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From: WaistDeepInBigMuddy
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  • decca said "this guys have not talent at all,this guys will never make it" and they changed music history. most famous rejection of all the time. the beatles left decca with their mouths open after they became the most famous and greatest band of all time.

  • I love the irony that last October, so close to the 50th anniversary of this audition, Paul McCartney FINALLY released an album on the Decca label!

  • Hello Badfinger1974!

    First of all, nice, that you noticed my comment on Norman Chapman.

    But like I've already said a million times; after listening to all the possible material and trying to be as objective as possible, I still find Ringo a lot better drummer in every aspect to Pete.

    However; in an intererview Horst Fascher had the same idea as you about Epstein. I found it possible too, that mr. Eppy himself wanted to be the only manager of The Beatles!

    All the best

    Jukka

  • i think this is better money version than it was in with the beatles

  • "To Know Her Is To Love Her" should have been used on Beatles For Sale

  • Great comment below on Norman Chapman...poor guy, had the break of all time being discovered by John, Paul and George while pounding the drums and then the unlucky moment of all time when he was about the last person drafted in the British army.

  • Ringo was the beat in the Beatles!

  • @MrScieman Very true... although this is not ringo playing... it's pete best.

  • @urwholefamilydied which, I think, is MrScieman's point.

  • Still the best R&R Group in history! Imho.

  • Hello egolas35653!

    Unfortunately truth is mean; based on these Decca sessions, the Polydor sessions and the Radio Bristol tapes Ringo was better in every sense and I've tried to be as bojective as possible. If I would find something to defend Pete, I would defenitely do that. And he talks this today and something else tomorrow like I've told in these discussions.

    And how would you feel your ex-bandmate calling you a liar (like Pete has about the others) for years?

    All the best

    Jrahde

  • Hello once again, wladwlad!

    And the late Lennon-McCartney too, doing a pretty good job!

    Besides, according to Philip Norman seriously considered hiring Ringo as a session drummer for Polydor, the most leading record company in the continental Europe at the time!

    All the best

    Jukka

  • Hello wladwlad!

    Well, in the Beatles records Ringo played; 1950's classics, early Lennon-McCartney, country, folk, soul, blues and jazz.

    Based on these tapes and records here Pete could only play the 1950s and 1960s classics and even them pretty awkwardly in general...

    All the best

    Jrahde

  • Hello vazquezagustin!

    Well, to be quite honest; when I've listened to these records and tapes, I have to say, that Ringo was better in every sense.

    But if Norman Chapman hadn't been drafted, we probably wouldn't have these discussions.

    Since; after the army he played rock and jazz at the Cavern..

    I know something about drumming and jazz is more difficult than rock...

    All the best

    Jrahde

  • PETE WAS THE BEST BUT RINGO A STAR

  • Hardly the same without Ringo

  • In my opinion, the simple drumming is what makes these songs good. Like Dreamers Do is so catchy.

  • Interesting. They sound OK - not world class. The drumming quality (or lack) shows most on Memphis. George shows more of his own vocal personality on Memphis than he does for a long, long time. Doesn't work well for that tune, though. I think the mellow stuff like "Anna go to him" would go well with George's voice, The vocals on "To know her..." aren't nearly a sharp as they are on the BBC tapes. I think Peet's drumming works OK on that that tune, though.

  • MicaelHansenFUN

    only reason he signed the Stones was because George Harrison suggested it.

  • Hello you all!

    The reason, why Pete Best became a part of the Beatles saga, is, that Norman Chapman got drafted and Paul hastedly hired the first drummer available!

    All the best

    Jrahde

  • Guitar groups are on the way IN

  • Face it---PETE SUCKS.

  • This sounds less like the Beatles than the stuff they did with Tony Sheridan a year earlier. It's as if they were holding back to be more "polite" - and just ended up sounding bland.No wonder they didn't get signed. They sound like any other third rate band on this recording.

  • @westbankal Im knocked out with the 'live' vocal performances.

  • @westbankal You are right to some degree, but a combination of very cold weather (it was a bad January day, actually New Year's Day if memory serves from many read-ups) and nerves took the edge of their performance. Don't forget, Money was a rocker of a song, but it don't come out rockin' on this. But for all that, I still like the session.

