Best of the Beatles (2005)

The Bestles

After reading what other folk have written I decided to buy my own copy and see for myself. Pete Best is an engaging guy who was on the brink of fame and lost it and although this happened he is not sour grapes about his experience. This is almost like a home video of someones life with tales thrown in. He doesn't share alot of new things but I never thought the Beatles would try to rob a sailor after drinking with the fellow, interesting.The extras are great as well.When you look at this in context of the times then and now this is a little jewel of a documentary.I suppose I was hoping Pete wouldn't whine about lost fame and he doesn't which makes this as interesting a doc as there is. I found it difficult to believe that none of the other "mates" have contacted him over the years and was pleassently surprised to learn that on the first anthology set its Petes drumming on love me do. I highly recommend this product. January 18, 2008

Best of the Beatles

I have mixed reviews about this DVD. First, I played it on two different DVD players and it skipped in certain parts on both players. I also had a hard time understanding what Pete Best was saying, largely because he is soft spoken and his accent was hard to understand. Yet I could clearly understand the accents of the other British people interviewed.

Overall, I thought this DVD was just ok. Pete revists some of the places in Hamburg...I found that interesting...yet I thought his book was better than this DVD. It just seemed all over the place and it didn't hold my attention but his book did.

I didnt get anything out of the "extra" hour.
However, Pete Best is a key component of early Beatle history and his tenure with them should not be overlooked. He added a great deal to their fame with his pounding bass drum and extremely good looks. I checked on youtube with the Silver Beatles when Ringo replaced Pete at the Cavern. You can clearly hear the audience yell at the end "We Want Pete" and you can hear John Lennon's voice says YES. This was in the book as well. I never thought John wanted Pete out, my guess it was Paul and maybe Brian since Brian propositoned Pete one night and Pete declined. Perhaps Pete would be too much of a temptation for him to work with him?

I asked myself after reading his book, would the Beatles ever have made it big if it were not for the Casbah? Perhaps they would not, and Mrs. Best was a key player in the Beatles destiny. You will see that if you order the book. July 17, 2007

Pete Best's Anthology

Pete Best was a Beatle. The merits of his drumming aside, if I had been in a similar position and now had a chance to make a decent living trading on that brief taste of fame from my teenage years, I'd probably be out there touring, releasing books, CDs and DVDs like this one. This doc isn't for everyone, it's dry in spots and many of the stories are familiar to those who have already read either of the three books Best has co-written over the years, but it certainly didn't insult my intelligence as it did a previous reviewer.

There are two things that make this essential viewing for hardcores. First, the presence of the earliest known footage of the Beatles performing (St. Paul's Presbyterian Church Hall, Birkenhead, 10 February 1962), and the impressive cast of lovers and friends from the Beatles' formative years who agreed to be interviewed including Astrid Kirchherr, Klaus Voormann, Jurgen Volmer, Brian Poole (of the Tremeloes), session drummer Andy White, Horst Fascher, Julia Baird Lennon, Cynthia Lennon, Gerry Marsden, Bill Harry, Decca's Mike Smith, producer Ron Richards, and most amazing of all, former Apple CEO, Neil Aspinall (the father of Pete's half-brother, Roag).

Time has not been kind to some of these faces. I was taken aback more than once by how their appearances starkly contrast with the iconic pictures we automatically conjure in our minds when we think of these people. Their comments, alas, are often perfunctory, reinforcing the Best agenda, rather than probing it.

This is, in essence, Pete Best's 'Anthology' - will you finally find out why Best was really fired from the Beatles? No. But you will find much to enjoy and refer back to. July 9, 2007

Not bad. Not great either.

I disagree with the folks who say this is just "sour grapes" - I think Best showed considerable restraint in this program. He didn't go on and on about how he got the shaft, etc. It could have been a lot worse in that department.

But, the whole thing seemed amateurish to me, particularly the music. I'm guessing they couldn't use real Beatle music, but the stuff they did play was awful. Another major gripe - a number of the people interviewed were not identified.

I had to laugh at one statement (that they showed at least twice) - "you never saw the Beatles unless you saw them in Hamburg." I forget who said it (maybe one of the unidentified), but that's absurd. August 27, 2006

Not "Best" Or Worst - Just Different

Too often we look at things with 20/20 hindsight. But really there's no reason to start up any disputes as to whether Pete or Ringo was the better of the two drummers. That's because they're just two drummers who played better on different kinds of music.

Obviously, it's absurd to claim Best was a lousy drummer, or else he could never have soonafter helmed the Pete Best Combo, which recorded and toured for a few years in the mid-'60s. Likewise, Ringo was hardly lacking, given that he was first brought in as an outright ringer, hot off his duties with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Just listen to the two drum styles - Best is more of a jazz or pop drummer, while Ringo was more suited for the surf and rock 'n' roll style of the time.

The Beatles could have also gone in a jazz direction - who knows? But they didn't, since George Martin was then looking to develop a rock 'n' roll group. Had he wanted them to be a different sort of group, maybe they would have gone in that slightly altered direction instead. So we must realize in the end that fate - and finance - had the final say. February 3, 2006

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