Drummer Cafe Community Forum

This is for Chris Whitten, who is a pro's pro and wants to educate the kiddies more about drummers with taste and conviction. I'm sure this will become a long list of everything ever recorded by Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, and Toto, so I'm going to stretch a little and list some things that may not be on others' lists. These are still some of my all-time favorite drum tracks, chops or no chops:

Manu Katche, Sting, the entire All This Time recording.
This stuff is soooo good, and his playing sits so comfortably between some very hip upright bass lines and keyboard riffs. It's just a great groove from start to finish, but especially on Set Them Free and All This Time. Also love his playing on Hounds of Winter, but that's slightly more of a chops fest.

Kenny Aronoff, John Cougar Mellancamp, Jack and Diane
Just a stellar drum track. The drums sound perfect for the song, extremely powerful, and the fill leading into the drum break is unforgettable. Love the little twist on the drum break. An air drumming classic in the Gaddabout household.

Chris Whitten, Edie Brickel and the New Bohemians, What I Am
Before anyone accuses me of pandering, I've mentioned this song among my favorites for years on this board. It brought me back to radio at a time when acoustic drums and great shuffle feels just weren't very hip. I love the subtlety of the playing. It sounds like something Keltner would've done in the 70s.

Jeff Porcaro, Boz Scaggs, Lido Shuffle
Porcaro in an unsung shufflin' moment. Only Jeff had the hands to pull this off so deftly. I'm told he wrote this song, but Scaggs and David Paich are listed as the authors.

Steve Smith, Journey, Open Arms
Smith wrote the book on rock ballad drumming. At least for me. This is the standard song I refer back to when asked to play rock ballads.

Bill Maxwell, Andrae Crouch, Soon and Very Soon
If I had never heard this song, I probably would've ended up a piano player. But I heard it, and I've been banging on something ever since. Just ... wow, soulful playing.

Rick Marotta, Steely Dan, Peg
This is a classic I have to mention. Tasteful and unique, but low down on the funk.

Andy Newmark, Sly and the Family Stone, the entire Fresh album
Andy invented modern funk drumming. This is the seminal album in which he did it.

Adrian Young, No Doubt, Hella Good
Young spent 3 montns before recording this album practicing to every Steely Dan record in his collection. It really shows. The playing on this song classifies as a true next generation groove classic, IMO.

I'm running out of time, but I love Jack DeJohnnette with the McCoy Tyner Trio, anything Max Roach has ever touched, and Nigel Olson has laid down three decades of tasty rock drums for Elton John.

Simple, effective. . .  Some Kinda Wonderful - Grand Funk, Don Brewer

On Tom Petty's 'You Don't Know How it Feels', Steve Ferrone lays down the perfect groove.  It's so nice, I almost don't notice that there's not a fill in the tune.

HI Gaddabout,
I'm flattered you've started this topic just for me ;D......and again, flattered my work is even included.
Strictly speaking I wouldn't include 'What I Am' as it's one of the more complicated grooves I've ever performed.
Yeah........ I usually play simple (simply I mean).  :P  ;D
Firstly, I should direct you all immediately to Mr Acrolite's webpage 'Grooves Of Doom':
http://www.keithcronin.com/groovedoom.html
I'm not a walking encyclopedia of great grooves, but here are afew important ones (IMO) that come immediately to mind. Often the drumming is very straightforward, but the drums are played in such a way as to groove like crazy in conjunction with guitar, bass and percussion.
What Cha Gonna Do For Me - Chaka Khan - Steve Ferrone (awesome drumming and drum sound!!!)
Good Times - Chic - Tony Thompson (RIP)
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson - In his prime (plus great percussion)
Superstition - Stevie Wonder - Probably wrote the book on 1&3, 2&4 drumming. Is Stevie playing the kit? I think so.
The Pinnochio Theory - Bootsy's Rubber Band - Demonstrates Bootsy's own theory that a heavy emphasis on beat 1 is funky.
London Calling - The Clash - Just four beats per bar, played with bags of attitude.
Star - Earth, Wind & Fire - I could have chosen anything. This one has a lazy offbeat hi-hat pattern I like though.
Chameleon - Herbie Hancock/Headhunters - Harvey Mason at his best, not to forget Bill Summers.
Sexy MF (the title can't be published on a family forum ::) ) - Prince (Sexy remix) Snare and bass drum playing on the wrong beats!!!
Babylon Sisters - Steely Dan - Bernard Purdie - Arguably his finest hour. Even the crosstick intro has an amazing attitude and groove.
Still Life In Mobile Homes - Japan - Drummer Steve Jansen grooves like crazy on one of the weirdest drumbeats I've ever heard; snare backbeat on beats 1 & 2, lots of off-beat tom hits and programmed elements too.
Footsteps In The Dark - The Isley Brothers - A ballad, but guitarist Ron Isley, who plays the drums, comes up with a very odd hi-hat pattern....and he makes it groove.
I derive as much inspiration from programmed and sampled drumming as I do the 'real' thing.
The following often feature a live drummer anyway.
Amazon Adventure - Azymuth (Jazzanova remix)
Musique Non Stop - Kraftwerk A B-Boy beat. Again, there are lots of songs I could have chosen. Karftwerk were the first band that showed machines could groove.
Trans Fatty Acid - Lamb (Kruder and Dorfmeister remix)
Channel 1 Suite - The Cinematic Orchestra - More weird hi-hat work on live drums, all over a latin/jazz crosstick loop.
Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt - DJ Shadow
Slave To The Rhythm - Grace Jones - Awesome production and drum/percussion assemblage by Trevor Horn/Steve Lipson.