  • the man who rejected the beatles went on to sign the rolling stones

  • To Know Her Is To Love Her COVERED BY BON SCOTT OF AC/DC

  • @TheDiddlysquat there is an interview record where ringo denied that pete tried to sue him

    a few years ago, pete best did a show at a local bar in san jose california (bar closed down)

    i remember seeing a news clip (in either the 80's or 90's) which both interviewed Ringo and "Pete Best" (in parking lots) -all the publications claimed Pete was last seen working as a baker, and pete best confirmed in an interview (in a beard) that albert goldman got it right when they tried to mug a sailor

  • @MichaelHansenFUN - Pete tells the story about him and John mugging the sailor in his DVD about the early days with the group. As for being a baker, actually his job was loading slicing bread and loading it onto delivery trucks ... he didn't do this for very long. He became a civil servant and worked in an employment department for the government for about 20 years (until the late 1980s).

  • albert goldmans book claims paul sings in a voice that cries out for nasal inhailer

    kinda sounds like it

  • @TheDiddlysquat - How about defamation of character? A major publication prints a quote from Ringo Starr implying that Pete was a drug user ... this could have seriously affected Pete's ability to get a decent job. The fact that you couldn't think of this yourself is bewildering. You may not believe this was the reason, but you said the only thing you could think of for Pete's motive was cash.

  • @mkrobinson95 any info on pete and ringo lawsuit is new news to me

  • @TheDiddlysquat - " it would have been difficult for ringo to take the time out" ... now that's just plain silly. The case was filed in 1965 & it was settled FOUR years later: PLENTY of time. Seems like Ringo/The Beatles wanted to cut their losses and be done with it ... and chalk it up to a careless thing to say ... because they couldn't prove it. Seems if Pete had really be habitually absent, there would have been an ample # of witnesses that could have supported Ringo's position.

  • @TheDiddlysquat - and yet when Ringo mentioned this in a 1965 Playboy interview, Pete sued and it was settled out of court (January 1969) ... so you could say he won the case, because what was said was not true.

  • @mkrobinson95 i have an interview album that ringo is denying peter tried to sue him

  • @TheDiddlysquat - Pete has NEVER admitted that he was "often ill". In fact, he said that in 2 years he only missed 4 performances due to illness. Also, he was not in "several bands in the 1960s that flopped" ... after the Beatles he was in Lee Curtis & the All Stars, which then broke off from Curtis and became Pete Best & the All Stars. Pete later relocated to the U.S. and started The Pete Best Four, then changed the name to The Pete Best Combo. That's TWO bands. You fabricate & exaggerate!

  • I have to admit that IMHO I feel that if THIS had been their first album instead of Please Please Me, they probably would have gone by the wayside...the material on PPM is so much stronger...

  • Decca is probably still kicking their own ass

  • C'mon,man, without George Martin The Beatles sounds like shit, thank god for George, he turned crap into gold

  • These Decca recordings are so wierd and stilted. It sounds like they're trying to sound like someone else - the guy on the record etc. It's like they're afraid to sound like themselves. I think George Martin figured this out. He wanted to get the way they sounded in clubs and even planned at one point to record their first album live in a club. His fall back was the 'whole album in a day' recording session to get their real live performance sound.

  • @guruuDev If you compare the Live at Star Club in December 1962 to their studio things, the live performances were much more powerful than the recordings with GM. I consider myself Please Please Me is their best work, it has a bit of that live feel in it. But still far away from the live performances.

  • @tauroscorp The Beatle had multiple phases - with every album its own masterpiece - but I must admit that Live at Star Club is stunning. It's a whole other phase -distinct from all the rest - of the band playing in an ideal live context. Thank goodness it was recorded.

    It's too bad, the Star Club era was the last time they got to play marathon sets night after night and to an intimate live audience not yet caught up in their fame.

  • Who's singing the 3rd song?

  • @Stube437 I think it's John singing... George and Paul are probably doing harmonies (Right?)

  • @MrGraytuna Paul is singing lead. Cheers

  • paul sounds weird on the first song.

  • Comment removed

  • Sorry, but petes drumming is unamaginative and basic, so Ringo was the right choce. for the band. end of.

  • The only one I don't really like is money but the others r great!!! How could u not sign them!

  • @TheDiddlysquat Ted is still with us, I did my last gig with him and Lee in 2005, in Herford. There were talks of Ringo joining him, and he was also responsible for the famous taping of the Beatles live in the Star Club Dec 1962. He is here on You Tube occasionaly.

  • @TheDiddlysquat Sorry, just realised how my memory is going. It was of course the other way round, Gerry was a Top Ten Club man, not Star Club. sorry for getting things mixed up.

