberbeast113 There are no recordings of Ringo drumming for any band during, or before, Pete's two-year tenure as The Beatles' drummer. Don't compare Ringo on your favorite Beatles songs with Pete on low-quality recordings from when they weren't yet famous and had no real experience in the studio.
@@Cosmo-Kramer my go-to comparison is Pete Best circa mid '62 v R Starr circa late '62 @ Star Club eg Red Hot and Long Tall Sally. Ringos drumming is power house. Best not in the same league
@@Cosmo-Kramer Good sir, I've played music inc drums since pre teen 1982. Whether recordings are hi or lo fi...musicianship and energy shines through. Some of my favourite performances are extremely grainy lo fi bootleg tape recordings of Mahavishnu Orchestra from the early 70s, for example.
Pete Best was Lars Ulrich's biggest inspiration and influence.
Best finds one single approach per song and plays it through from beginning to end. The overall effect is a wall of noisy sound. Not nearly as creative or unpredictable as Ringo Starr. Starr incorporated air and silence into his beats.
That galloping beat on Postman....oh find another drummer quickly!
Petes drumming was a bit erratic and too loud also speeding up in Mr Postman. He would have done better to muffle the drums with varying amounts of blankets inside. Ask Me Why was much better.
This clearly lays to rest that Pete was not a good drummer. He, and the rest of the band, sound fantastic. Notable is his subtle drumming on ask me why
Thanks for pointing that out. His drumming on Ask me why sounds talented.
Who is singing?
It just said at the end of the first song John Lennon on vocals
Paul on dream baby and besame mucho, George on picture of you
Pete on lead vocals
From about 1:16 to 1:28 is horrendous. Pete has some interesting ideas, but he can’t execute them. He frequently overplays, and messes up the end of his fills. He also rushes the hell out the end of Please Mr. Postman, starting at 5:57. They got noticeably tighter when Ringo came along.
Best sometimes sounds like he’s hitting the drums with metal pipes.
Only sometimes?
Best is OKAY.......... AS A DRUMMER
sound quality is awful. could not say who plays good or bad in this lol
I agree and the early Beatle repetoir was different.They played more cover hits who were popular at that time. So it's difficult to judge
sound is good enough to hear that best got shafted big time
@@nsantorelli7794 Band members get kicked out all the time, that's how the business works, what makes Pete so special? He still had a good life post-Beatles. Ringo was THE band member, history has shown that, the chemistry, the popularity, the drumming creativity, all of it. History has proven that. Was Pete good? Yes. Just not good enough, which sucked for him (for a time at least)
It wasn't Bests inability to play that lost him his job.
Pete best did record that lies
Best appears to be a fine person however the beat throughout is somewhat ponderous........his replacement was more accomplished......in my opinion....
Pete's timing isn't too awfully bad but it has no fills or rolls no changes the same thing all the way through no pausing or cymbal or hi-hat work very plain sorry mr. Best but I would have replaced you with Ringo also
I know very little about drumming but on the first and second track the drumming seems to be overwhelming the rest of the sound. As someone mentioned, Mo Tucker style from the Velvet Underground. Maybe that sound could have worked but that's not what they were aiming for surely.
I wonder to what extent Best was fired for his technique rather than his personality
The real obvious one is on Ask Me Why. Ringo's fills helped make the song.
Here's my humble take for what it's worth .. first cha cha boom was corny. Second.. they were all rough at the beginning. Third.. nothing against Ringo, I saw him with his all star band and they were good. However, had they kept Pete, he would have grown with the rest of them professionally. Anyway, Pete was Best and Ringo was a Starr.😂❤🎸🎸🎸🥁🎹🎤
Give me a break with all the pro Pete comments; there’s a reason John, Paul, & George replaced Mr Best, who surely did not live up to his name, with Liverpool’s best R&R drummer at that time, Ringo Starr…I’ve been listening to & studying the music of The Beatles for most of my 65 years on the planet and nothing Pete Best ever played with them impressed me or held my interest…he was mediocre at BEST…the recording engineer in Hamburg took his bass drum away because his coordination was so erratic which explains the lack of bottom on those recordings, the engineer at Decca said he wasn’t good enough to record, and, thinking Pete was still in the band, George Martin hired session drummer Andy White…but here’s my bottom line…if you have an opinion about Pete Best you better be a musician (I am) every musician familiar with Pete’s recordings with The Beatles that I’ve asked ‘would you want him in your band?’ all gave an emphatic ‘NO’; he may have been a handsome fella back in the day & a nice guy but he was not a very good drummer
@@pinksax nonsense? I think not…George Martin, The Beatles producer, said Pete was not good enough; what else do you need to know?