i was also thinking tom petty. 'wildflowers' has some great drum tracks.

stevie wonder's 'innervisions'


ah crud i gotta mee

A couple of my own favorites:

Manu Katche:  Sting's Soul Cages.  The whole album, but especially the title track.

Steve Gadd:  Grover Washington Jr's. Winelight (esp. the track, "Make Me A Memory").  What a rhythm section:  Gadd, Marcus Miller, Eric Gale, Richard Tee, Ralph MacDonald.

John Robinson:  Rufus, Stompin' At The Savoy.  The whole album kills, but "Ain't That Peculiar" is a highlight in my book.

Carlton Barrett:  just about anything he did with Bob Marley, but esp. "Could You Be Loved."

Gilson Lavis with Squeeze:  "Tempted"

Don Alias:  Joni Mitchell's Shadows And Light, esp. "Free Man In Paris" and "In France They Kiss On Main Street."

And just because you know I had to come in with one from left field:

Jaco Pastorius:  "Teen Town" on Weather Report's Heavy Weather.

Now I'll just stand back and wait for everyone else to list all the obvious choices that I've overlooked.  ;)

FWIW, I also like these:

Since I just got done playing to these tunes earlier this evening:

Ken Blevins - On John Hiatt's "Slow Turning" CD.  Songs "Trudy and Dave", "Ride Along", and "It'll Come to You".  Nothing fancy, just really great grooves.

Ricky Fataar - On Bonnie Raitt's "Luck of the Draw" CD.  "No Business", hmm, written by John Hiatt.  One fat groove.

Steve Gadd - On the Eric Clapton/B.B. King CD.  "Ridin' with the King".  hmm, again, written by John Hiatt.  Love the hi-hat work.

Did I mention I really like John Hiatt?

Stanton Moore - On Galactic's "Crazyhorse Mongoose" CD.  "Hamp's Hump" has a groove so deep, you can fall into it.

Johnny Vidacovich - On Anders Osborne's "Living Room" CD.  "Two Times".  On grooving shuffle with the bass drum booming on "3".

i dunno who the drummers were on any of these, but i always liked the grooves on tunes from the o'jays, ohio players and tavares. also love the 'peg' and 'josie' grooves from steely dan [esp. the tom-tom sounds on josie...so earthy!] stuff off michael jackson's 'off the wall.' [ie; i wanna rock with you], gladys knight & the pips. for quirkier grooves, i like a lot of steve coleman stuff off 'curves of life' and 'genesis & the opening of the way,' among others.

'Off The Wall' is a great drumming album.
Was that J R Robinson?

Yep.

