Ringo Starr and the Beatles Beat

I am not, and sadly never could be, a drummer. However I love the Beatles' music and, having spotted this new book on a display stand at its publishers while I was there fixing the loo (!), I thought it looked fascinating so I later bought a signed copy (direct from the authors on here incidentally - thanks very much chaps).The first two reviewers have covered the book perfectly, but it deserves all the praise they have given it and I just wanted to add another five star review to the collection.I won't pretend to be able to understand the drumming notation given for the songs, but the details of Ringo's life, his kit, his technique and how he fitted in to the group are also well worth buying it for.It's a beautifully made book, heavy, striking and attractive to look at, and with excellent reproduction of the text and photographs.All in all, for a different, and I believe quite rare perspective on the greatest single collection of 20th century songs, this is a wonderful book, and I recommend it to you unreservedly.

Let me start off by saying that this book is the epitome of books on the subject of Ringo Starr and is absolutely full of information we have maybe heard briefly before but here before you is an in- depth exploration of a different kind and I feel richer for having bought the book and delved into it`s contents . Besides the obvious word content there is a plethora of brilliant photos, a great breakdown in the form of the drum chart but what is most unusual and pleasing to the eye is the very clever use of the pie chart for percentage use of the various instruments per Beatles track . The two authors are obviously very big fans of their subject matter and for me it comes through in the form of real passion and anyone just glancing through the book will be pulled in and made to listen again to Ringo`s mastery of his art and not the joke that often gets mentioned when the subject of Beatles drumming is mentioned . Spot on boys a great product and a fab read , cheers !!

This is a fabulous book, with a unique angle and fresh look at the Beatles music, examining Ringo’s work with the Beatles, and much, much more. The main section of the book looks at every Beatles song, and how the Beatles got the best out of Ringo’s drumming talent and used percussion to enhance the songs. The book includes notated drum music, and you can clearly see the layout of the percussion (tambourine, bongos, cowbell etc). It’s great to listen to the songs while following the music, and you don’t have to be a drummer or musician to do so. There’s sections on early Beatles drummers (with none of the same old stories re-hashed), plus plenty of interesting info on Ringo’s drums. It’s also a pretty big book, with over 400 pages and plenty of photos (some I’ve never seen before, many in colour), there are even pie charts and graphs showing the drums and percussion make-up of each LP. All in all, I can thoroughly recommend the book.

simply clever

A beautiful book to own. Well written and easily set out. A thing of joy for all Ringo and /or Beatles fans.

An amazing book, not jus a pop fan book, but a serious musical evaluation of the part Ringo played in that unique combination that was the Beatles .