Ringo... a horrible drummer? | Page 7 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Phil Collins and Ringo Starr share a lot in common, in fact…  both are left-handed (although Ringo doesn’t set his kit up like the conventional leftie)…  they appear to prefer to play alongside another drummer in tandem…  the pair also don’t get enough credit for their skillsets either, in my opinion…

I knew about Phil playing percussion on the ‘All Things Must Pass ‘ album but only learned recently about this story where George “thanks” him during the final year of his storied life:

http://www.rollingstone.com/mu…..s-20160401

Nice to see that George kept his keen sense of humour right up until the end…  I seem to remember George poking a little fun at Ringo during one of the ‘Anthology’ extra videos where The Threatles were listening to the original ‘Tomorrow Never Knows ‘ tracks…  he said something about “it’s Phil Collins on the drums”…:-)

The Paul recording overtop of Ringo’s drumming “rumours” likely started after Peter Brown’s book was released…  Brown claims that Paul had been critical of Ringo’s drumming to the point that he had re-recorded some of his work after everybody had gone home…  It’s hard for anybody to know what really happened when it’s been The Beatles’ policy all along to take the high road when discussing their inner conflicts…  I can see there being some truth to these “rumours”, not because I think that Paul is a jerk or anything, but because of his relentless pursuit in achieving the vision that he had for his songs…  We do know that something happened in late August 1968 to spark Rings to split from the group, something likely bigger than his “I wasn’t happy with my playing” (there’s “the high road” for you) explanation from the ‘Anthology’, and these “rumours” would seem to fit in a little better…  Ringo’s wife Maureen had said in an interview somewhere that when he came home from work after quitting the band, he was clearly angry with Paul…  She didn’t say anything about Ringo not being happy with his own drumming…

I believe that ‘Back In The U.S.S.R.’ was the song that they were working on before Ringo split, a song that Paul plays drums on…  It’s not the same scenario where Ringo wasn’t around for the bed tracks to ‘Dear Prudence ‘ and Paul had to fill-in, there was most certainly a problem between the two of them for ‘Back In The U.S.S.R.’…  now, whether this is because Paul took it upon himself to cover up Ringo’s tracks while he was out?…  we’ll probably never know…  I’ve posted the original drum track of Paul playing on ‘Dear Prudence ‘ here before and the tremendous fills towards the end are absent and were clearly done afterwards…  You say, Ludwig, that “we’d be able to tell if it was Ringo or not” and I absolutely agree with this…  there’s no paper trail for the overdub, but we do know that it happened and we can tell who’s playing on it…  Perhaps there’s no paper trail here because Ringo gave Paul a taste of his own medicine and laid it down after he went home to bed…:-)

I just have to say btw that this thread was not meant as “Ringo sucks!”, but a thread where his drumming is open to debate. What is good, what is bad about it… etc?tkj said

Getting back to the original poster’s mindframe here, I thought that I’d ask myself this “what is bad about it”? question and honestly was hard pressed to find anything “bad about it”…  My only real complaint is that he doesn’t play anymore without the backing of atleast one other drummer…  I can’t remember the last time that I’ve seen him play without somebody else there, it’s not only been years but decades…  It’s at the point where the other drummer(s) even look like they’re working harder than him and he just kinda sits there and smiles a lot…  playing along instead of dictating the flow which was, I believe, the chief reason that The Beatles employed him in the first place over Pete Best…  Ringo was always in the driver’s seat with The Beatles and not just a passenger like Pete was…

There could be reasons for this and the obvious one would be his age, but I don’t think that that’s it…  anyone who sees him nowadays almost always remarks on how fit he looks…  he really is an anomaly at his age, and it’s not just his looks…  his energy is that of someone half his age…  I think that it’s more about his confidence…  whether it’s because a sizable chunk of drummers today don’t seem to acknowledge his skillset and pass him off as too simplistic, I’m sure he’s heard the talk over the years…  he’s also observed how the world of drumming has changed over the years, whether it’s the double-kick speed metal, progressive rock inventiveness or technological advances, etc., and doesn’t feel as though he’s kept up…  I remember a George Harrison interview from the 80’s where he confessed that “Ringo Never Practices”…  The Beatles were ALWAYS working so he didn’t need to practice…

I feel as though that when he drums live now he’s almost become this “prop” (for lack of a better word) that’s just brought onstage for people to see, not hear (something that he’d previously complained about when The Beatles played live in Stadiums)…  when he’s singing he sounds as good as he always has…  but whether he’s drumming or singing now, it’s very clear that he still genuinely enjoys himself…  the smiles are as authentic as his legendary recorded works with The Beatles and beyond…:-) 

Is he technically the best drummer ever? No.

Do other drummers play with more feeling/emotion? Possibly.

Was he a great timekeeper? Probably.

Am I basing the above statements on fact? Not at all.

Was he a perfect fit for the Beatles? Yes.