I don't know if he played on all of the tracks or just some of them, but that album is indeed listed in his discography:

http://www.johnjrrobinson.com/JR-pages/JR-discography-full.html (http://www.johnjrrobinson.com/JR-pages/JR-discography-full.html)

I just wanted to add one more:

Omar Hakim, David Bowie, Let's Dance
Hakim has a signature bounce in his playing that I can only attribute to someone who grew up dancing rather than drumming. He definitely likes the R&B side of things, and hasn't really been seen showing off his chops for some time. A lot of drummers from the 80s talk about the first time they heard Rosanna, and how it made them really stop in their tracks. This song did it for me. The beat is Pop 101, but the way Hakim plays it, it sounds like rhythm on a live wire -- even with the dead over-processed sounds.

yeah, great track.
Speaking of Bowie, the following added a touch of class to his 'Young Americans' sessions:
David Sanborn:sax: Willie Weeks: bass: Andy Newmark: drums.

I just have a couple:

"Baby I Love U" by Jennifer Lopez, featuring Omar Hakim. Thumping, deep groove, meaningful, only song I like of hers.

"A Lover's Holiday" by Change, appearing on their 1980 album The Glow Of Love.  This is pretty much my favorite groove as of current.  It's just a steady beat, but it's persistent, and the hi-hat is played in such a naughty fashion.  You can hear it here, but the good hi-hat part during the chorus is omitted. (http://www.amazon.com/Glow-Love-Change/dp/B000002KLE/sr=8-2/qid=1160786715/ref=sr_1_2/104-0226002-0173518?ie=UTF8&s=music)

And, why not---I'll include "The Glow Of Love" from the same album.  Similar naughty hat, along with Mr. Vandross's dulcet vocals.

I used to like 'Change'.  :)

In the city-Eagles/Walsh
Youve got to serve somebody-Dylan-Pick Withers drums
Rebel Rebel Bowie-Drums?
Waitin for the bus ZZ-Top-Frank Beard
Bang a gong- T-Rex, drums?
Pump- Jeff Beck- Simon Phillips
Day Tripper- Ringo
Pink Caddilac- Aretha Franklin- Narada Michael Waldon.
Oh Sherrie- Steve Perry, Larrie Londin.
Etc Etc Etc. 

Wow, and all these years I thought Tony Thompson played on "Let's Dance".  I know he played on some cuts off that album.

Oh man, so many to choose from!  Im sure once I finish I will think of a totally different list-but here goes.......

Stevie Wonder-Superstitious
Dusty Springfield-Son of a Preacherman
Bad Company-Ready for Love
Bob Dylan-Brass Bed
John Lee Hooker/Bonnie Raitt-Im in the Mood
Elton John-Rocket Man
Elton John-Love lies bleeding
Don Henly-Boys of Summer
Pixies-Chained (anything by this band)
Tom Petty-Runnin down a dream
Bob Seger-Hollywood Nights
Eric Clapton-The Core
Frank Sinatra-Ive got you under my skin
Joan Jett-I hate myself for lovin you
Quicksilver Messenger Service-ANYTHING!!!!!!
Beatles-Helter Skelter
Wings-Rockhestra (Bonham)

Superstition.


A great groove. For the purists out there it is programmed drums however.

Funny, I logged on just to add Omar Hakim on Sting's "The Dream of the Blue Turtles".  His take on the whole "Rosanna", rolling triplet groove on "Shadows in the Rain" still rates as my favorite example of this type groove.  It came across my Ipod this week while traveling and I realized how much of an influence this album had on my approach to learning new styles in high school.  I remeber when MD printed a transcript of " ...Consider Me Gone" and how blown away by the simplicity of the drum part, yet was so integral to the song.

The filmed version of that song rates as one of the best openers in rock music history. Omar came out blazing on that one. That one is impressive because the tempo is FAST but he somehow maintains the integrity of the triplets. There's no flattening to eighth notes, no drag or rush. It still sits right in that magical shuffle pocket. Very, very impressive.

I'm not reading through this whole thread to see if it's here, but here's one that comes to mind among many...

Golden Earring / Twilight Zone

I thought the topic was straight grooves.........now we're back to showboating.  ::)  ;)

first straight grove I ever.  Can't Get Enough of Your Love" by Bad Company.  Simple groove, but very easy to ruin by rushing or by not having quite the right lilt in the bass drum. In fact, a lot of material from that album would qualify for my under this thread. Cheers, Bob

Not my kind of music, but great groove!  ;)


Absolutely.

