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Mysterio

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Topic: Best progressive drummer?
Posted: June 14 2004 at 00:00

Sorry if this's been done before, but...

What do y'all think is the best prog drummer? I'd have posted a
poll, but I don't know nearly enough.

Anyways, my vote goes for Neil Peart.

"YOU SLEPT WITH MY WIFE!?"
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The Prognaut View Drop Down

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 01:12

Neil is great, one of the best I would have to say and the rock of RUSH not only for the way he performs, but for the weight placed upon him transformed into the great composer and songwriter he is. BUT, he ain't the best drummer for me. I definitely have several opinions and observations, but instead of that I'm just going to give you away the name of my all time best drummer . Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Cozy Powell. Love him or hate him!!!

P.S. I thought of Bill Bruford, but naaaah!!! (waiting for rotten eggs to be hurled in my direction any time now...)

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Ivan_Melgar_M View Drop Down

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 01:27

When I joined this forum in May there was a Poll about this same issue, but I prefer this kind of threads where you can choose your candidates without any limit.

A few months ago I would have voted for Bill Bruford beyond any doubt, but today I believe there are many in so high level that's hard to choose the best, my favorites are:

Bill Bruford (Yes - King Crimson, etc.): Great percussionist and complete musician.

Manu Katche (Peter Gabriel): Perfect style, watching him play you can't understand how he can be so loose and calm, plays with all the body and enjoys what he does.

Phil Collins (Genesis, Brand X): Not in a superb level as all others here, but still among the best, complex, ultra fast and loves to improvise, better for jazz than for prog'.

Neil Peart (Rush): Well.....he's Peart and that is enough.

Carl Palmer: Perfect drummer for a power trio, strong and fast, don't know if he would feel comfortable in a band with more members.

Lee Kerslake (Uriah Heep): Terrible style but enough power to iluminate a big city. Not a drummer, a force of nature.

Phil Ehart (Kansas): Incredibly complex drumming, perfect style but maybe lacks a bit of strength.

Tony Fernandez (Strawbs - Rick Wakeman): The most underrated drummer in the world, absolutely precise, incredible feet work, a guy who can follow Rick Wakeman on stage has to be a master.

Terry Bozzio (UK, Missing Persons, Bozzio - Levin & Stevens): Mr. style himself, the guy is absolutely accurate.

Not Prog and maybe you can hate the music he plays but Fergal Lawler from Cranberries is out of this world, he has great style and strength, a complete drummer.

Iván

Edited by ivan_2068

Aquarius

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 01:33

Much as I love Neil Peart's drumming and the lyrics he wrote for Rush my vote goes to Mike Portnoy. I think his drumming is so versatile that it's a joy to listen to any Dream Theater or Transatlantic record. I've seen Transatlantic perform live with Mike in the front of the stage. I was in the audience only inches away from that spot and utterly amazed by his techniques.

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 02:45

For me it's Harald Grosskopf from the german Wallenstein...and Billy Cobham from the Mahavishnu Orchestra

Certif1ed

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 02:58

My vote goes to Barriemore Barlow, although I have to mention the awesome Dave Lombardo.

(and all the guys already mentioned!)

The Prognaut View Drop Down

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 03:03

ivan_2068 wrote:

Manu Katche (Peter Gabriel): Perfect style, watching him play you can't understand how he can be so loose and calm, plays with all the body and enjoys what he does.

Pretty much distant from what he did with Sting (I enjoy listening to his performance in "Nothing like the sun", he's obviously in an upper level from Vinnie Colaiuta) and with Rick Wright ("Broken China")... and obviously, with CAMEL, unarguably amazing, simply outstanding!

break the circle

reset my head

wake the sleepwalker

and i'll wake the dead

richardh

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 03:13

The usual suspects:

Carl Palmer (ELP)

Neil Peart (Rush)

Phil Collins (Genesis)

Alan White (Yes)

Bill Bruford (King Crimson and Yes)

Mike Portnoy (Liquid Tension Experiment,Transatlantic and Dream Theater)

Paul Cook (IQ)

All great prog drummers IMO.Probably Neil Peart has the most all round ability and has a style balanced nicely between the powerfull aggressive approach of Carl Palmer and the more subtle approach of Bill Bruford.

