The accomplishments of Moonie, Bonzo, Charlie, Ginger, Peart, Grohl and Palmer are rightly celebrated – but for now let the spotlight fall on these slick sticksters.
This list is respectfully dedicated to Messrs Haywood, Helm, Waller and Porcaro, who sadly have all entered that great drum booth in the sky.
- RICHIE HAYWARD (Little Feat, sessions): Cool, sublime – with him the Feat sounded so sweet;
- RUSS KUNKEL (Sessions): Veteran LA session stalwart who never seemed to break sweat – made it all look (and sound) so easy;
- LEVON HELM (The Band): With him at the helm The Band were always going to soar;
- MICKY WALLER (Jeff Beck, Sessions): Anyone with an interest in percussion should wallow in his cataclysmic assault on Rod’s ‘Every Picture Tells A Story‘;
- CHARLIE MARTIN (Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band): Without him ‘Live Bullet‘ might have been a blank – he propels it into all-time great live album territory;
- RINGO (The Beatles, Solo): Born to the job. Would not have been right for Zeppelin, in the same way Bonzo wouldn’t have suited The Beatles;
- TOPPER HEADON (The Clash): Punk powerhouse who gave The Clash their drive – ‘Tommy Gun‘ is Moonie reincarnate. No higher praise than that;
- JEFF PORCARO (Toto, Sessions): Never fussy or complicated – superb at keeping it simple;
- KENNY JONES (Small Faces, Faces, The Who): Despite reservations from the lead singer, put in great live performances with The Who – his reputation already forged with Faces (small or otherwise);
- MAX WEINBERG (Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band): Dynamic, astute – follows the Boss on his stage manoeuvres with unerring accuracy;
- STAN LYNCH (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Sessions): Heartbreaker and stellar rhythm maker – never over plays or has a beat out of place;
- MICK FLEETWOOD (Fleetwood Mac): Always expertly aligned with whatever incarnation of the band is in front of him – who are lucky to have him behind them;
- KENNY ARONOFF: (John Mellencamp, Sessions): Gave the work of John Mellencamp an almighty crack to underpin some of the best sounding work of the era;
- JOE VITALE (Joe Walsh, CSN, Sessions): Dependable, routinely excellent, given sterling service to many;
- MICK AVORY (The Kinks): Unfairly described as ‘all fingers and thumbs‘ (in song) by Raymond Douglas Davies – who deep down knew Mrs Avory’s child was an integral part of their sound;
- BOB HENRIT (Argent, The Kinks, Sessions): Succeeded Mick in The Kinks after producing wonderful work with Argent and several notable sessions;
- JIM KELTNER (Sessions): The Drummers’ Drummer – played with everyone, never let anybody down;
- STEWART COPELAND: (Police, Sessions): There has to be a pun about police and beat, but his classy, clever drumming is certainly no joke;
- ROGER TAYLOR (Queen): Never failed to master the wide-ranging material Queen produced – a princely drummer;
- DON HENLEY (Eagles, Solo, Sessions): Vocal and song writing skills have constantly overshadowed his drum work – but has had his moments, ‘Hotel California‘ a case in point;
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller now available as an Amazon Kindle Book.
Jon Hisemann of Colosseum is an incredible drummer. Started off with the incredible Graham Bond and Jack Bruce (I saw Bond a couple of times 1970/71, incredible organist and sax player) then he played on many John Mayall songs often attributed to Hughie Flint before starting Colosseum with Mark Clarke, Dave Greenslade, Dick Heckstall-Smith and James Litherland on guitar. Successive Lineups included the great Gary Moore in Colosseum 2 ( I saw one show in Plymouth circa 1976, about the same time they recorded with Julian Lloyd Weber, Variations [variations on a theme by Paganini, they did the original cello version, then in the style of The Shadows, Mahavishnu, hard rock etc.]). It the best and fantastic lineup was with Dave ‘Clem’ Clemson who cut his teeth in the rather unsuccessful prog rock outfit Bakerloo. The album Colosseum Live is for me one of the great live albums and has stood the test of time just like The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore and the less famous Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (check out their version of Green Onions). I’ve seen Colosseum Live probably ten times firstly at I think the Plumpton Festival and more recently in Graz Austria about five years ago. You can forget about Jon Hiseman’s age, at 73 (ok he was 67 when I last saw him) he puts guys like Neil Peart and Ginger Baker into shadows.
Hi Chris – I bow here to your extensive knowledge of this collection of players, most I have heard of but largely unfamiliar with their work, although I seem to recall the NME Encyclopedia Of Rock (1977 edition) writing in very glowing terms about the first two Colosseum albums. Talking of Ginger Baker I saw a BBC documentary about him sometime ago and although this is a personal observation with nothing to do with drumming, he struck me as a most dislikeable man. Regards Neil
I totally agree with you on 19 drummers and I absolutely do not agree on Ringo I can say only this if he were with any other group he would not last. The Beatles could have used a drum machine as their writings and and playing abilities were the best and we will never see a band like that. Lf you watched the George Harrison concert with many artists doing While My Guitar Gently Weeps with Eric on vocals Ringo on one set and Phil Collins on the other you will see Phil who I do not rate as a drummer although I would rather him on drums than vocals making Ringo look like the amature that he is was and will be.
Thank you.
I totally agree with you on 19 drummers and I absolutely do not agree on Ringo I can say only this if he were with any other group he would not last. The Beatles could have used a drum machine as their writings and and playing abilities were the best and we will never see a band like that. Lf you watched the George Harrison concert with many artists doing While My Guitar Gently Weeps with Eric on vocals Ringo on one set and Phil Collins on the other you will see Phil who I do not rate as a drummer although I would rather him on drums than vocals making Ringo look like the amature that he is was and will be.
Thank you.
Hello Greg – hope you are well. Firstly thank you for taking the time to read my article and send your comments – I appreciate that very much.
I accept Ringo was not a powerhouse drummer in the same way Keith Moon or John Bonham were – but I would still maintain he was the right drummer for The Beatles. Moon or Bonham would have overwhelmed Beatles songs, just as for example, I couldn’t imagine Ringo performing as Keith does on ‘Live At Leeds,’ The Who and The Beatles requiring different things from their respective drummers. But I think you do poor Ringo an injustice by calling him an amateur – I think some of his playing, particularly towards the end of The Beatles recording days is excellent and it continues into his solo career, the 1973 ‘Ringo’ album is not only one of the best Beatle solo albums it also shows Ringo asserting himself as a drummer (the Devil Woman song on side two contains some every powerful playing).
It is of course just a matter of opinion – and with this you seem to be with John Lennon. He was once asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world. John looked astounded – ‘best drummer in the world?’ he laughed, ‘he’s not even the best drummer in The Beatles.’ !!
Very best wishes – and please feel free to comment on anything else of mine you like/disagree with !!
Regards
Neil
SAMTIMONIOUS.com
Cozy Powell in my honest opinion is highly underrated.
Hi Ray – hope you well. You are quite right Sir – he is!! I had friends at school (who were into drummers and drumming) that talked of him in the same breath as Bonham and Moon. One of those friends I am still in touch with and he’ll be enraged I left Mr Powell off the list!! Best wishes – and thanks for taking the time to comment. Regards Neil