  • @TheDiddlysquat Can´t remember Gerry playing in "The Top Ten", did remember them in the Star club. Tony I´ve met quite a few times, he came over to Hamburg after he left !! Oh Boy. It really was, the best time to be alive, I´m now pushing 70, but the fifties and sixties seem to keep us all young. Two of the best loved musicians in Hamburg by the way, Ted "King Size" Taylor and Lee Curtis also never made it really big.

  • @TheDiddlysquat (further to my comment) which Paul didn´t like at all. A lot has been written about the Beatles, and a lot has been said in interviews, by people around them, and by the Beatles themselves, but you should still, maybe, ask people who were there !!

  • @TheDiddlysquat Rubbish !!

  • TheDiddlysquat, it would be great if Decca Audition is released as album :D

  • TheDiddlysquat, because they weren't signed yet.

  • whoo I want this album

  • Drums don't fit in thats why ringo was so good the style fit the beatles music.

  • the first song sounds boring, but Money is quite them already - perhaps because they did it later. Wonder what the Decca men where thinking

  • Interesting that the song selection begins with Macca singing lead. He songs raw and very good, but seems to be trying to imitate someone else from the 50's (i.e. Elvis). Lennon on the other hand had more of a unique style, albeit not as much range as Macca. Lennon however had a good falsetto and a rougher lower range than Macca. Besides the song selection, the drums seem to be very generic (sorry Pete). Maybe that is the real reason that Pete was cut loose....

  • if you want to compare ringo and peat, compare the drums on this version of money to when ringo played on the later version.

    no contest. ringo wins

  • @PERROMALDO There are plenty of live examples of Ringo's drumming (especially Money which was a live staple) as well as the BBC tapes which were live where he clearly put's Pete to shame. Compare the BBC "Sure to Fall" with the Decca version, or the Pete version of "Love Me Do" to Ringo's version. Not sure what Pete is doing with Money here or Till There Was You. He made poor choices as a drummer and couldn't keep time. Ringo did, had more varied styles and was a rock solid time-keeper.

  • Supposedly Brian Epstein came up with the performance list. Things happen for a reason and this wasn't meant to be. It HAD to be the four that became the Fab Four.

  • john Lennon's voice on the track, "Money" sounds so nasaly and young-ish. Kind of when they recorded "please Please me".

  • @unlikeanyotherhuman Doesn't matter what era of music you played professionally, Pete wasn't as good as you make him seem. Hence him getting fired and being replaced with Ringo. Pete was fired, get over it.

  • @tauroscorp right...that's probably the reason why Ringo ended up being the Beatles' drummer. Because "Ringo wasn't better than Pete." Please make more sense.

  • @tauroscorp I've studied the beatles in a couple of courses as a freshman in college, i've done my research. I'm a huge fan of the beatles. Don't tell me what I need to do. Seems like you're just living in the past, get over the fact that pete was fired. If he was better than Ringo, he would've been their drummer. But he wasn't.

  • @Pato0919 So perhaps you studied the ''official'' history of Beatles..? So you ignore all the witnes about the case..?

  • @tauroscorp if history wasn't "official," it wouldn't be accurate or real. So I'm sorry for not studying the Beatles' unofficial history. I'm not interested in wasting my time in things that never were. I'd rather take my professor's word on it, seeing as though he, and his colleagues, have lived through it. I don't know you, you have no credibility, so you aren't going to change anyone's mind. And I know I won't change your mind, but I know I'm right.

  • @Pato0919 So you believe everything your dear professors are telling you? You have a lack to think critical I see... Like suicide-bombers are believing what their dear mullahs are saying to them... Where are your brains..? I believe more the people who were part of the history, not with them who had read it from the books...

  • @tauroscorp they haven't given me any reason for me not to believe them. seems to me professors in accredited universities have more credibility than you do. you're just an anonymous voice on the internet trying to justify your misguided beliefs. you still don't make sense, read what i wrote: my professors have lived through it and are teaching directly from experience. they were part of the history, not teaching from the books. next time you decide to break out the keyboard, argue better.

  • @tauroscorp damn.i dont want to insult you.but are you seriously doing this again? READ what im writing. im telling you that they lived through it. as in they've heard pete best and ringo starr on drums. the point of an argument is to convince the other person to try and believe what you believe. since you're not stating anything that i can take seriously, you aren't getting a point across. like i said before, you aren't going to change my mind and i'm not going to change yours. leave it at that

  • @tauroscorp check this out little fella..what's this entire idiotic argument turned into? whether or not my profs have listened to pete best in his time with the beatles. He played during 60-62. PLEASE read what i wrote again "my professors have lived through it and are teaching directly from experience." i know this quasi-enthymeme may trick you into believing otherwise but they heard him play. I dont care what you say because the fact is pete best wasn't good enough for the beatles, ringo was.

