gmilner wrote:I'm intrigued that two of you thought of this guy independent of each other. Now I really want to hear him. Rock drumming is such a lost art. What's the best record he's played on?

I asked Jim what record he was most proud of. He said either
Oranger "Doorway to Norway" (60's pop/psych-ish)
or
the Flipsides "Clever One" (Power pop/punk).


Chekkit.


Faiz

kerble, these oranger mp3s, you are right, they do not capture completely the craziness of the man's drumming. they are mostly kind of slow. but you get the idea.

this oranger, though, they are pretty good band. i have forgot, that i think they are pretty good. it is not 'my cup of tea,' and yet i like it, so if this is your cup of tea--the 60s psych pop is decent pigeonhole to make for it--you will maybe think it is really really good.

it is approx 100 times better than most music like this

the flipsides, the one mp3, maybe she is nothing special, with nothing special drumming. but is only one mp3.

Tim, what does your drummer think about the Bonham/Moon divide? (Actually, come to think of it, I can think of some Moon-ish moments from Michael.)

i think he loves them both. he plays a bit like them both at times.

i think bonham is the drummers' hendrix, in that a lot of drummers don't even want to talk about him. he's such a given peak in rock drumming, and as you say totally possible to approach but almost impossible to equal, that they'd all rather say they are influenced by charlie watts or mick avery (who's great and underrated) or levon helm or something. when it's really bonham who set the standard.

moon is more like jeff beck or something. hendrix, you can ape hendrix passably. i don't know how you go about aping jeff beck. he's such an idiosyncratic player that he is very hard to imitate. hendrix's idiosyncracies, like bonham's, were in the sheer depth of his technique and mastery of the instrument. beck's, like moon's, are in his unique view of the instrument.

people who have only heard modern jeff beck will have no idea what i'm talking about

tmidgett wrote:people who have only heard modern jeff beck will have no idea what i'm talking about

it's funny that you mention that, because as i read your post, it reminded me of the fact that i dont think i've ever heard jeff beck play guitar. maybe i have, but not to my knowledge...and it just seems weird, because i grew up as a guitar player reading stupid guitar magazines that always talked about him and he's constantly reffered to by newer "guitar gods" but i cant think of one band he's been (he was in the yardbirds, right?) or one song that he's played on...

anyways, as a drummer, i totally agree with the midge [and most of "rock society"] regarding bonham. i cant think of any other drummer i subconsciencely model myself after...

with Moon. well...i understand why some people may not like him...at his low moments, he seems to value doing as many things as possible over setting a groove...but when the WHO were "on" and subsequently, Moon was "on" he seemed to hit that perfect medium between groove and solo...

of course, how often were the WHO on? that question has been bouncing around my head for the past week as i have tried to decide the whole WHO/Kinks debate...

andyk

tmidgett wrote:kerble, these oranger mp3s, you are right, they do not capture completely the craziness of the man's drumming. they are mostly kind of slow. but you get the idea.

this oranger, though, they are pretty good band. i have forgot, that i think they are pretty good. it is not 'my cup of tea,' and yet i like it, so if this is your cup of tea--the 60s psych pop is decent pigeonhole to make for it--you will maybe think it is really really good.

the flipsides, the one mp3, maybe she is nothing special, with nothing special drumming. but is only one mp3.

There's a certain physicality that I always miss from hearing Jim recorded. The wildly swinging arms, the 'standing up and drumming' half the time, the fill followed by a kick to the underside of the high-hat--none of that ever comes through because he's so solid behind the kit that it doesn't sound like he's doing much.

Hearing it doesn't take you to that same place because he never gets in the way of the song, even though he easily could. I think that's the mark of an exceptional drummer--a drummer that can do crazy blow your mind shit, but understands that the whole is more important than the parts.

A good analogy outside of Moon might be DJ Bonebrake from X. Simple as shit drum parts executed with ridiculous attack and grandstanding live. The spectacle of seeing him play isn't even conceiveable, in spite of the fact that X has written so many wonderful tunes.

Faiz

Keith Moon is not crap.

I submit his drumming on 'Dogs (Part 2)' as evidence. This is a track which I have on album of b-sides rarities and unreleased 60's stuff called 'Two' Missing'. Apparently this song is about Pete Townsend's obssession with greyhound racing. Obviously this was not his only hobby.

Keith Moon drumming = not crap

In all other things he was a complete social retard. Check out his biography "Moon". In 10 or more years with the Who, the guy never, ever stayed in a hotel room that he didn't fuck up. That's dedication.

There's a guy called Rob Gordon, drums for a Toronto band called From Fiction. The rest of the band leans toward math rock but this guy might as well be channeling the spirit of Keith straight from the grave complete with screaming at the crowd while playing, drumming standing up and pacing around the kit during fills as he waits for the band to catch up.

Don't know how he is with hotel rooms.

the drummer guy for mirroramerica is less spaz than keith moon but also very good in that way, sorta.

totaly...he even kinda resembled him a bit....if i remember correctly.

god bless keith moon.
watch the kids are alright dvd...the performance of "a quick one while he's away"....so wonderful!
he also gave me the excuse to use whenever i play a piss poor show and my drumming isnt up to par..."uh...yeah...so what if i was a little sloppy and messy, keith moon played like that."
NOT CRAP!!!

alexdamon wrote:

"watch the kids are alright dvd...the performance of "a quick one while he's away"....so wonderful!"

Exactly! Watch this, everybody!

You will see Moon rocking the shit out of a song that had about 20 different parts, none of which repeat, while flailing around, smiling like a maniac, singing along, nailing each part, basically looking like the happiest kid ever on his happiest birthday ever.

A sidenote regarding this performance: it was done on what was supposed to be a big TV show called "The Rolling Stones Rock 'n Roll Circus." The Stones were supposed to be the stars, see. But after screening the film, the Stones realized that they'd been completely blown off the stage by the other participants, particularly the Who, to where they decided to scrap the whole thing! It was never aired!

Right in your grill, big lips man!

Angus Jung wrote:A sidenote regarding this performance: it was done on what was supposed to be a big TV show called "The Rolling Stones Rock 'n Roll Circus." The Stones were supposed to be the stars, see. But after screening the film, the Stones realized that they'd been completely blown off the stage by the other participants, particularly the Who, to where they decided to scrap the whole thing! It was never aired!

it's on dvd now

the who stuff is great

the stones stuff is fun to watch if you are a fan, very screwed up, but not really that good

Sorry I'm just mentioning this now, haven't logged on in a couple days...but regarding Jeff beck, there's a great old quote from someone else in the Yardbirds to the effect that Beck live would engage in so much string-bending and other attacks on his guitar that by the second song he was all out of tune and confusing the band but he never let up.