Say what?
I'd forgotten that clip until I posted about that Prisoner-themed song by The Times last Monday. It derives, in case you're wondering, from Brit director Basil Dearden's 1962 feature All Night Long, which is a fabulous jazz reimagining of Othello. McGoohan is the film's Iago, no surprise there, and apparently that's really him playing in the clip.
I should add that said film -- which also features musical performances by Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus -- is available in a budget DVD set with three other equally astounding Dearden flicks -- Sapphire, The League of Gentlemen, and Victim -- from Criterion subsidiary Eclipse. It makes a great gift for any cineaste of your acquaintance and you can -- and should -- order it over at Amazon HERE.
Which brings us to today's business. To wit:
...and your all-time favorite (or least favorite) drum solo/break on a post-Elvis pop/rock/country or soul record is...???
Arbitrary rule: No jazz records need apply, for obvious reasons. Although if it's one that actually got played on Top 40 radio, a la Cozy Cole's "Topsy Pt II," I'll allow it.
Also -- there are no time/length constraints, so you can endorse something as brief as my nominee, which is the couple-of-measures long drums-and-handclaps fill B.J. Wilson graces on Procol Harum's "The Devil Came From Kansas" (which you can hear below at approximately the 2:46 mark).
Discuss.
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
18 comments:
Half the guys in my high school could tap out the opening few bars of the drum solo from In A Gadda Da Vida on our desks. I can still do it today. I don't know if it's my favorite, but it's the only drum solo other than Ringo's on Birthday that I remember how to play.
Bill Lordan, live version of "Althea" from Robin Trower "Live."
Solo starts at 2:19.
My fave type of drum solo, one that never loses the beat and rhythm of the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0m14xkmQaw
wipe out by the surfaris nice drum part between every verse
in the air tonight by phil collins massive drum explosion towards end of the song
rs
Toad by Cream
the cowbell-drum set punctuation in the middle of the chambers brothers "time has come today" as it slows down - nearly stops - and then gets going again
YouTube has renditions of various lengths - from two minutes - for the ed Sullivan show - to the album 11 minutes - to a 'psychedelic freakout' 15 minutes
the 'time that has come' in the next few days in culturally important religious calendars is known to those of us who observe them and/or are connected with those who do
and if you don't feel that connection, here's something from a different tradition that many find meaningful - metta is translated as 'loving kindness' :
https://www.lionsroar.com/metta-meditation-guide/
wikipedia says -
a/mcgoohan did learn to play the drums for the film - however
b/"On the soundtrack, drummer Allan Ganley is heard performing Patrick McGoohan's drum parts, though McGoohan did learn to play the drums for the film."
Ginger Baker is much underrated - "Crossroads" builds chorus by chorus with frightening intensity. Of my Top 3 British rock drummers (the other two are Charlie and Ringo) he's the only one who took solos. Cream was in many ways HIS band.
As Springsteen said in his early 70s VILLAGE VOICE music classified ad when he was looking for a drummer — “No junior Ginger Bakers, please.”😎
The incredible explosion by Kenny Jones at the conclusion of The Small Faces 'Green Circles'.
Captain Al
Ringo's brief solo in "The End". Not very flashy, but it's always great. Kinda like Ringo.
Great piece by Patrick McGoohan!
Does Charlie Watts' two cymbal taps at the end of "Dead Flowers" count? It fits the criteria of "no time/length constraints", and it's still pretty damn cool every time.
Thanks for reminding me of this awesome Procol Harum song. And the great Robin Trower guitar playing, both before the "drum solo" and on the fadeout. As for that "drum solo", that's a fill, not a solo. But if those count, I must mention the one on John Cougar's (as he was known at the time) I NEED A LOVER, played by the legendary Jimmy Daniel.
I usually say "friends don't let friends endure drum solos."
Then again, they're rarely as much fun as this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjiOtouyBOg
Keith Moon notoriously despised drum solos, and about as close as he got is the drum break going into the final thrash on the Live at Leeds version of Magic Bus. Killer! And I like Dave Marsh’s characterization of that version of that song as “Bo Diddley on LSD and nitromethane” :-)
Speaking of Keith, he does a drum roll for the ages going into the final verse of The Kids Are Alright. And his playing on Bargain, especially the instrumental section that follows Townshend’s vocal on the bridge, is maybe his finest recorded performance, and one of the greatest rock drum performances ever.
One of my favorite drummers is Joe Vitale, who played excellent drums on much of Joe Walsh’s 1970s work, and has some particularly noteworthy stuff on the 1974 song County Fair; there’s a middle section that starts off drums only, then builds to an instrumental crescendo with Vitale’s drums leading the way. A blast!
Queen’s Roger Taylor hits a furious and well-recorded drum roll going into the final chorus of the delightfully sleazy garage rock masterpiece Fat Bottomed Girls, to this day just about the only Queen song I truly like.
Captain Al already mentioned Kenny Jones, I'm going to list him again for the Faces cover of "I Know I'm Losing You".
Watch him here:
https://youtu.be/uP4CEPaiAzU?si=6j2ml1-07XlruiGH&t=252
Cowbell solo at beginning of Mountain's "Mississippi Queen."
Jeff Porcaro's drum break, which divides the guitar solo into two halves, on Steely Dan's "Your Gold Teeth II", from KATY LIED. Porcaro was a superb player.
Speaking of STEELY DAN, who always used good drummers, Steve Gadd and his furious drum fills on the instrumental fade-out of the song "Aja".
John Bonham's isolated snare, hi-hat and kick drum at the start of Led Zep's "When The Levee Breaks". And his drum break near the end of "Rock And Roll", and the isolated snare and cymbal pattern, which was a replication of Earl Palmer's drumming on Little Richard's "Keep A-Knockin'", which Bonham plays at the start of "Rock And Roll".
Richard Manuel's drum break in the middle of the Band's "Rag Mama Rag" ("We could be relaxin'/In my sleeping bag...").
Dennis Diken's drum intro at the start of the Smithereens' cover of "Mr. Eliminator" (a Dick Dale song).
Fuck me, we all forgot the greatest example of a drum solo ever. 2:13 of the best lead drumming ever:
Happy Jack - The Who.
Keith Moon's drumming was the lead instrument! Never to be equaled let alone topped.
Things were never the same for The Who afterwards. Not better, not worse, just different.
Captain Al (Ain't I a stinker?)
Speaking of Procol and the late (and very great) B.J. Wilson.
I turn your attention to the drum break in Power Failure on their criminally overlooked Broken Barricades,
Vince
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