The first one I ever heard to make me notice drums, Get Ready, by the Temptations, Benny Benjamen,also Rare Earths version with Floyd. That backbeat cracks.
 Benjamen also played on Stevie Wonders Uptight


Watching the Dectives by Elvis Costello,Steve Goulding

[uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxfWuneXWhY&mode=related&search=rl][/url]

Ringo - I Feel Fine (had to get the man out of the way first)
Andy Newmark - His Name Is Legs (Ladies And Gentlemen) <George Harrison>
Levon Helm - Ophelia <The Band>
Danny Seraphine - Does Anybody Really Know What time It Is? <Chicago>
Dino Dinelli - I've Been Lonely To Long <Rascals>
Henry Spinetti - I Cant Stand It <Eric Clapton>
Michael Botts - Let Your Love Go <Bread>
Tony Brock - Head First <The Babys>
Liberty Devito - The Stranger <Billy Joel>

,,,,and anything Jim Keltner, Hal Blaine, Russ Kunkel, Jim Gordon, and Gary Chester played on.

Too many to pick "favorites" but here are a couple that come to mind:

"Storm" et al from Stanley Turrentine's album "Salt Song" with Ron Carter, Airto Moierera, Billy Cobham
http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Song-Stanley-Turrentine/dp/B000002AGS/sr=1-1/qid=1161828070/ref=sr_1_1/002-7621807-8254402?ie=UTF8&s=music

"Two Princes"  from Spin Doctors, Aaron Comess, drums.
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Aaron_Comess.html

"Guilty" Barbra Streisand, The Bee Gees, Steve Gadd, drums. Gadd sounds like he's caressing his snare on this track. His touch is incredible... almost like a symphonic snare drum technique. His toms and fills sound sweet also.

"What is Hip?" Tower of Power, David Garibaldi.

Hardly straight, great though the drumming is.
I mean we're talking basic good grooves here.

"Hard Days Night."  I think it was the first "no fills" groove and inspired me with the driving feel.

That's what kept me out of this thread from the start.

The definition of a "straight groove" wouldnt even include shuffles in my opinion.

To me, a straight groove would be quarter or eighth note based and not too complicated, not too many fills either.

A "good" straight groove would be the above plus a killer feel.

That's just me though, I guess.

e.g. What Is Hip has a good bit of linear stuff in it, far from straight in my mind.  ???

Steve Jordan on Soul Man comes to mind as an example of a good straight groove to me.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but AC/DC has a lot of great simple grooves.  John Bonham, too.

I'll have to agree with you here, Christopher which is why my post was "You Don't Know How it Feels".  I took the title of the thread to mean straight 8th note or quarter note based grooves with no fills.  Shuffles, linear, fusion, etc... do not constitute straight grooves in my opinion.

JeepnDrummer, you nailed it with the AC/DC contribution.  Awesome straight grooves, every one.  You know what I love about AC/DC?  They are the heaviest rock and roll band in the universe and do not play one single ballad.

Hey man, for D.G. that is a straight groove!  ;)

But, yea, you're right. I was really only thinking of that oil-slick groove he lays down in the 16-bar intro; and I didn't know a straight groove could only be quarter or eighth note based.

I mistakenly thought the thread was referring to outstanding grooves of whatever style -- as opposed to chops, soloing, rudimentary prowess, speed, etc.

I had never heard of a type of playing specifically called a "straight groove"; I guess none of the tracks I mentioned would qualify.

Interesting.  I guess you'd have to remove a number of the entries in my post because they were definitely shuffles.  Looks like I'm in the minority here but I don't see why a straightforward steady shuffle can't "groove".

I think a shuffle can and most often does groove.  But I would not call it straight (duple meter).  A shuffle is more along the lines of swing (triple meter).  The title of the thread is Favorite straight groove recordings.  That's where at least my comments came from.

Although I pretty much agree with Christopher, I took the meaning of the title to be straight ahead (as in uncomplicated). Strictly speaking, the term 'straight' is understood by many musicians to mean not shuffled or swung.
However, I'm going to continue to regard this thread as a place to recommend simple, but killer grooves, straight 8 (or 16) or shuffle.
A lot of Gadd's grooves and almost all of Garibaldi's are in the category 'complicated' IMO.
They incorporate a lot of technical riffs and syncopation......and we haven't heard that word in a while.  ;D

  (bolding mine)

ah, interesting. i also took it to mean uncomplicated; but now that you mention 'not swung' [which i didn't even think to consider, as my head was in pop music mode], i realize that's another variable. coz i think of 'straight' swing and 'broken' swing; straight being the 'simpler' classic swing pattern.

not that it really matters, though, coz i suspect we're mainly talking pop stuff. 