DoomHammer View Drop Down

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 05:11

ivan_2068 wrote:

Neil Peart (Rush): Well.....he's Peart and that is enough.

Carl Palmer: Perfect drummer for a power trio, strong and fast, don't know if he would feel comfortable in a band with more members.

plus Mike Portnoy of Dream theatre, he says he always look up to Neil Peart as his instructor.

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diddy

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 05:25

DoomHammer wrote:

ivan_2068 wrote:

Neil Peart (Rush): Well.....he's Peart and that is enough.

Carl Palmer: Perfect drummer for a power trio, strong and fast, don't know if he would feel comfortable in a band with more members.

plus Mike Portnoy of Dream theatre, he says he always look up to Neil Peart as his instructor.

And now Modern Drummer Magazine included him in their Hall of Fame and he can't win the awards any longer...he won 10 times in a row I think...

List of his awards

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headboy

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 10:14

Mr Billy Cobham!!

Joren

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 11:31

I find Terry Bozzio really amazing! I just got his solo album "Drawing The Circle". Fantastic stuff! It sounds like he can play melodies with his kit... beautiful!

Mysterio

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 12:17

Terry Bozzio... with Zappa, right? I remember his name.

By the way, Aquarius: yeah, Mike is way aweseome. I saw him
live twice, once with Dream Theater and once with The
Hammer of the Gods, a one-shot Led Zeppelin tribute band.
He did Moby dick

(not to mention Paul Gilbert doing the 20-
minute version of Dazed And Confused, violin bow and all...)

"YOU SLEPT WITH MY WIFE!?"
"It was a threesome! ... Nobody slept!"

Joren

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 12:32

headboy wrote:

Mr Billy Cobham!!

I saw him once on Mezzo (French music television)... he played a song called "Red Baron"... awesome! He also played with Miles Davis, right?

lucas

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 12:56

Once again, the best current drummer is VIRGIL DONATI. But there are loads of other great drummers : Bill Bruford, Phil Collins, Terry Bozzio, Neil Peart, Steve Negus, Ian Mosley, Nick D'Virglio, Rod Morgenstein, Mike Portnoy, Mark Zonder, Billy Cobham, Phil Ehart, Pip Pyle, Pierre Moerlen, Gary Husband, Vinnie Colaiuta, Chad Wackerman, Jerry Marotta, the late Jeff Porcaro, Robert Wyatt, Christian Vander, John Marshall, Tony Williams, Michael Giles, Simon Phillips, Hal Aponte (Ice Age), Andy Ward, Guy Evans, Carl Palmer, Nick Mason, Michi Dei Rossi (Le Orme), Marco Matteuzzi (Deus Ex Machina), Sean Reinhert, Barriemore Barlow, Chris Cutler, Paul Ramsey (Echolyn)

"Magma was the very first gothic rock band" (Didier Lockwood)

diddy

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 14:01

Joren wrote:

headboy wrote:

Mr Billy Cobham!!

I saw him once on Mezzo (French music television)... he played a song called "Red Baron"... awesome! He also played with Miles Davis, right?

He was a member of the Mahavishnou Orchestra as well...

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear...
George Orwell

Joren

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 14:35

I didn't know that! Also on "Inner Mounting Flame"?

diddy

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 14:49

Joren wrote:

I didn't know that! Also on "Inner Mounting Flame"?

Yep...

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear...
George Orwell

benny bouncer View Drop Down

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 16:51

CARL PALMER NO DOUBT Followed by Bill Brufford

Menswear

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Posted: June 14 2004 at 22:08

Drummers are mostly the coolest musician to watch. Some are stylish, some are more reserved. But, many bands are crummy if you take off the cool drummer.

So the nomitations are:

PROGRESSIVE ROCK

1) Hans Bathelt---Triumvirat

2) Neil Peart----Rush

3) Pierre Van der Linden----Trace, Focus

4) Mattias Olsson----Anglagard

5) Phil Collins----Genesis, Brand X

I'm sorry but I have to vote for Mattias Olsson He just blows my friggin' mind off. In Hybris, he was only 18! For the love of god, what talent.

NOT PROGRESSIVE ROCK

1) Keith Moon---The Who

2) Fergal Lawler---The Cranberries

3) Stewart Copeland---The Police