Ringo didn't do a solo until ABBEY ROAD, in the song "The End". It seemed everyone else in rock were devoting a few seconds (if not minutes) to the drums, but had his time in that song. This, of course, doesn't count the open breaks that can be found in "Sgt. Pepper (Reprise)".

It is amazing to hear what kind of drum sound they archived with the album. Before, drums were meant to be played and that's it. If you wanted complex, you would listen to drum solos on jazz records. One can say that they were probably trying to have that upfront drum sound they heard on Motown, Stax, and Atlantic 45's, as the drums on the 45's were always "beefed" up. In the case of The Beatles, it seemed that they wanted to do that not only with the drums, but with everything. I'm sure I'll mention this throughout the post, but beforehand, singers and musicians were not supposed to be in the engineering booth. You stayed in the studio, and that's it. Reading a lot of books on recording studios, it was a very sterile enviroment, and the two never crossed paths. Buddy Holly was someone who was said to have crossed the barrier by wanting to produce his own work. In the blues world, people like Willie Dixon wanted not only to perform and sing, but wanted to make sure what he heard in the room would transfer well on tape. In other words, when artists knew it was possible to have a hands-on approach, they moved in. Even when it wasn't possible, they moved in.

When I got into their music, I had always viewed REVOLVER as the album leading up to "the big one" (SGT. PEPPER), but the album holds up incredibly on its own, with a traditional rocker that opens side one, and a very meditative, psychedelic song ending side two. In between you have ballads, folk, a bit of classical (both Western and Indian), a children's song, and a lot of creativity in the middle. I love how the piano sounds off-key in "I Want To Tell You", and how in honor of George, Paul's last vocal melody is done Indian style. Or just listen to the drums in that song, it sounds big even though it's essentially the same studio kit Ringo had played on since 1962. According to "Recording The Beatles", George Martin and his engineers would change the mic placement for the drums. That *might* have helped, if it wasn't for the fact that the group also wanted to make sure that what went in didn't sound the same way it came out. The role of Martin and the engineers was to be able to convert their ideas into something that would work. Fortunately, The Beatles had a hands-on approach that also involved playing with sounds until they got it right.

What's also amazing is that even though the drums were mic'd a certain way, for the most part all of the drums were recorded to one track. In other words, the hi-hat wasn't on track 1, snare on track 2, bass drum on track 3, etc, the group still worked with 4-tracks and when they were done with a basic track, they would fold-down. The limitations of the studio were a very important part of what they were able to achieve. Hard to believe too, but the first time the drum tracks were ever properly mixed in stereo (i.e. elements of his kit had their own track, making it possible to do a stereo mix) were for ABBEY ROAD. The intro to "Something" and the solo in "The End" are evidence of this.






JOHN BOOK'S MYSPACE
http://www.myspace.com/crutmusic

THE RUN-OFF GROOVE
http://www.musicforamerica.org/node/114473

BOOK'S MUSIC Podcast
http://booksmusic.podomatic.com/

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND
http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/index.php?vst=45730