electronic drums on prog albums

Genesis - Genesis

Rush - Grace Under pressure

Rush - Power Windows

Saga - In Transit

Ian Mosely uses them here and there on 'Fugazi' by Marillion. I thought they sounded ok.

The 80's did indeed have a lot to answer for. I never had a problem with the music Rush made then, elctro drums or not, but they should have been severely reprimanded for those Top man jackets and poney tails!!

Electronic percussion has come along way since Phil Collins played on albums like 'Genesis' and the appalling 'Invisible touch' You can buy electronic kits with hundreds of sampled acoustic drum sounds to choose from. Your electro kit could sound like John Bonham!! Many drummers in the '80's wanted to mimick drum machines, both in terms of sound and metronomic playing -  as much as their skills would allow. Thank God we have gone back to wanting good healthy organic drums sounds in our music.

'The sentinal' by Pallas - another good example..

Vibrationbaby:

I saw Bruford with his band 'Earthworks' back in the early 90's. He used a lot of electronic percussion. Most of the music seemed to be built around melodies played on electronic purcussion, triggering samples.

Very clever, but quite tedious and repetitive after 90 minutes.

Blacksword wrote: 'The sentinal' by Pallas - another good example..

Where, precisely?

There's some electronic percussives in Parallel or 90 Degrees recordings, as well as some Art Zoyd albums, and even in some metal prog acts such as Fates Warning (all Mike Zonder-era albums). 

greenback wrote: Blacksword wrote: 'The sentinal' by Pallas - another good example.. Where, precisely?

'Shock Treatment' and 'Arrive alive' There not used very imaginativly, just to add a bit of 'pop' to the album, I think. Ok, perhaps not a great example

Well for those who don't have an electronic kit... here's the original for you to play with....

http://www.interstellar9.com/emerson/synthdrums.htm

ivan_2068 wrote: As a former drummer, I can't have less respect for electronic drums. Those kits were invented to uniform the sound of all the drummers, there's nothing as the natural leather and accoustic drums to measure the quality and power of a real drummer. Electronic drums are the best invention for mediocre drummers who don't have the strenght or the speed of a good one, you just have to touch them and will be sounding asa if you were a power trio drummer, that's crap IMO. The sound is absolutely not natural, fake sometimes sounds as metal cans it's terrible. I know some of the great drummers used those for a while, but I believe it was a kind of experimet with something that was new in the 80's. Don't talk me about drum machines either, that's even worst. Iván

I wonder if you replace the 'drums' or 'drummers' etc, with 'pianist', 'keyboard-player' or 'keyboards' etc., that you would evoke the same feeling. There are numerous classically trained pianists who wouldn't touch electronics with a bargepole, but Leonard Bernstein was very enthusiastic about the Moog. Jazz pianists are mixed - but I long to re-see that Oscar Peterson TV show, in which Rick Wakeman guested and Peterson played his synths; while Keith Jarrett only temporary played electric at Miles Davis's behest, but I don't think has touched them in the last 25 years! Such pianists will talk about the colours that the (grande) piano creates, but I tend to believe it is more about the instruments's subleties which a trained and experience professional musician genrates and hears, which may be beyond the hearing of the majority of the audience. On  a parallel track, can you tell the difference in sound between a Stradivari violin and a violin well-made in the last 50 years, played by the same violinist?