70s Prog Drumming to Modern Ears

I like this in the spirit that you said it, because I know it is meant to be funny and have fun.

 

But it's hard to imagine that Buddy Rich would not have sounded good playing with Dream Theater, and show off that other clown over there some ... or vice versa ... that Mike would not have made Buddy sound ... small time! Or that Mani is not capable of doing what he has done so well, even with thrashing folks (Acid Mothers) and toured with them ... and it's very different stuff that he is playing with what he did before ... but it didn't scare him.

 

It's a different time and place ... different music, and what folks play today is what they know ... and yesterday we knew something else ... and there is nothing wrong with that ... except that we think that yesterday is good and today is not and this has been the history of music all along ... today is something else ... and that's that!

 

But it does not make yesterday's drummer better although I can tell you I have a special touch and heart for Bonzo, Moonie, Pierre and Mani ... but a lot of folks would have the same feel for their favorites because they relate to the music just as well. I don't think that Mars Volta is not good ... I just happen to enjoy Led Zeppelin 2 a lot more and better, and feel more "connected" with that person inside, than I do with MV! ... but it does not mean that MV is not good or worth it. To me, they are not a preference. But maybe some fans are not that connected with LZ2 either, on this day and age of plastic and makebelieve magic!

 

 

 

I think it was more jazz influenced than today. Aside from the sound, the way drummers played just looked very different if you look at the old footage especially say Beat Club circa 1971. The drummers were hunched over their kits a lot more and there was more emphasis on 'feel'.

What changed drumming to my ears was the use of twin bass drums. Carl Palmer in 1973 and Carl Palmer in 1983 could have been completely different people (and probably were)

Ok ... you asked for it!

 

 

In general, all of these have some ability to time things and improve the music ... but the music we remember is less metronomically (wow ... a new word?) designed than things are these days ... and both you and I (and others) think that the stuff that was less centered on the beat to help create a moment in time with the music, was more important than a lot of things today, where kids are being given "lyrics" to make believe that something is alive and true ... and when you are "told" that this or that is or is not ... I don't think that one can develop the ability or facility to identify different things in music as we have.

 

The history of music has NEVER been stuck on 4/4 as it is today. The real fact of the matter is that the "beat" is the simplest thing to teach, which is one of the things that most academics love to throw at folks like us, because half the music is kindergarten style and design, that is nothing new that has not been done before. But too many of these bands are selling too well to be ignored and basically the academic side of things is having a hard time in holding on to a music definition that has merit and history ... whereas the "popular music" comes and goes as the men talk of michelangelo or smoke another stoogie!

 

All in all, in my book, I can not find, or have heard a single drummer in any band in the last 20 years that can give Mani Neumeier, Pierre Moerlin, Moonie, or Bonzo a run for their money ... and you already know how much music I listen to and enjoy. And we haven't even started talking about how many African drummers you have heard or these folks have discussed (-- none! --) or in my case Brazilian folks that play and drum in Brazil during the Carnival ... folks that make drumming look and sound stupid for its insane quality!

 

I do not dislike the Mike, or the such or the Porcupine guy or the Metallica guy ... but those folks are not "drummers" ... they are time keepers and as such they are not adding to the music itself as much as ... as an instrument in an orchestra would be adding to the whole piece ... on top of the fact that we do not give rock music the credit for it being above and beyond the concept of "music" ... and give it a proper birthing right. But you listen to the variations and the desire to be literate and detailed about your observation ... and on top of it we discuss 21st Century b*****d as a "progressive" something ... and no one is listening to the lyrics and seeing the sheer attack on loudness ... and noise ... that are meaningless ... or worse ... just another media hype that you believe in and follow dutifully! That's the schizoid part ... we like something and yet we have no idea what it is ... and we glorify it for the wrong thing, and too much metal? ... yeah ... blind faith in meangless words for folks that do not know what they mean? ... isn't that a little scary to see those people in power and controlling the rest of us, up to and including our tastes in music?

 

But yes ... there are some very good folks today ... but I doubt they could ever play in "You" or "ITCOTCK" or "Endless Enigma" .... (yeah ... don't tell me lies ... check out those lyrics again!) ... an dmany other pieces ... it was NOT about the drumming and this what we loved about it ... it was about the ALL of it. But I'm not sure that a lot of music today is about anything except the Hollywood style ... make believe ... complete with cardboard pink and blue sets ... and yeah baby ... you're gonna be a star!  And you know that's not about the music anymore! It's definitly something else ... and the social media blitz is your daddy and mommy!

Ya got the same impression

Way too often these days, and not only with the drums, everything is sharp, clear, clinical, perfect in a wrong way. I love a load of new music, but soundwise i prefer the more caotic sound you get on older recordings.   

 

And even if Grace From, was recorded semi "live" in the studio, still very sharp and clinical.

He always played super clean and precise, but maintained a certain raw instinctual playing that makes listening to him exciting every time. He even survived the electronic years as a session man and composer. To my ear he has always sounded funk/jazz/fusion.

I found a radio interview with him on Youtube where he was talking about the time when Led Zeppelin asked him to play on their reunion concerts. He said he reclined because he didn't want to get on tour again, so they eventually called Jason Bonam! Song to have an idea: Trama Le Trame.