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| My man Billham, smackin' th' traps! |
The first drummer I heard who had an immediately recognisable signature sound wasn't Ringo Starr - he was the first I knew by name - but Keith Moon. I didn't know if he was technically any good or not (still don't), but his full-on style was his alone, like he loved the drums but also wanted to beat the shit out of them. Scary guy. But the one I came to worship was Billy Cobham, first heard on the first Mahavishnu Orchestra album. He was busy, but never unnecessary, every faster-than-thought beat in exactly the right place at exactly the right time, and he sounded like nobody else, that tash-tash-tash cymbal. He drove the beat but never rushed it, and he was all over the kit, which is what I like to hear. Not for me the *cough* motorik minimalist metronome, I want value from my album investment. I paid for those drums, and I want to hear them.
He's also a first-rate composer, and his solo albums have always had melody at the heart of them. It's like he's playing chords on his kit. Spectrum and Crosswinds are both pinnacles of musical excellence, no matter how you label them, and I listen to his solo works far more than I listen to McLaughlin's. Today's deliverable is a sweet pair of albums he recorded in rsrch date pse ed [pse fuck yourself - Ed.], featuring luxe arrangements of older tunes and a few new ones. His Panamanian roots are showing in the steel pans and the Caribbean lilt, and there's nothing too brow-furrowing here, which is a good thing. Pure enjoyment.
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| I'm guessing this was designed by Stevie Wonder |
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| If you know what this is about, Billham may have to kill you |
This post made possible by funding from the Old Guy Underwear Xchange, Pork Bend, Alaska
Worst and best drummers. I'm going to be predictably controversial with my choice of worst - Moe Tucker (although I liked her when she was in the power trio with Larry and Curly). Best - this guy above, Tony Williams, NOT Buddy Rich who was just a showman, no matter how technically dazzling. Ritchie Hayward.
ReplyDeleteI know some bands in the 80s having so much trouble finding a decent drummer they used a drumcomputer in desperation. So I nominate The Drummer of Big Black, Eton Crop and Sisters of Mercy.
ReplyDeleteThere is only one best drummer in my book: Han Bennink
Dave Mattacks, love watching him play.
ReplyDeleteMichael Jerome, who used to play with Richard Thompson, and who now is in The Third Mind with Dave Alvin. Powerful drummer.
Listening to the Thirdies new album just this morning.
DeleteBest
ReplyDeleteMax Roach, Art Blakey, Hal Blaine, Elvin Jones, and Tony Williams
Worst
I’ll second Mo Tucker (but she was perfect for V.U.), Meg White (not unlike Mo tucker her style works in the context of the White Stripes), Don Henley, Lars Ulrich, Patrick Carney, and Dennis Wilson (not to be confused with Hal Blaine) .
Dennis is a good call. But I doubt he ever thought of himself as a drummer - nobody did.
DeleteBest: Herlin Riley, Milton Banana and Dom um Romao. Worst: Too many to list, but pick any 3 piece hard rock band and sniff around.
ReplyDeleteTerry Bozzio, Bill Bruford and Ian Paice, however I’ve seen a few bands with bad drummers and you really notice when a drummer is bad, I couldn’t name one though. My pet hate in my heavy rock loving youth was when it came to the drum solo, and they always did a drum solo, they would sometimes go on for ages, enough time to go to the bar to buy a drink.
ReplyDeleteI listened to Wheels Of Fire yesterday. But I couldn't listen to Toad because I deleted it because it is unlistenable.
DeleteYep same here with John Bonham solo Moby Dick on the live album, I heard it once that was enough for me.
DeleteBest drummer I've seen in person: Jack Dejohnette, hands down.
ReplyDeleteHe couldn't hit a damn thing with his hands down.
DeleteJack was a giant. Glad I got to see him twice.
DeleteBest drummer I've seen in person: Tony Williams, in V.S.O.P. Or maybe Lennie White, or Keith Moon, or Dave Mattacks. Best drummer on recordings... oy! That Bill Kreutzman sounded pretty good in '72.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased that I cannot immediately come up with a worst, although I probably lose cred for that.
D in California
I'm a drummer, so the "best"/favorite list will go on for days. The worst was the dude I saw a couple of weeks ago backing a fine country singer by putting his foot through the kick and torturing the snare drum, none of it in time and the same goddamned fill every single turnaround. Gives us all a bad name.
ReplyDeleteA close-to-best story: I was a huge fan of Yes in high school and was desperate to see Bruford. On a family vacation, I was allowed to go to a concert by myself: Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. I was ecstatic until I saw the huge drumkit and was introduced to...Alan White, wtf? Luckily, a year later, I saw King Crimson in Providence Rhode Island, Starless and Bible Black tour-THAT concert, the one Fripp called the best the band had played, the show that locked down Red. THAT was ecstacy. AND I got to dance with Maddy Prior! On my birthday!!
ANON RF: Love it!!
DeleteANON RF: Don't dislike any drummers, really. To pick on one, I think Ginger Baker was overrated in the original Cream years. He grew in his African years and seemed WAY better in the Cream reunions at Albert Hall, etc. Favorites in Rock: Mitch Mitchell; John Densmore (he did so much with that sparse little kit of his); Michael Giles; and, yes, Ringo. Jazz: Dannie Richmond; Frankie Dunlop (seemed to actually play melodies somehow). Max and Art too. Canterbury: A fan of Robert Wyatt with Soft Machine. And Pip Pyle.
ReplyDeleteA Bonus Billham BlisterPak© - six of his considerable best:
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/TzBuQMsWYbL
Pip Pyle & Bill Kreutzman for best!! Erm .. worst .... ??
ReplyDeleteI nabbed a seat as close to the little stage upon which Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society was performing and came close to being blown out of the venue by the intensity of his playing at times.
ReplyDeleteEdward Vesala, Fredy Studer, Jon Christensen, Peter Erskine ao