Was Pete Best really that bad of a drummer?

i actually thought this take sounded more like "Beatle drums" than anything Joe English ever played. I always though he was more poppy, lots of discoesque style. Bonham laid down a rock groove. I really like the outtake.

 

I have wondered that too. My hunch is that he declined. Didn't Lewisohn have a falling out with Apple at some point and that is why he hasn't done liner notes for anything 'official' lately"

 

Not a falling out with Apple. Mark knew that he was going to be doing the definitive Beatles biography, and he didn't want any conflicts of interest. So Mark, himself, no longer wanted to be seen as working for Apple (even as a freelancer). He did meet with Neil Aspinall and would have done further interviews with Neil, had not Neil died. And Mark also acknowledged that he asked Paul a few questions that needed some clarification (this is mentioned in the Acknowledgments section of Tune In). So there is NO bad blood between Mark and Apple. They get along relatively fine.

 

Sounds like the cover band doesn't know any English! They get marks for having a left-handed Paul though, and the John sounds pretty good other than his pronunciation of words.

He's the only drummer on that particular song ("My Bonnie")...the toms aren't miked.

 

I don't think we're hearing any of Pete's drumming in that clip. There are 2 drummers, and if you watch what Pete plays, virtually none of it seems to be audible.

Pete might be a decent drummer these days, but that clip gives us no clue about how well he can play...

 

The idea that there was some sort of drumming that Ringo Starr could do but Andy White could not is preposterous.

 

The Beatles sure had quite a strong local following in those days for a band with "a lousy drummer..."

 

Randolf's Party must be about Pete Best. As far as the story about John Lennon visiting Mona Best to get medals, I am certain that that never actually happened.

 

I don't know that much about White or his work in general, but I do know that the drumming on his version of Please Please Me is significantly inferior to the drumming on Ringo's version. So on that particular song, Ringo apparently was capable of drumming in a manner that White was not (unless you're contending that White deliberately didn't play his best on his version). In addition to technical competence, great rock musicians have creativity... a unique style and feel that makes their playing distinctive and exciting. White's version has the former, but Ringo's version clearly outclasses him in the latter on this track.

 

That story comes from Pete himself. Are you suggesting he was lying?

 

Pete Best is a much better drummer than Dave Clark. Dave Clark was a terrible drummer. He has not played drums since Dave Clark & Friends broke up in 1973. He has claimed at various times that he was injured in a
tobogganing accident, although at other times he claimed it was skiing. Bobby Graham provided the drumming on DC5 records recorded before 1968 (with a small number of exceptions). All of the US top 40 hits feature Bobby Graham on drums.

 

The story was not in Pete Best's first biography, which was co-written by Patrick Doncaster. Also, it should be remembered that in 1967, Pete was still living with Mona, and there would have been a good chance had Lennon come to the house, Pete himself would have answered that door. It does seem like Pete is lying here yes.

 

Good one! we can only imagine another scenario, but it is fun!

 

As far as I recall, John did NOT go in person to pick up the medals from Mona. He sent a chauffered car to get them.

 

I want to believe

 

That is not quite true. Dave was an adequate drummer. I belong to a DC5 facebook page where Ron Ryan is also a member. If anyone should have a beef with Dave, it's Ron. Ron has stated that he saw the DC5 live in concert many times and Dave was up to the task.

 

I just looked again at Pete Best's 2nd Autobiography (the one he wrote with Bill Harry) and I cannot find any mention of this. Notice how the main participants (John Lennon, Mona Best) are both deceased. Also it should be remembered that Mona and John Best had a terrible marriage and John had moved out several years prior to 1967, making it highly unlikely that such a medal would be in the house. Also, it is impossible for me to picture Mona Best relinquishing such a thing. The whole story is ridiculous IMO.

 

DC5 scholar John Briggs is certain that Dave Clark used a studio drummer behind a curtain at several DC5 concerts.

 

The Pete Best Combo recorded a song called "I Wanna Be There" which later became "Pete's Theme." However, it does seem to me that "Nowhere Man" is about Pete Best, although "Think For Yourself" is even more likely.

 

[QUOTE

That wasn't going to apply to the other three - AFAIK, Martin never threatened to bring in session players to play for John, Paul or George - so it's clear that Pete was the weak link there.
.[/QUOTE]
Using this logic, clearly Ringo Starr was also a "weak link" in the band.

 

Using this logic, clearly Ringo Starr was also a "weak link" in the band. [/QUOTE]

It's inclear if Whoever it was that hired Andy White ever heard Ringo. Clearly they saw no further need for a session drummer after that one session.

In fact, Ringos version was the one that was ultimately releases.

With Pete though it was clear he was not wanted on the tracks at all.

 

I don't know about live, but it's obviously Bobby Graham drumming on the all the DC5's hit records. His style is distinctive and easily recognizable. That's him on the early Kinks hits too.

 

Ringo likes him.

 

The medals had belonged to Mona Best's father (Major Thomas Shaw), not her husband.

Why would Pete make up such a story? Lennon is wearing antique medals on the album cover. You're suggesting Pete saw them, and just decided to lie and claim they'd belonged to his grandfather? Why would he do that, particularly when he would risk getting caught? Just because Lennon is dead, if the medals came from somewhere else then there would likely be someone who knew the real source and could debunk his story.

 

In The Beatles: The True Beginnings book by Roag Best, on page 181, there is a photo of the medals:

See:
https://books.google.com/books?id=wMpqf50EfJkC&pg=PA181&lpg=PA181&dq=lennon medals pepper mona&source=bl&ots=RCC9nye2iJ&sig=ehwwvZ6xJyPpryL5EtsF2ecT5Ak&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBGoVChMI8oasjM3ZxwIVi2g-Ch1mLQ3x#v=onepage&q=lennon medals pepper mona&f=false