  • @Pato0919 The question in the end was about have they seen them both live. Look, little fella... If your college-system is shite, it's not my problem. No wonder that nowadays the warfear of the yanks suck. So I say to you this: a lot of loon, a load of bollox!

  • @tauroscorp what you're saying is a load of bollox. why are you even bringing up U.S. warfare? has that anything to do with this argument? how will talking about warfare bolster your argument? it doesn't. you're too simpleminded to formulate an eloquent response because you have no good response. i'll say it once more, my profs have both seen them live. they've told me reasons why pete didn't stay with the band. at the end of the day history is history, and ringo was ultimately the drummer.

  • @Pato0919 Ok, sorry, the war has nothing to do with it. =) But you also should to be more critical. I doubt that your professors have seen them live in Liverpool or Hamburg in 1960-62, if they are americans. You should also listen what the scene back in Liverpool and Hamburg have to say. I'm not saying that Ringo is bad, he's good, but Pete Best was also good. They just had a bit different styles. Ringo had more chemistry with the others than Pete, especially with Paul and George.

  • @Pato0919 The question in the end was about have they seen them both live. Look, little fella... If your college-system is shite, it's not my problem. No wonder that nowadays the warfear of the yanks suck, if they have such einsteins as soldiers. So I say to you this: a lot of loon, a load of bollox!

  • The first song, Like Dreamers Do, was sang by McCartney.

    The second song, Money, was sang by Lennon.

    The third song, To Know Her Is To Love Her, also Lennon.

    The fourth song, Memphis, once again, Lennon.

  • Can someone tell me who sings the last two songs???

  • nairegui, it's Lennon on the last 3 songs of this part.

  • who sings the last two songs???

  • @nairegui  Tony Sheriadan

  • Who sings the third song???

  • Yep. Ringo was better.

  • i like this version of money better than their "famous" version

  • I was reading that Decca turned down The Beatles after hearing these tapes, saying that "they had no future in music." What a FAIL on the studio's part.

  • Lennon did a rockin' version of Money...Decca suits missed the talent..they booted it

  • Decca Tapes! Nem sei como a gravadora não detonou quando viram o erro que fizeram!

  • money sound diffrent

  • @bombaci08 well brian poole and the tremelos had loads of hits in the 1960s, i think decca made a mistake but i dont think they were that bothered as they had so many big groups on the label anyway

  • @racistgayclown Remember that they signed The Stones.

  • But there are a few factors contributing to the Beatles failure. First of all, it was right after New Year's Eve. The Beatles weren't exacty the most disiplined in the world if you know what I mean lol. And, Brian Epstein picked their songs. He didn't let thm play Rock and Roll, it was almost all pop standards.

  • @kapnzach You hit it right on the head, on both counts. The result sounds like a good cover band for weddings. Totally flat. I'd have passed on them too.

  • @kapnzach

    decca also thought guitar groups were out

  • this version of Noney is rockabilly!

  • Ringo is a helleva lot easier to market the Pete....names are important

    'is not'

    'Is'

  • George martin refused to record with Pete on drums. He gives nothing but praise for Ringo. Also if you want an excellent Pete/Ringo comparison just listen to "Money" here and then Ringo's version with the Beatles. You will then see why the Beatles prefered Ringo. He has that then rare heavyhanded backbeat and STYLE. His tempo was also ROCK SOLID. Ringo was (among non-drummers) always underrated. A shame really as his backbeat changed the way drummers played Rock n Roll.

  • The Beatles neither needed or wanted a drummer that was into solos. Ringo's work on the Star Club in 1962 tape and the BBC tapes demonstrates his true ability unrestricted by the confines of The Beatle's 2-3 min pop song machine.

  • Pete sucked. His drum sound like shit. Ringo would have killed this tune,

  • True, but when they actually got a record deal, they knew they had to replace him with a drummer that could keep the tempo going. Which is why they fired him and got Ringo.

  • Pete's tempo was off. The drummer is basically the heart of the band. And with the drummer not being able to be on tempo, well it throws off the whole band making them sound bad.

    I don't know whether or not Ringo was that much more of a fantastic drummer than Pete was but he could keep the tempo going and had good rhythm making him a better choice.

  • Excuse me if i'm wrong, but wasn't Ringo also playing in Hamburg also, just with a different band?