 

I intended this thread to be a place to talk about the grooves that *feel* good, and don't really relate to revolving drum sets hung 100 feet above the stage or some clinician ripping off 32nd note paradiddles on the bass drums. I thought the term was fairly open to interpretation, and didn't have to settle within narrow boundaries, but the groove should probably emphasize 2 & 4 at the very least.

To me, an outstanding example of a straight groove is why a drummer gets hired for a big money gig, and not neccesarily why a drummer gets voted for in the Modern Drummer polls. I thought someone might mention Stan Lynch and Steve Ferrone for their work with Tom Petty. Not my kind of music, but I'm dazzled by the forceful simplicity of their drum work with him.

Straight grooves don't have to be limited to cavemen rockers. More often than not, the best straight grooves require deft skill, limber hands, and dancing feet to pull off.

Exactly.


Exactly.


Exactly.

I'm surprised no one mentioned "Don't You" by Simple Minds, which I suppose was the Scottish version of U2 in the 80s. To this day I still don't know who their drummer is, and I know they went through a few. Too bad, because whichever studio cat put that tasty playing together rates high in my book.

Hmm, puzzled by the implied comment that 'pop' can't swing, whether that be 'straight' or 'broken', although I don't understand those two terms either.

I guess we haven't got around to mentioning every great, straight groove yet.
I'm 99% sure the drummer was Mel Gaynor.
At the time he was kinda considered in the UK to be the next Simon Phillips.
Certainly, he was (is) a very fine drummer.

yah, pop can swingg. i guess i was splitting hairs, genre-wise.

i don't know. i'm giddy from lack of sleep.


 :P

I'm just getting warmed up.  :P

No one's mentioned Phil Gould and everything he ever played with Level 42. With Mark King, there aren't many rhythm sections that rate hire in my unrecorded list. I love Gary Husband, but I wasn't crazy about the direction of the music when Phil left. Having Gary Husband and Allan Holdsworth in your rock band is sort of like taking a Lamborghani and a Ferrari for a slow country drive.

That's what I thought, too, and for my money, "What Is Hip" definitely deserves to be on this list, at least the way I'm interpreting the criteria - the groove and feel of that track are undeniable.  IMO, being "tasteful" doesn't automatically mean playing very few notes - it means playing what the song requires, which often does equate to "relatively few notes," but not always.

Besides, how much more tasteful can you get than this:  the most "signature" fill in the song (referring to "What Is Hip") is comprised of one - count 'em ONE - bass drum note!  :)

Now, that having been said, I've got a few more to suggest:

Herbie Lovelle, on B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone"
Roger Hawkins, on Aretha Franklin's "Chain Of Fools"

And my apologies if it's there and I've missed it, but have we had any James Brown on the list yet?  If not, or even if we have:

Clyde Stubblefield, on James Brown's "Cold Sweat"

Well it's just that the inspiration for this thread I believe was my oft heard complaint that we talk about chop-heavy, virtuoso drum performances too much.
I'm not Gaddabout, but many of the drum grooves mentioned early in this thread were grooves most Cafe members could successfully play themselves. That's a good thing in my book.   
I wouldn't know where to start to deconstruct a Garibaldi groove.


You're right, but we talk a lot about the Portnoy's, Chambers and Beauford's. Here's a chance to talk about some examples of the drummer digging into a simpler pattern, with bags of groove and conviction.

The thing about Garibaldi is he really rides that line between technician and groove man. He has to because of the band he's in. The bass lines are really complicated, but you have to stay out of the way of the big horn section while kicking them in the backside with the time. To me, Garibaldi isn't a great technician to begin with. I've heard him swing. It sounds really stiff to me. But I do think he is a groove man with a technician's mindset, and he's technically proficient enough to do what he wants to do.

I also think there's a mystique about Garibaldi where people attribute things to him that he did not play. By that, I mean people listen to, say, "Bump City," and attribute more to the drum part than there really is. Bump City is a great swamp groove, BTW.

