Compare the witless clip-clop pulse he provides "Love Me Do" to Ringo's playing on "With the Beatles," and you'll never pity Best again.īeyond that, the set is filled out with live recordings and studio outtakes. Frankly, he was a mediocre drummer, lacking Ringo's flair for elegant fills and often unable even to keep steady time. One thing those recordings do explain, though, is why Pete Best got the boot. On the one hand, the Beatles are polished professionals by this point and have most of the characteristics we associate with the Beatles today on the other, their taste in material and jokey delivery suggest not England's New Sensation but merely an unusually talented novelty act. The Beatles' Decca demos, on the other hand, are rather less than the lost gems some fans might have imagined. In spite of the group's instrumental inadequacies, it's easy to hear potential in these performances. Where many fledgling musicians sound awkward trying to imitate their idols, the young John Lennon had Buddy Holly's hiccups and drawl down cold even better, Paul's harmony vocals are impressively smooth and assured. "That'll Be the Day," for instance, shows that their vocal acumen was in place from the first.
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