  • @wladwlad It's been suggested that Pete was the most resistant to giving up the leather image and going with the suits haircuts. Never did have a "beatle" cut

  • i know, that's what i was talking about

  • yeah they were with pest best and ringo was with rory storm and the hurricanes on their third trip to hamburg the beatles were with ringo

  • @wrightchix Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were also playing Hamburg, which is where John Paul and George met Ringo who was playing with Rory

  • WaistDeepInBigMuddy, thanks for this wonderful upload! 9 Stars! This Decca Session sounds good to me.

    The Beatles sound was fresh & new. Very different than what we were listening to on the radio.

    Where were you in '62?

    I was listening to Roses Are Red - Bobby Vinton; Let's Twist Again - Chubby Checker; Johnny Angel - Shelley Fabares; The Loco-Motion - Little Eva; Soldier Boy - Shirelles; Duke Of Earl - Gene Chandler

    Good songs but...

    The Beatles were a breath of fresh air!

  • Do you think "Like dreamers do" would have been a hit-record? If they would have released it?

  • Melchersson, yes I think "Like dreamers do" would have been a hit-record. It's got the fidelity that sounds like A.M. radio from '62. It may not have made the top 10 in all the markets. Might have been a hit in various regions of the U.S.A. There were lots of great records back in 1962 that were hits in, for example, the San Francisco Bay Area but didn't make the radio surveys in Peoria. I'd have bought "Like Dreamers Do".

  • The song would have been a top ten hit, no doubts about it!

  • nah i think gary and the pacemakers fit it better

  • Nothing wrong with Pete's drumming.

    Having heard the sessions through about 5 X, it is clear that the micro positioning on the drums was clearly not ideal.Too much focus on the Hi-hat,

    maybe intentionally to soften things up and produce a more sweeter studio sound?Nowhere near the forcefull rythmic sound of the Hamburg live sessions or Polydor recordings.

    And those bandwagoners who constantly slate Pete's drumming,would probably argue that Ringo even made a better cup of coffee than Pete.

  • @Melchersson pete best gets more credit than he deserved, he got in the band due to him being a rich kid and the beatles could practice in the cafe under pete best,s house.

    John lennon gets more respect than mc cartney who was far more sucsessful and wrote a lot more stuff

  • @symbolb

    we drink tea

  • Without Epstein they didn't get even to Decca.

  • I'm sure I used to have the Decca Tapes on album somewhere but some of the songs on here I have never heard before. Where did you get these from? Thanks for posting :D

  • thank God they weren't signed by Decca in 62. They'd of been forgotten by 64.

  • Agree! They would have had a couple of top ten hits like "Like dreamers do" and maybe a couple of more! Then they probably give up!

    George Martin gave them so much inspiration and let them use their own creative force!

  • @giles422 Very true. What makes them so great is that they evolved and were so versatile.

  • i do feel it was because of Einstein's choice of songs on this demo that it took him forever to get the Beatles a record deal . just my opinion .

  • I agree about the choice of songs but are you talking about Leo, Fred or Albert Einstein?

  • sorry i meant to say Epstein s . sorry fir the incorrect spelling

  • @dtrocks05 Einstein?!

  • @Maugolek  read my last entry above yours .

  • @dtrocks05 That's alright ;)

  • @dtrocks05

    EPstein! but yeh... i think you're right...

    he chose the wrong songs...

    nothing that would really have set the world on fire.... sadly.

  • @dtrocks05

    Einstein ?

    Maybe Brian Epstein ?

  • @dtrocks05 Epstein* xD

  • @dtrocks05 Yeah men.. Absolutely..... EINSTEIN should have keep going with his science instead of getting into the music business. He did a much better job with theory of relativity than choosing the Beatles songs.

  • @dtrocks05 that's what Philip Norman also said in his book SHOUT!

  • Thank you for the upload. I finally got to hear the entire Decca Sessions that was one of the key recordings missing from my Beatles list.

  • Dick Rowe went on to sign the Stones on George Harrison's suggestion so he wasn't a total failure!

  • I love Ringo! But its still feels kind of sad that Pete was kicked out of the band in that way. I think he would have done well if he never been sacked. He´s got great charisma as well as Ringo. Three Beatles are still alive Paul, Ringo and Pete!

  • what a way to ring in the new year!

  • pete best was kicked out willingly from the band. because he refused to wear the "mop-top" and the gray colarless suits (they had 50's like hair and leather jackets then) so he left

  • i dont know if they had the gray suits yet. they got those around the "she loves you" era. summer of '63.