70s Prog Drumming to Modern Ears

Slightly related: I really don't dig the modern sound of the drum kit used on basically every rock/metal/prog release since the millennium. That thump of a kick drum, the really heavy "whack" on the snare, and in general a clinical, sterile, peaky way of producing the kit. I hate it, so in a sense that helps the older drum recordings seem better.

What seems to have disappeared somewhere is the sound of a kit being played; it has turned into a mere rhythm generator (whether those rhythms are metronomic or really complex). I appreciate the immense skill of people like Mike Portnoy, but why, with him, do I feel like I'm being slapped 'round the face with the word "virtuosity", when with Billy Cobham I feel I am hearing a performance, complete with all the nuances and variation in areas other than rhythm?

Why does the snare now make exactly the same noise every time it is struck? Why do the toms cut through everything with the urgency of a tribal warlord? Why does the kick drum in any rock band now induce a headache in me?

A genuine question: is it the players or the production? And, does anybody else agree with me?

Slightly related: I really don't dig the modern sound of the drum kit used on basically every rock/metal/prog release since the millennium. That thump of a kick drum, the really heavy "whack" on the snare, and in general a clinical, sterile, peaky way of producing the kit. I hate it, so in a sense that helps the older drum recordings seem better.

What seems to have disappeared somewhere is the sound of a kit being played; it has turned into a mere rhythm generator (whether those rhythms are metronomic or really complex). I appreciate the immense skill of people like Mike Portnoy, but why, with him, do I feel like I'm being slapped 'round the face with the word "virtuosity", when with Billy Cobham I feel I am hearing a performance, complete with all the nuances and variation in areas other than rhythm?

Why does the snare now make exactly the same noise every time it is struck? Why do the toms cut through everything with the urgency of a tribal warlord? Why does the kick drum in any rock band now induce a headache in me?

A genuine question: is it the players or the production? And, does anybody else agree with me?

jude111 wrote: I know jazz drumming's been talked about, but what about other black forms of rhythmic music? Namely, soul and funk. If you were a drummer in the 70s, you *had* to be paying attention and groovin' to what Sly was doing, and Wonder, and later, P-Funk. (Check out, for example, Bowie's late 70s albums.) Having said that, I know that more than a few prog bands had a total absence of "black" in their music. Genesis, for example. (This isn't a criticism: it's one thing I love about it - it's why their music was able to so successfully evoke an earlier period in English history, as well as other classes. I believe it was intentional.) Whereas, listen to DSOTM and WYWH and you just *know* PF was listening to hard soul and funk (and gospel too), and this is reflected in Mason's (under-rated) style.

I agree. And I adore funk drumming, it's one of the things that makes albums like Wish You Were Here really good. James Brown's drummer(s?) was excellent. It's almost the bridge between jazz and rock. Crimson had it covered, Yes to a degree, Supertramp for sure......... Caravan, ABSOLUTELY, and these tend to be my favoured prog groups. They have the interesting music, set to the grooviest beats.