What would The Beatles have sound like without Ringo?....

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by coot, Aug 14, 2019.

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  1. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    I’ve not heard this stuff at this sound quality level. Fun.

    Best was an amateur, hobby drummer. In those days, if you had a set of drums (very expensive!), you were begged to play with some very good musicians. These Decca recordings illustrate how important Ritchie was to the Beatles sound. No wonder they didn’t get signed at this point. ( plus, they were essentially a cover band at this point)

    Having said that, if the Beatles had a seasoned pro drummer other than Ritchie they would have been fine. As someone else said, it’s always been about the songs they wrote and sang.
     
  2. AppleCorp3

    AppleCorp3 Forum Resident

    Well the good news is that we wouldn't know the difference :)

    I think Ringo added a lot to their sound. He also allowed them to be as versatile as they wanted to be. Keith Moon and John Bonham on Here There and Everywhere? Hal Blaine on Helter Skelter?

    Someone should post the version of Please Please Me with Andy White on drums for a good example of what they'd have sounded like with a studio drummer. I 100% agree with the person above taking about the Wrecking Crew. As much as I admire their abilities, I think they'd have changed the sound too much.

    Then of course is this family member of mine who has a close friend that plays drums. He constantly derides Ringo - right place/right time, lucky to hitch his wagon to 3 excellent musicians, songwriters and singers, etc. Of course neither of them can actually articulate why Ringo isn't a good drummer. According to them, keeping good time isn't important, it's that "he brought nothing to the table like Moon or Bonham." So....
     
  3. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    That guy is the kind of drummer who really can’t play.
     
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  4. AppleCorp3

    AppleCorp3 Forum Resident

    I've asked and I don't think he plays with anyone....just drums for himself I guess.
     
  5. Tom Perry

    Tom Perry Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
     
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  6. YardByrd

    YardByrd rock n roll citizen in a hip hop world

    Location:
    Europe
    There may be drummers I like better, but Ringo's toms sound better than anybody else's... both the tone and the patterns/fills... he still thrills me 40 years after purchasing my first Beatles LP...
     
    Two Sheds, blutiga and AppleCorp3 like this.
  7. drumandguitar

    drumandguitar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birkenhead UK
    Hallelujah my friend.

    And to answer the question, they would have been fine. Really. No I mean it. My Uncle Knobhead could have drummed for the Beatles and they would have still been a half decent pop band.
     
    Record Rotator likes this.
  8. Eobard Thawne

    Eobard Thawne Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Or the Tony Sheridan stuff.
     
  9. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    Lots of other great drummers around back then...even in Liverpool. They'd manage.
     
  10. Exotiki

    Exotiki The Future Ain’t What It Use To Be

    Location:
    Canada
    Honestly I couldn’t care less about the tony Sheridan stuff as they were only backing band. Important historically? Sure. Worth repeated listens or to pad out a SDE. Absolutely not
     
  11. coot

    coot Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Thanks for asking...instead of a perfect ten without Ringo I would put them at a nine. If the Beatles were the only ten ever in pop music
    they would join the lowly likes of the Stones , Pink Floyd and the Who...:hide::biglaugh:move along little doggie:wiggle:
     
    Chemguy likes this.
  12. AppleCorp3

    AppleCorp3 Forum Resident

    It's true, but that's not what I think the OP is asking.

    There's no doubt that with the amount of talent the front line possessed they'd have been huge - but what would their sound have changed?

    Personally I think the answer is yes it would have. I don't see Ringo as so easily interchangeable. I'm not saying you do, either.
     
  13. greenscreened

    greenscreened Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Oh boy, I can just see it now...someone's gonna take it as a dare to find specific edited beats and fills from Tomorrow Never Knows, Strawberry Fields and Glass Onion, mash them up to Yesterday, as well as key fills and beats from Savoy Truffle, Sgt. Pepper LHCB, and I Am The Walrus and interject them into Eleanor Rigby, speed them up and slow them down as required, add them to the appropriate songs and then post them onto YouTube...poor Ritchie.

    .
     
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  14. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Well, actually you didn’t really answer your own question...the question isn’t what score you’d give them, it’s what would they have been like without Ringo.

    They probably would have sounded a bit more pedestrian, I think. Ringo was distinct.
     
    blutiga likes this.
  15. blutiga

    blutiga Forum Resident

    Yeah pedestrian is a good description. I think J,P &G have basically answered this question in so many words themselves. When he sat in with them before he officially joined, they knew they sounded better. Much better. Ringo swung. He fitted their personalities, but he bought something unique to the feel and dynamics of the music. He was the right drummer, at the right time, in the right place, with the right people. Destiny.
     
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  16. TFEC

    TFEC Opinion Holder

    Glad I never heard the Come Together on then, because I would literally have died of laughter!
     
    51IS likes this.
  17. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    we'll never know...LOL.
     
  18. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    would have been superior...
     
    beatleroadie likes this.
  19. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    WOW! that's hysterical...yea, RINGO was the Beatles the other 3? they were his back up band! LOL...yea they couldn't write a song, sing, perform without him...of coarse you are joking. ; ) I know...
     
  20. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I know! song should have been scrapped but wait? didn't giles bring up the drums to the front? Ringo said he loves the remixes because he's on top of all...yea! Ring! LOL.
     
  21. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    ...he was a good drummer that fit well...but he really could not sing well...
     
  22. edrebber

    edrebber Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I think Ringo appealed to small children and old people. He was considered safe. He was amiable. He was the underdog that fans wanted to see succeed.
     
  23. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    Listen to the tracks where he's not playing. There are some.
     
  24. greenscreened

    greenscreened Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Yeah, but could he play them with his teeth?


    That's the first thought that came to mind when I read that line today (though I've known that fact for quite some time) and the more I thought of how impossible that would be and absurd that would look and I shouldn't dare to post that comment even with the best of intentions, I couldn't stop even laughing harder at the thought every time I stopped laughing previously (I guess I needed to laugh today).

    But then I thought, if the mood was right, I could see him doing it as a prank if someone casually brought up Jimi in between one of their takes.
    And the even funnier thing would be if it gave his drums a unique sound that fit the song, they'd coax him to do it for the whole song!
     
    AppleCorp3 likes this.
  25. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    yea laughing all the way to the bank and out living 2 of them...go Ringo! and considering he had a rough childhood health wise ...he did amazing.
     
    AppleCorp3 likes this.
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