lists

Well put Zem!

I also got Live in Pompeii for my birthday. The drumming is very good.

The single most important aspect of a drummer is the ability to keep time. All the fills, crashes, rolls, solo's, etc will not keep him employed for a single gig if he can't keep time.

It's unfortunate that most of these so called "lists" don't take that into account. On that point Nick Mason is an excellent drummer. His time is impeccable.

Many folks wonder why Ringo Starr is so widely regarded as an excellent drummer. He never really did any solos to speak of, his fills were OK at best, his kit was very basic by any standard... Ringo's nickname in the Biz is "The Human Metronome" ......Nobody, and I mean Nobody can keep time like Ringo....

Nobody?

i think you're half right man, andy newmark in 2 suns in the sunset is amazing and very floydian. but nick had the ability to take a pf song to a higher level of space feeling.

Being a human metronome isn't really a good thing. Sure, Ringo can keep time, but is his drumming really that interesting? Not really.

The door swings both ways on that one. Ever heard of Carl Palmer? He does really interesting drum work, and makes the material seem really exciting. But the guy really can't keep time that well (or at least, he couldn't in the 70s). So he's horribly overrated, IMO.

However, there is this one drummer, Bill Bruford... Not only can he keep time, but he has a very exciting jazz style. Occasionally he'll even drum polyrhythmically - a very interesting effect. He used to drum for prog rock bands in the 70s and 80s (Yes, King Crimson), but he's currently doing traditional jazz.

you're all right, time really is important. i just started drumming and i started off with a song that isnt too complicated, and time is defenitly the hardest thing for me, i always speed up too much or slow down and it really makes a difference and changes the effect of the music.

sure some of masons stuff was a bit simple and just easy beats, but its really part of what makes the song, i've listened to tons of songs by them, and if there werent drums it just wouldnt sound right, and if they over did the drums it wouldnt sound right either. mason was able to make up the perfect stuff for the music, it matched, i've heard tons of stuff where the drumming doesnt go well with the song and it really makes a hell of a difference.

like im listening to "Dogs" right now, and if the drumming was more complicated than it is, it wouldnt sound right, something subtle is right for parts of that song, and a few complicated drum rolls. he just matches everything perfectly and really knew what he was doing

I agree with you