What Is Hip is one of those songs where you have a really hard time determining where it sits on our flimsy dichotomy. How you interpret that kind of playing is going to reveal a lot about what you prefer, IMO. It's really a song featuring the horns, and the drums and bass are sort of interlocked in this monstrous flow of sixteenth notes. There's some syncopation, but it's not choppy, and it's not downbeat challenged (there's no displacement going on). Depending on how you interpret the grace notes, I think it could be a very straight groove. It certainly holds nothing on Garibaldi's arm and brain twisters like the outro to Man from the Past, which I currently remain totally baffled how he (a) arrived at something like that and (b) made it groove so well. When I play it, it's akin to Clay Aiken singing Marvin Gaye or some other really bad idea. Ironically, his playing on Man from the Past leading up to the outro is remarkably restrained and very good soulful playing.

So I let you all decide. ;)

No doubt Garibaldi grooves in my opinion.
Most of the Tower Of Power signature grooves can be attributed to the entire rhythm section however.
They move as a well oiled machine. Take each player as an individual and the power of the groove is much diminished.
The Tower Of Power groove is made up from choppy organ, bass guitar, congas and the drums.

Back to the original topic.....
A drummer who constantly turns around the one, utilises a lot of beat displacement and syncopation, does not add up to a 'straight' groove player in my book.
Just a personal opinion.

The drummer for The Donna's i think drives a good beat (kinda repetitive after awhile to me)

The Smithereens "behind a wall of sleep" really gets to me too

Gotta include Nashville cats... "...clean as country water" ;)

(extra credit for those who "get" that reference.)

E.g., Amy Grant's "House of Love" -- Chad Cromwell, drums.

Besides a great, simple groove, one small stand-out he does several times on the track, is to play shimmering quarter-note accents, in unison with the vocal, on three crash cymbals that sound pitched in an ascending melodic triad. Really nice effect.

I have to agree.

Chad Smith and John Blackwell are both the groove masters. Was it modern drummer festival where Chad smith just played the same beat for like 5 minutes straight to prove a point? That was a bit silly, but still better than these guys who play as fast as they can and make sell the most DVD's!

What is really killer is I am downloading all these great tunes into my music player for only 12 bucks a month!

Finally broke down and bought an Mp3 player. 

Boy, it's great hearing some of these old tunes again and lots for the first time.

Ok, to play big fat groove can one play slightly ahead of the one and three and drag the back beat?

Really kick butt groove Chrisso on the Bohemian's track Gaddabout mentioned.  I gotta admit...

I'm impressed!  ;D 8) ;) LOL

By the way- guys, you gotta get Fred Dinkin's book "It's about time"... it is so much fun and it just has to work on your groove- check it out at the drum shop next time you are there.  It is a blast the exercises he has you do.  Best book I've gotten in years IMHO.

I just caught Tom Petty on VH1 classic BBC jewels and I forgot how great Stan Lynch was. Killer grooves on everything, but they did 'Breakdown' and it really grabbed me. Fantastic. Well, i'd like to add more, but i'm off to see Kansas right now and Phil Ehart is my favorite drummer so,,,.

Black Cow- Steely Dan.  Did Keltner, Bernard Purdie, Gadd or Rick Marotta play drums on this?  Awesome as well. :)

Ok, I found it... Paul Humphrey.

I've pulled No Doubt's Rock Steady out of the bin again, and Adrian Young is just really, really good on this one. His stuff on the single Hella Good is enjoyable. So I went back to Tragic Kingdom and Return of Saturn and realized how much he's grown up. He used to be a little Stewart Copeland wanna-be, although I confess he did a decent impression. Now he seems to have settled into his own identity, and I think if I were a producer I wouldn't hesitate to call him on a rock or pop gig.

I have that cd.  I'll have to check it out again- he is really good and even manages a few fresh sounding fills for a pop player.

No mention of Charlie Watts?

I guess we have talked about him enough here, but I heard a killer Stone's song on TV yesterday that I thought had a killer groove.  I'll let you know when I find it.

Has no one checked out the Fred Dinkin's book yet?  It is so much fun.  I must have grooved on that thing for three hours this weekend. 

There is a section called "playing silence" where you play thru one beat and increase up to 16 bars of silence- all at different tempos utilizing 4 different grooves.  8)  It's a trip.  The 8 and 16 bars of playing PERFECT time at 75 BPM is no joke.  Try it  ;D

Found another sweet shuffle for you guys to revisit:

Steely Dan, Aja, "Home at Last" Bernard Purdie.

