TV/Movies Megathread

[mongers]

'Self Reliance' - nice entertaining little film, a good premise with Anna Kendrick (spelling?).

[Valmy]

Ringo was there and maybe the better drummer of him and Pete Best, I do not really have a frame of reference.

Yes he was a better drummer than Pete Best.  Best got the job because his Mom owned a club where the band played.
Ringo got the job because he fit in with the group and was the best rock drummer in Liverpool in 1962.

Another thing that blew my mind from Get Back was how Ringo just sort of sat there at his drum kit ready to go and no matter how much the other guys were fucking around he was always locked in. He was drumming on those songs that came into existance just a day or two ago as if he had been playing them his whole life it was crazy.

Or maybe it isn't crazy and any pro drummer in a major band could easily do that. Maybe John Bonham could have done what Ringo did but much better. I don't know. But it seemed amazing to me. I thought writing these songs was a painful and difficult process of trial and error but the Beatles seemed to make it look...easy. I mean it still took them days to do it but still, just needing a few days to lock down "Let it Be" just blew my mind.

On the other hand Billy Preston wasn't in the band and he showed up and basically did the same thing. So it could just be that is just how musicians who are really good operate.

Still I was impressed by his talent and ability for what it is worth.

[Valmy]

Seriously. I thought it was John Goodman playing Goering at first.

[grumbler]

Seriously. I thought it was John Goodman playing Goering at first.

More recent pictures show Crowe as having lost a lot of the weight he put on for the role. He's still pretty hefty, though.

[The Minsky Moment]

On the other hand Billy Preston wasn't in the band and he showed up and basically did the same thing. So it could just be that is just how musicians who are really good operate.

Still I was impressed by his talent and ability for what it is worth.

Billy Preston was also a very fine musician and IMO the one person who truly merits the label of "Fifth Beatle"

There's a school of thought that the role of the drummer is to play the time and get it right and not screw around with varying pulses or fancy fills and solos. I associate it with Lennny Tristano but that's a pretty obscure reference - Joe Morello who played with Brubeck also had the same view.

On that school of thought, Ringo was an A tier drummer: an experienced professional who could play a variety of beats and tempos and stay rock solid on time.  And in a band like the Beatles who became very experimental with composition and orchestration and where Paul and George became increasingly adventurous on bass and lead, having someone like that was exactly what the band needed. Play covers of Chuck Berry, no problem. Merseyside pop, sure. Adding in Indian influenced drones, go right ahead.  Mix in all the crazy studio effects you want, Ringo will keep in on track.  Insert an entire orchestra playing wild dissosnant chords?  He literally won't miss a beat.

So sure he might not have the full chops of a Ginger Baker, but that misses the point.