Death to drum-snob douche bags!

[Divemistress of the Dark]

[quote]Rush is pretty pretentious in a college freshman kind of way that gets on my nerves.[/quote]

(snurfle!)

I think that was kind of a muffled giggle...I admit I haven't ever got all the fuss around Rush, either. But then, this is coming from someone who owns disco albums, so that that into account.

(Not *only* disco albums, mind you...)

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="matthewstr"]Rush is pretty pretentious in a college freshman kind of way that gets on my nerves.[/quote]

Thank gods someone else said it. Thank you.

[GinaSuperCat]

[quote="Divemistress of the Dark"]Woof! Do they not have cabs in your town, girl? Guess it's always good exercise. Sorry to hear about the car trouble. [/quote]

Well, after the car cost more than we said we absolutely physically could pay...it was a whopping bill...we had no more $ in the bank and had just enough cash to go to Wendys and get a 99c item for dinner...i sure f'in hope we don't have to play anymore since the car completely collapsed *after* they "fixed" it...And ya, this is the Bonnaroomobile <cry>

Ringo's comment was rather eliptical, he did only mention the opening of the Grammy's and I think it may say a bit more of how he is a tad out of touch rather than necessarily being ugly...I dunno...there wasn't much context for the comment really...

Ringo was undoubtedly one of the most influential drummers...he virtually made the Ludwig 4pc popular...after the Ed Sullivan appearance, Ludwig could not literally make enough to meet demand...and scores of drummers were inspired by him to pick up the sticks...remember the Beatle's picked him because he was the coolest cat at the time...I've always fancied Ringo...whatever technical debates aside...he had personality in his drumming...

This is one of the reasons I fancy Stewart's drumming so much...yes he has chops, yes he's well studied, yes he swings and grooves...it kinda goes along with the feel...but when someone can do all that and then something like hit the splash with an "oh yea?" kinda expression on his face, laff...how can you not love it?

[howardhughes]

As it happens i quite like some rush stuff...a bit ..never bought any of their records or anything and am not really bothered about them at all...they could split up tonight and i wouldnt give a monkeys.

seems that neil peart is very widely respected as a drummer and knows his stuff....to simply rubbish him and his band is in my view silly.....just cos someone who likes them doesnt like SC.......and dares to say so....OH MY GOD !!! crime of crimes!!! hang him!!!

Surely if you dont like rush ...the solution is very simple...dont listen to them...they will bother you much less....this system has worked like a charm for me for many years.....i thoroughly recommend it....the OFF switch is a wonderfull thing.

surely we are not having ANOTHER stewart is better than X Y or Z thread again............there isnt a finite amount of space for good drummers, bands...whatever..... the more good drummers, musicians and bands there are around the more we can listen to and enjoy them.

I think we get 'our favourite' confused with 'being the best' a lot on here......theres no such thing as the best drummer or singer or F****n whatever...theres just what we personally like more or less.

....gimme strength !

HH

[howardhughes]

I also believe that the "pretentious" label has been thrown at the police from time to time....especially at the bloke who sings.

[cpriddims]

Ok people..

Being a fellow drum nerd, I had to chime in on this one!

On the recent Rush R30 dvd, there's an old video interview from around 1980 with Neil Peart telling the interviewer the bands they were currently really into and Neil said "The Police."

Neil Peart is more like a surgeon on the drums. He plans out things methodically, orchestrates the lyrics and the song with an intense thought process Type-A personality, then executes his plan with perfect precision. But it is mostly all planned out ahead of time. We're talking 90% of his parts.

Stew is more like a crazy whirling dervish, whipping about original and unconventional rhythms like mad, mostly unrehearsed, and makes it work with the music every time. In some ways he is so much more exciting than Neil because mostly everything he plays is fresh to the ears (other than some of the fills we all know from the hits).

I personally love both drummers and respect them for their significant historical developments to drumset playing.

My guess is that the D.L. guy must be a type-A kind of dude who has to practice everything until it's perfect to get it right. No ability to play 'off the cuff' so to speak and make something work out of thin air. Many drummers are like that, but not our Stewy!

PS Neil's great rock-wise, but jazz-wise he couldn't 'swing' from a meathook. I appreciate his tributes to Buddy Rich, but he needs to get off the jazz thing, or take lessons with a swing drummer. A lot of lessons that is...

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Rush just isn't my thing. I can understand why people like them, and I don't dislike them...there's just other stuff I'd rather listen to.