That guy's feel is no joke. :-X

I'm lovin' your grooves of doom page Mr. A.  Thanks- it's awesome.  I'll bump it again in case there are any newb's coming to this thread (including me).

http://www.keithcronin.com/groovedoom.html (http://www.keithcronin.com/groovedoom.html)

Here are my favorites in the pop rock vein:

New York Minute - Don Henly(Porcaro)
All I Want - Toad the Wet Sprocket (not sure of the drummer)
Steve McQueen - Sheryl Crow (Steve Jordan)

All time fave:
Hurts So Good--Mellencamp (Aronoff)

Good call! I couldn't remember if anyone had mentioned Ricky Fataar in this thread.  I just dug Bonnie's Nick Of Time CD off the shelf, and his playing brought this thread back to mind.  Talk about your no-nonsense grooves - especially on some of the tracks that didn't get the big-time airplay, like "Real Man" and "I Will Not Be Denied."  Not a wasted note or gratuitous fill in the bunch.

(As an added bonus, he has my favorite china cymbal sound ever.)  :D

Time to go searching online and find some other recordings he has played on.

Eric Carr On a lot of recordings, though I particularily like Crazy Crazy Nights and I Love It Loud, both with KISS.

Also Christiano Mozzati(may have got his name wrong there) on Lacuna Coil's cover of Enjoy The Silence

Didn't he play Barry Wom in The Rutles?

That was John Halsey.

A few more groves I like are -

I'm In Touch With Your World - The Cars (David Robinson)
Theres Something Going On - Freeda (Phil Collins)
Two Cents Worth - Kansas (Phil Ehart)
All Right Now - Free (Simon Kirke)
A House Is Not A Motel - Love (Michael Stuart) maybe more like jamming, but I like it

Yeah, Ricky Fataar I think was supposed to be "George" in the Rutles, great movie... ;)

Speaking of Beach Boy drummers, I must say I really dig Dennis Wilson's playing from the 70's, when he was reasonably sober (not very often). Technically, he couldn't play the drums, but from touring with the band he somehow developed some ability. Probably, Brian taught him more about drums than anybody. If you listen to Hal Blaine's playing on their 60's records, they actually have a lot in common - often no hihat, playing backbeats on snare and toms. "Shortenin' Bread" from "LA light album" and "Rock'n'roll music" are some of my favourites - real straight grooves. That said, he could be terrible on some concerts, losing the beat and playing really "out there"-fills that made the rhythm-section collapse, always smiling and laughing  ;D Tragic at the same time....

Another favourite Beach Boy cut is "Keepin' the summer alive", played by either Gary Mallaber or Ricky Fataar. The Beach Boys music demanded simple, straight drum grooves.

On mr Whitten's playing, I think that "My brave face" is a GREAT-feeling track.

Yeah, one of my favorite Beach Boy tunes was 'Bluebirds Over The Mountain' off of Live In London. Denny did well on that album.

As for Flowers In The Dirt, i'm a huge Paul freak and absolutely love the album, and a tune I really dig for Mr. Whitten was 'Rough Ride'. Chris did a fantastic job on the whole album. Tasteful.

I didn't know you liked McCartney OR The Beatles!

Wow.

 ;)

Yesterday I heard two tunes that immediatley brought this thread to mind:

I was sitting in a restaurant/bar and the sound system was pretty loud (speakers right over my head) so I got an up close listen to the drum tracks of all the songs playing.

AC/DC "Highway to Hell" Man that is just a solid track, I've heard it a thousand times but never "listened" to it that closely. His BD pattern just fits so well. I've heard many a cover band play this and the drummer never quite captured it.

Phil Collins/Phillip Bailey- "Easy Lover".. Just a perfect drum track, The bass drum and the bass are so tightly aligned it almost seems digitally constructed (which I doubt it was back then). The drums in the pre-chorus just drive things really nicely, but with a laid back feel, and the melodic toms and cymbals just sound so huge and powerful. It just struck me what a great drum track this was and how I think it really added to the success of the song. (meaning yes, it is a great song with a great hook and all but the rhythm is what gets it moving).

kev, let me guess: you were at heartland brewery. ;D


that place is LOUD!