@@pinksax so Mr Martin was lieing when discussing this on The Anthology? I don’t need to read anything to know Pete was, to quote Lennon, a crap dummer; I have ears and can hear that he was not very good…the only reason we’re still discussing The Beatles 60 years down the pike is their unparalleled success with Ringo as their drummer…but forget all that…I have been a professional musician for over 50 years and based on Pete Bests’s recordings with The Beatles, I would never have him in my band…are you a musician? if not, what is your opinion based on? peace out brotha
If this recording is after the failed Decca audition, the Beatles drummer here is NOT Pete Best!
What a peculiar statement. The Decca was January 1, 1962. Pete was sacked August 16th, some 8 months later. You're way off, pal.
i have to ask if pete was so bad then why was the audience scraming and clapping?? also were there articles or reviews in england back then calling for a new drummer???
Pete Best wasn't bad, he was one of the best drummers in two cities (Hamburg and Liverpool). He was far and away the most popular Beatle, and to answer your last question, no, of course there weren't any calls by the press for a new Beatles drummer. Such thinking would've been absurd--Pete's signature Atom Beat *defined* The Beatles sound, and took them from being a bum band when he joined to the hottest ticket in two cities just 4 months later. He was sacked over petty jealousies, nothing else. Disgusting.
@@Cosmo-Kramer thank u!! finally someone not on their knees for ringo etc....it is pathetic and disgusting...pete forever!!!
@@nsantorelli7794 Yes! All you Ringo apologists out there ought to listen to n santorelli--he knows the score.
Estan sordos jaja Pete es PESIMO comparado con Ringo y ademas no era amigo de los chicos
La audiencia aplaude por las vocales, nada mas
Anyone who thinks Pete could play drums should get their hearing and sanity checked. Just muddy cacophony to me, versus the world’s most tasty drumming from Ringo. Every thing else on this tape is clear, the drums are muddy and the beat is inconsistent, there are no cymbals heard, and the BBC knew how to set microphones and do a mix. They tried to bury Pete. Didn’t use enough dirt if you ask me.
Yes where were the cymbals???
worlds most tasty drumming? LMAO
It's a little extreme to say that he couldn't play drums--I would say that he could play drums, but not as well as he could have, and certainly not as good as Ringo.
@@zmiru why? cymbals are not needed here.
With the lousy drummer John would say , well after all Pete had not any kind of contract
Ridicules drumming, speeds up, slows down, plays some measures with a straight beat and then at times goes to a back beat for a measure, or half measure even, which is the sign of a drummer who doesn't listen to whats going on, a bad drummer and a drag on any band he played in. Not impressed and exhausted by old B.S.
Chris Hughes are you a drummer?
@@martindumas4572 Why? Don't need to be to hear what's going on, but yes I play drums, guitar, piano, and also trumpet competitively from age 12 to 17, so I know my way around a time signature and Pete was bad in my opinion, but not just my opinion I guess, but others as well. I won't debate so don't waste your or my time, don't like my opinion? Ignore it then. Just an random opinion.
@@chrishughes5049 you are not the only one. I am a musicion as wel for over 25 years. I played in lots of bands and yes I played the role of Ringo as wel. I don't criticize you or other musicians, but I think it's boring to hear the same story. Don't forget if you are a real Beatles fan Pete is also a part of Beatles history!!!
@@martindumas4572 Well, Pete does alright and it must have been tough at the time, but if he was really invested in the project and showed a willingness to improve or accept constructive criticism(from all the other band members and Tony Sheridan) he might be actually doing something today. Pick up gigs done to relive the past not included....he is a part of history, not sure if it is as a part of the Beatles though really. More for NOT being a Beatle or almost a beatle or whatever. Yeah yeah yeah. Ringo was a drummer, Pete had a drum kit and made a noise with them and not a very satisfying one. Just how I hear it. cheers
Chris Hughes Okay I am sorry. Maybe I was a little bit rude and I agree that Ringo was a more professional drummer but the sound quality is so poor you can hardly hear Pete. If you listen to Roy Orbison's Dream baby Paul's bass intro was way to fast. As a drummer you can't make it sound right. If you listen to Money version with Pete Best at Decca, not the remastered version but on the raw unpolished tape Pete's version rocks more than Ringo's. But that"s my opinion.
Cheers mate.👍
boy he really sucked no wonder they fired him
Pete sounds awful. Boom boom boom