Spencer Patterson

Fri, Aug 29, 2003 (8:34 a.m.)

Drummer Vinny Castaldo has a simple technique for determining whether he will jam with another musician.

It's called the Ringo Starr Test.

"I judge people as musicians by finding out if they are smart enough to respect how great a drummer Ringo is," said Castaldo, who plays in three Las Vegas-based bands, including Beatles tribute outfit The Fab.

"It's like a club, and if you're not in it, you shouldn't even be playing music. I own a recording studio and all the hip musicians know how amazing Ringo is." Starr plays The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel at 8 p.m. Saturday with his All Starr Band.

Also in the lineup: guitarist Colin Hay (Men at Work), keyboardist Paul Carrack (Roxy Music, Squeeze, Mike & the Mechanics), bassist John Waite (Bad English, the Babys), percussionist Sheila E. and saxophonist Mark Rivera.

Castaldo's opinion stands in sharp contrast to a widespread notion that Starr who served as the Beatles' drummer from 1962 until the band's demise in 1970 doesn't measure up to his musical peers.

In the years since the Beatles' breakup, that theory became so prevalent as to merit inclusion in even the briefest biographies of Starr, such as the one on Rolling Stone magazine's website, which refers to "critical grumblings that his drumming was technically inferior."

Conduct a cursory Internet search, and you'll run across scores of references to Starr as a "mediocre" drummer, along with fan polls that rank him far behind the likes of the Who's Keith Moon, Led Zeppelin's John Bonham and Rush's Neil Peart. The man many consider the greatest drummer in history jazz great Buddy Rich was once quoted as saying that Starr was simply "adequate" as a musician.

And readers of Modern Drummer magazine voted 17 other drummers into the publication's Hall of Fame before finally tapping Starr as No. 18 in 1998.

Despite that apparent lack of respect for his drumming from the outside world, however, Starr has plenty of supporters within the music community. Billy Amendola, associate editor for Modern Drummer and a drummer himself, is one of them.

"If you truly understand the language of drumming, then you automatically know that Ringo is the best," Amendola said. "To the average person, a lot of his beats may sound the same. But even though he's not the technician some guys are, he plays complicated enough that he makes it look simple."

Castaldo has learned that firsthand, after eight years drumming with The Fab. To this day, there are certain Starr parts he is still unable to duplicate. And it's not for lack of trying.

"I can't play the drum fills right on 'She Said, She Said' and I don't know anyone who can," Castaldo said. "Each fill on 'Drive My Car' is so different. Most people don't even notice that.

"And 'Help!' ... you wouldn't think it's that tough, but he played a double-handed fill, drumming the snare and tom with his two hands at the same time. I can't do that up to speed, and he does it like it's no problem."

Castaldo pointed to Starr's unorthodox time changes in "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" as yet another example of his underrated chops.

"It's so brilliant, so magical. Bands never did those types of tempo changes before Ringo," Castaldo said.

For Amendola, one of the Beatles' earliest songs, 1963's "She Loves You," established Starr's position among the ranks of rock's most innovative drummers.

"He plays a punk beat in that song, and rock drummers weren't doing that at the time," Amendola said.

Though his drumming may sound simple enough to most listeners, Starr's technique is actually quite unique, a product of the unusual pairing of a left-handed musician and a right-handed drum kit.

"He starts his fills with his left hand, but he doesn't go around the toms in the direction a typical right-hander would," Castaldo said. "It's made for some magical fills."

Dennis Mitchell, DJ for KKLZ 96.3-FM and host of syndicated radio show "Breakfast With the Beatles," speculated that Starr's naysayers are thrown off by his relatively calm demeanor while playing, compared to the flashier stylings of Moon or Bonham.

"There's no question that drummers like (Cream's) Ginger Baker or Neil Peart took things to another level, but Ringo pre-dated all of that," Mitchell said. "He wasn't as flashy, but he was more efficient than any of them."

Tim Jones, lecturer in percussion studies at UNLV and a local drum instructor, agreed with Mitchell's assessment.

"I hear the complaints all the time, that what Ringo does isn't that hard to do, but my personal opinion is that Ringo is one of the most creative drummers of all time," Jones said.

"He did his job. If he tried to do what Keith Moon did with the Who or what John Bonham did with Led Zeppelin it wouldn't have worked for the Beatles. You can't force things into the music that don't work."

Mitchell referred doubters to Marc Lewisohn's book, "The Beatles: Recording Sessions."

"Lewisohn was given access to 900 hours of recorded work by the Beatles, and he found only two mistakes by Ringo," Mitchell said.

In part, Starr's legacy was tarnished from the start, when Beatles producer George Martin brought in session drummer Andy White for the recording of the band's first single, "Love Me Do." Starr was brand new to the band at the time.

Years later, when a disgruntled Starr walked out of the "White Album" sessions, Paul McCartney sat in to drum on several Beatles tracks.

Those episodes have led some to assume that Starr wasn't essential to the Beatles' success. Amendola suggests otherwise, advising cynics to spin "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Paperback Writer" or "Day Tripper" for evidence for evidence of Starr's contributions.

"Ringo played with two of the greatest songwriters in the world, so he played for the song," Amendola said. "Ringo made the song better by doing exactly what was needed."

Hay, who has spent the past two months touring with Starr, dismissed those who question the former Beatle's talents.

"Aw, (expletive) them. I have no interest in what those people say," Hay said in a recent phone interview. "I've always thought Ringo was a great drummer. From the start, I've thought his parts were integral to the whole Beatles sound."

And Jones, who has taught UNLV's "History of Rock" course for six semesters, says it usually doesn't take long for his students to recognize Starr's value.

"I play some examples of his work and ask what they think of his drumming," Jones said. "Usually the response is unanimous. I find it hard to believe that people can take something away from him.

"Rock 'n' roll wouldn't have come as far as it has if it weren't for Ringo."

Still not convinced? Perhaps a quote from McCartney himself will provide the validation many desire.

"If you imagine the Beatles without Ringo, it's just not right. Once we got him in the group, it just felt right," McCartney told Modern Drummer's Robyn Flans in January.

"He's such a great drummer. We learned how to flow from him. If he sped up a little, we sped up a little, and you never noticed any of that."

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