Peart or Portnoy?

Cygnus wrote: For example a drumm solo from Neil Peart is a part of music, a drumm solo from Portnoy is very fast and skilled drumming.

Funny you should mention drum solo.  I was just thinking about the comparison last night and I realized that Peart crafts his solos.  Portnoy's solos, at least what I heard, seem more random and chaotic.  At the end of a Peart solo, I feel like I just listened to a song.  But based on what I know about him, it is no surprise.  He is a very well though out, complete thinker and I have never known him to do anything half-assed.  Even the song New World Man, which was just throw together to fill album space (heard this on an old Rush radio interview) has decent drums parts.

In my opinion both drummers are OVERESTIMATED. Just listen to me before start throwing rocks.

The thing that every kid around 14-17 who plays drums think he's the drum god (and second Joey Jordinson) . Well he is really good both technically musicaly. He is also very creative and generaly a drum genious but I assure you he's not a drum god. I personaly dont like him so much cause his sound seems to flat for me, it doesnt have the depth I would like to hear from a drum kit. Moreover I dont like the drum parts on DT songs (havent heard what he does away from them). For some reason they seem a bit mechanic to me.

Neil Peart on the other hand sounds better to me. Really like the drum parts on Rush (they are extreamly carefully selected) and also I feel pitty for his family and what this man has been through BUT I dont like the fact that when for example he does a drum solo in a concert he has first written the pieces down and played it again and again and to me the word music there misses its value cause you prefer to play something that will sound cooler and be very comlex instead of playing what you really feel at the time...

Thats my opinion......

So I'll vote for peart

How many of you here are actually drummers? Not many I believe. You all seem to think MP is just a showoff technical speedfreak and nothing compared to NP.....He´s not....I know a dozen more technical drummers out there :

 Virgil Donati, Mike Mangini, Thomas Lang, Johnny Rabb........

Mike Portnoy has said it himself, he´s not a drumsolo type of drummer, not like NP. Mike Portnoy always serves the song and if he plays technically, then it´s what HE thinks is right for the song. I personally like MP better and I personally (being a drummer) KNOW that MP plays better, faster and definitely more musically than Neil Peart.Nuff said.

By the way MP has never said, he thinks NP is better than him.

sularetal wrote: Pirce wrote: How many of you here are actually drummers? Not many I believe. You all seem to think MP is just a showoff technical speedfreak and nothing compared to NP.....He´s not....I know a dozen more technical drummers out there :  Virgil Donati, Mike Mangini, Thomas Lang, Johnny Rabb........ I did lessons with Thomas Lang and his a technique freak!!!! He could play for example 5 with his feet by doing a paraddidle RLRR LRLL and 9 on his hands spreading them on the toms all at once!!! However I must agree with you. I don't like his drumming much. Mike Portnoy has said it himself, he´s not a drumsolo type of drummer, not like NP. Mike Portnoy always serves the song and if he plays technically, then it´s what HE thinks is right for the song. I personally like MP better and I personally (being a drummer) KNOW that MP plays better, faster and definitely more musically than Neil Peart.Nuff said. Then he must really "think its right for the song" to twirl his sticks!!! Buy the Neil Peart's DVD "A work in progress". You'll see he very carefully decides what suits better on every song. what "he thinks is right for the song". That's what he's good at (he really is the master) but when it comes to improvisation.... So I am saying that what you say is bull*hit cause NP is definately not a drumsolo type of drummer! Oh and listen to YZZ. I think what he tries there is not to make a drum solo but to make music with his drums. By the way MP has never said, he thinks NP is better than him. You arent in a position to say that. If he had how would you hnow? Conclusion both are amazing drummers but open your ears. There are even better ones out there!!!

"....to twirl his sticks". I think he does it for the "show". And because he has propably played every DT song a billion times and is a bit bored. So what´s the big deal anyway? Stick twirling is a classic, and MP even takes it to the next stage by also throwing his sticks high in to the air amids the playing...

"NP is definately not a drumsolo type of drummer!" Not? He does do a lot of drumsolo´s does he not? He carefully constructs his solos and make´s them sound like real songs....That is my conception of drumsolo type of drummers.

"You arent in a position to say that. If he had how would you hnow?" You´re right I cant confidently know that. Maybe that´s what he would´ve said younger in the I&W period. That time he was very honored to be called the next NP. But as the years passed he became more experienced and respected, and grew tired of the NP comparisons. And nowadays I think they are completely different kind of drummers. He has even lost some of his respect towards NP due to the way NP treats his fans. Fans are really important to MP and Dream Theater.