I'm a pretty big Ringo fan myself. Which is why I'd kinda need to know exactly what he said about The Police before I'd posit much of an opinion...

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="howardhughes"]I also believe that the "pretentious" label has been thrown at the police from time to time....especially at the bloke who sings.[/quote]

Man, I'll take Stingo on his worst day than Rush on their best. I really hate their sound.

Does Peart have any non-Rush projects? I would really like to be able to listen to his drumming for learning's sake (without having to, you know, listen to Rush).

[Spec A!]

BLASPHEMY!!

J/K- I love RUSH, but love The Police more. Do you not like them because of the music or the vocals or what? Most people can;t get past Geddy Lee's voice which honestly I can't blame them- it takes some getting used to! But just like The Police, all three of them are incredible musicians and masters of their instruments. I can share some instrumentals with you if it's Geddy's voice you don't like! Otherwise, there's no real Peart side projects for you other than his instructional DVD's (which of course feature RUSH songs).

[DirtyMartini]

I know, I know -- I'm sorry! I respect you folks who are Rush fans, but man, when you ask this:

[quote="Spec A!"]Do you not like them because of the music or the vocals or what?[/quote]

all I can say is, "Yes."

Lee's voice really does grate on my nerves. But I also don't love the melodies. Or the lyrics. Or the synths. Or did I mention that gnome-like voice? *shiver* Just not my thang.

I'd be happy to try some instrumentals. Even if I don't dig the melodies, I *would* like to hear the drumming -- especially considering how highly many of you have spoken of his work.

[Spec A!]

YYZ w/a short solo - no singing I swear!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_lhj5dTptqM

[DirtyMartini]

For those who want to bypass a bit of the tune and head straight to the solo (forgive me, A), it starts around 3:30.

After watching that, I can see the sense in a lot of what you guys have said. Peart really does have a rather Type A style. That's not a bad thing per se -- he can certainly play. But you can definitely see him thinking (cf. how SC talks about how his brain shuts down when he plays). The technique/feel thing becomes quite evident.

It's really curious to see how very tense Peart's body looks, how specific each hit is. Lots of precision words come to mind: mathmatical, calculated, geometric, measured, tight. With SC, I think more motion words: fluid, flowing, grooving, liquid, sinuous. I can definitely see why Peart has difficulty with swing. (But as I'm a big poseur anyway, who am I to talk?)

Very interesting. Thank you, Spec!

[gezellig]

Howard Hughes is bang on there. How you can take that much umbrage for someone championing their favourite whatever over yours is beyond me.

For the record, SC is my top drummer although I'd concede that the likes of Buddy Rich may be better - I'd certainly have a debate over it and not a scrap - but listening to The Police' music is more my bag than big band jazz or whatever. Different strokes for different folks innit?

For me it's like most people saying Pele was the greatest footballer. Well possibly, but could he dribble like Ryan Giggs, make saves like Neville Southall, take a free kick like David Beckham or tackle like Tony Adams? It's all relative so chill out.

[BongoBoy]

How their new album (Rush) SpecA! ?

I always liked the old stuff, 2112, Exit Stage Left,Hemispheres...y'know Tom Sawyer and all that.

Never really got into the "new" songs much. I always respected them though, even when I am not buying their records.

Great musicians, but for me it's always the songs...like SpecA said sometimes you can't get past the voice or the guitar style whatever. We all like different stuff and that makes the discussions fun...I think anyway.

Don't you think RUSH kinda lost their way when Lifeson started using effects like Andy Summers? I think that guitar sound didn't work well in their style...his old rock sounds was much better to me. (IMO)

It's like Bob Dylan...I have to debate all the time about his merits. It confuses me because I can totally understand people who do not "take" to his voice...but the songs? Man! he has hundreds of great ones. I still have to argue and defend, kinda weird. People sometimes love to hate. Hey, there's a new song for me to write!!!

Anyway, it's all good.

I just prefer crazy flailing edge of your seat drumming over a planned out perfect precision playing. In all music I like to hear the "realness". A lot of new recording (for my ears) are way to compressed and effected by studio polish.

Listen to an old Leadbelly tune or Howlin Wolf...one mic...couple of guys...music.

That's why I love the first few Police records...you can practically hear them in the room. So real.

Cheers....May 10th...the clock is ticking.......

[imcquill]

They both were playing what made sense for the music. Stewart didn't play the same when he was in Curved Air, which was totally Proggy. It just wouldn't have made sense. Peart could have perhaps been a better "Curved Air" type drummer, but Stewart was perfect for The Police.