Here is a new podcast we hope fans of Sneaky Dragon will enjoy. We seem to spend a lot of time discussing the Beatles on the show – we all know that Dave is a super-fan – so we thought we’d spend some time discussing each album – in order – and each song – ma-a-aybe in order – and get down to what is really right, which is that the Beatles were the greatest band OF ALL TIME!
The show will be appearing here and on iTunes every two weeks until we run out of albums.
This week, we begin at the beginning with Please Please Me, the Beatles first album and their first two singles, “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me”.
Thanks for listening.
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A couple things:
Ringo often gets put down for his lack of chops, but when Pete got the boot, the other three knew instantly who they wanted to replace him — “the best drummer in Liverpool.” Not because he was a technical whiz, but because they knew he had an amazing ability to get the right feel for any song, as George Martin acknowledged later.
John’s voice always had a ragged edge, a bit of rasp and sharpness to it. It got more or less prominent, due to forcing or his health at the time, but you can hear it on every record.
Studio lingo: “tracking” is recording parts, “sequencing” is ordering songs on an album.
Well done, guys, it’s really fun! Can’t wait for the rest.
Thanks, Marcus!
I would never put down Ringo as a drummer – I think he was an amazing, innovative drummer with a real feel for song dynamics. I do find it curious that there is no agreed upon reason for Best’s firing. There are lots of surmises, but no one has ever said a definitive reason why. However, Ringo’s contributions to the Beatles music and the Beatles image prove that the other Beatles were right to fire Best and bring in Starr. They could have handled it better though.
Mitch Murray was a successful commercial songwriter, who is still alive. Most of his songs are harmless sing-songy things, ear worms that lack the earthiness of Lennon and McCartney’s compositions.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Murray
George Martin wasn’t wrong to think “How Do You Do It” was a good song for The Beatles to do. It would have been perfectly acceptable in the context of early 60’s pop. However, his decision to go with the blunt “Northern-ness” of the plain-speaking “Love Me Do” over the glib, professionalism of Mitch Murray’s song was an epochal moment in pop music history.
Another example of George Martin’s exceptional handling of his young charges.
Ian has always been my favorite Dragon, but listening to the first Compleatly Beatles episode, I’m really warming up to David (AKA, “The Quiet Dragon”)! Fab job, boys!
Ian has always been my favourite Dragon too.
With regard to the firing of Pete Best, some of the more recent bios suggest it had a lot to do with a combination of a concern over limited talent and issues regarding him getting an undue amount of attention from the groupies for John’s and Paul’s liking.
Yes, as I quickly mentioned during the show (boy, does an hour go by fast when you’re talking abut The Beatles) there are many suppositions as to why Best was fired. Besides Lennon’s statement that they handled it very badly, I don’t believe that The Beatles have ever given a definitive reason. There was probably no definitive reason, but instead a combination of factors:
1) Some degree of jealousy about Best’s popularity with the girls. (However, I don’t think this was as major a factor in the decision as Goldman makes out in The Lives of John Lennon.)
2) He didn’t fit into the gang dynamic of the group (Chet Flippo in the Paul McCartney book Yesterday). John, Paul and George had been together for years as The Quarry Men and Silver Beetles, etc. and, in their two years together, Pete Best was never able to make himself part of the gang. Stu Sutcliffe suffered for the same reasons. He was constantly picked on by the other Beatles for his lack of playing chops. In fact, they liked him a lot better after he left the group in Hamburg. In some ways, Best didn’t try to fit in. He refused to cut his hair in the “exi” style that the other Beatles adopted (in imitation of Stu), for instance. The only reason Pete was in the band was because he had a set of drums when they needed a drummer to go to Hamburg the first time.
3) Mona Best, Pete’s mom, was closely linked to the group. She had given them money, managed the band, booked them at her own club (The Casbah) and had come to regard them as “Pete’s band” and their (limited) success as her doing. It linked Best to the past, which The Beatles were rapidly shedding. Others who had helped them and maybe held it over their heads a little were also spurned during this period (i.e., Bob Wooler).
4) He wasn’t the greatest drummer (despite the wrong-headed yet hilarious boosting of Albert Goldman). Listening to The Beatles at this early stage, one of the remarkable things is their lightning-fast progress from the sort of dull “Love Me Do” to the absolutely amazing “She Loves You” in six months. According to Martin, Best was barely passable when he played “Love Me Do” at the demo session. What could he have brought to “She Loves You”? Or later, to “Ticket to Ride” or “Rain” or any of the other fantastic bits of Ringo playing? (I know Martin still used session drummer Andy White on “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You”, but he didn’t know that Best had been fired. The Starr-version of “Love Me Do” was actually released as the single and the White-version is featured on the album Please Please Me.)
So I think when Martin mildly criticized Best’s playing, the other Beatles used that as an excuse to end a situation that was bound to end anyway. (It’s possible with Best (and his strong-willed mother) involved, the band would never had made the impact it did because it wouldn’t have lasted long enough.) They brought in the more sympathetic, relatively ego-free Starr, adding stability and better musicianship.
At least, that’s how I see it, but I probably think about these things way too much.
The bass/needle thing was interesting, I would have loved to hear more about that and the technical end of things in general (You could call it Tape Deck Talk!). Really enjoyed the episode, looking forward to more!
Questions:
1) Will former friend of the show and Beatlemaniac Alex Robinson make an appearance?
2) You Know My Name: Best Beatles Song, or Best Song Ever?
3) Where did the intro/outro music come from?
Hi Layne,
As we progress through the records we’ll have more technical aspects to talk about. The Beatles were incredibly innovative and also incredibly demanding so a lot of changes came about during their recording career. For the first two records though, everything was recorded onto two-track recorders so, besides over-dubs and edits, there wasn’t a lot of monkeying around.
Answers:
1) I would like that, but I haven’t asked him yet.
2) That is very subjective and, in terms of order of release, should be the last song we discuss, but I plan to talk about Get Back/Let It Be before Abbey Road because I it makes more sense of their recording career. Keep on listening and we’ll get to it!
3) The intro/outro music is an acapella version of I Am the Walrus by The Swingle Singers from their album Ticket To Ride. Isn’t it great how they include the King Lear section at the end of the song? “Sit you down, father.”
Glad you’re enjoying the show. With the Beatles will drop on Christmas Day! Something to mellow out to.
Maybe you like to listen to this video http://youtu.be/s66nhMsupI0
I would love to download the Complete Compleatly Beatles podcast series. Where can I get them? It keeps telling me there is a server problem? Thanks
Hi Matt,
It should be working now. Let me know if there is still a problem.
David
What a pair of fucking idiots. They know nothing.
Well, fine then we’re going to quit doing the podcast six years ago.
As a 100% devoted Sneaker, I feel the podcast has finally found its strapline!