Entertainment For Lively Minds
John Bonham. Bloody hell...
Posted by Patrick Crowther on 12 September 2011 - 10:59pm.
Just watched this clip of The Led Zeppelin doing The Song Remains the Same in 1977. I say "doing"; more like "detonating". John Bonham is simply incredible in this performance. Incredible.
- More from Patrick Crowther.
- Login or register to post comments
-
Not much room for debate there
Stunning. What a noise he was making!
That is all.
ooh, I like this thread
Funky fireworks
Dave Grohl said his playing was like fireworks going off. He's not wrong! Compare and contrast to the post above - sublime to the humdrum. Sorry Dave(A).
Sorry?
No need, complete chalk and cheese, there is obviously no comparison technically and if Dave Grohl says so that will do for me I love Foos more than K's
monster drummer
someone posted the drum loop to 'When the levee breaks' on here the other day and I happily listened to it for some minutes, just marvelling at its magnificence.
Just now I sought out the actual track with the drums isolated, but couldn't find it.
Found this though, some German ladies giving Levee their best shot. I confess I watched it to the end. Had they been four lank haired Hermans I wouldn't have, obviously...
I think that someone was me...
It's a drum loop... and here it is.
thanks Patrick
yes, I saw this on my YT trawl but what I'd like to have is the full backing track drums rather than just the loop.
But if you'll excuse me, I need to see a dog about a man
These ones perhaps?
http://www.saladrecords.com/bonhamfiles.htm
my idea of heaven?
watching these sexy frauleins play the whole back catalogue. yummy.
Try this then
She does a great Percy imitation at the beginning, all flicking hair and twirly wrists. And funny accent.
percy's cholera on the arm
love him to death but cripes he was full of shite at times.
A dissenter......
...admittedly I'm not a huge Led Zep fan (I thought it all tailed off alarmingly after Physical Graffiti) but I've never seen why Bonham inspires such devotion from such a wide range of fans and other musicians. To these, admittedly cloth, ears, I can't see much more than someone who hits the drums very very hard and has decent foot control over two bass drums. He certainly rocked, but where was the roll? Certainly he was no Keith Moon, Clyde Stubblefield or Max Weinberg.
Can someone illustrate what I'm missing?
You are entitled to your opinion of course...
However I would argue furiously with the assertion that Bonham could rock but not roll. The very reason he is held in such high esteem is that he didn't just whack the hell out of his drum kit. He swung, big time. He was obsessed with Motown and I think it shows in his playing. He had finesse and groove as well as wallop.
I always judge a drummer by how often he encourages me to play drums on my knees when I'm listening to him. John Bonham has me doing it every single time. His drum parts are as memorable as the riffs in Zeppelin's music to me.
I'm afraid
I'm with Six Dog on this. Whilst he could thump very impressively I've never associated Bonzo with any great sublety or finesse. Even on LZ3 he can't resist thwaking his snare with a mallet. Did he listen to Motown whilst there was a road drill outside I wonder and got a mite confused?
Dear Mr Dog
That's a very curious selection of drummers you have mentioned.
Moon, a complete one-off, nothing like him before or since
Clyde, the original funky drummer, much admired by Bonham but obviously a million miles away from him musically
Max - a fine exponent of the big beat behind the Boss, but not often featuring in a list of the greatest.
The only thing they have in common is they formed the very backbone of their respective bands. And that is without question also true of Bonzo.
As that first clip of Patrick's shows, Bonham could be as wild as Moon, but with dexterity in abundance. He's playing hard and fast, but it takes great skill to do that.
He could funk it up too. Zep's attempts at funk (The Crunge, Trampled Underfoot) were hit-and-miss but Bonham's playing was fine, see also Houses of the Holy, which has a funky swagger to it.
I disagree with Eddie about LZ3, his playing on that album is perfect for each song, with plenty of light and shade, particularly on Celebration Day and Out On The Tiles.
I could go on, but others will hopefully chip in to defend his honour.
A varied selection granted...
and point taken, though Weinberg is a truly great drummer who can do everything but overshadowed by Scooter up top. Same as Charlie Watts and Clem Burke.
Eddie hit the nail on the head for me with the comments around LZ3. While Page and Plant's compositions on that album had light and shade in abundance, it didn't seem make one jot of difference to Bonzo's thwacking the living hell out of the skins in front of him where a bit more "feel" would have perhaps been better. Fast n hard sure but Nicko McBrain, Phil Taylor and Lars Ulrich can do that too.
All semantics I know as LZ3 is still a great album but whenever I hear Bonham, I don't hear "great", I hear "loud".
You talk about feel
as if Bonham has none and the drummers you mentioned tower above him. I maintain, and I do know a little of what I speak, that neither Max nor Charlie could match, for feel or finesse, the underpinning that Bonham provides on this track
Apples and Oranges really. The comparisons are kinda ridiculous
Sorry - can't hear it....nothing there for me...
And certainly nothing the aforementioned drummers couldn't do. Weinberg in particular.
I'm not a drummer so can't claim any wizardry but as bassist, I've had a fair share of tub thumpers behind me in 25 years and to be fair, most of them have Bonham as the guru. Just can't see anything in it that elevates him above A.N.Other rock drummer myself.
sorry, you lost me at Clem Burke.........
!
Bonham's slack wristed yet muscular Roll
and easy way with the beat is almost in a class of its own, to my ears. If I want to hear an album with unbeatable rock and roll drumming, I just have to reach for LZ2 to be sure of 40 minutes of joy.
Absolutely. An embarassment of riches LZ2
Lots of light and shade - i.e. dynamics from delicate touches to massive intensity - in that album that I miss in later releases. You don't get much more roll in rock than in The Lemon Song - particularly that bit where Plant sings 'take it down a bit' and it's so deliciously funky and where there's all sorts of fills and inventiveness from the renowned sticksman. Also Bring It On Home - so much going on - packed full of interesting patterns.
That Lemon Song bit can be found around 2:55:
Two bass drums??
"I can't see much more than someone who hits the drums very very hard and has decent foot control over two bass drums"
Surely the whole point is he never used two bass drums, he always used just the one. It just sounded like he had two...
In other words...
...he was too loud.
Yeah OK, maybe you're right he was just too loud for
Led Zeppelin.
Can I be greedy and post two from LZ1?
Always amazed by Bonham on these two:
'How Many More Times?' (The whole song is amazing but Bonham is particularly awesome in the section from 5:47.)
and 'Good Times Bad Times' (The loose way he just seems to drum 'around' the riff.)
He certainly had the funk.
It's a bit sweary at the begining.
I love what he gets out of a
I love what he gets out of a small(ish) kit compared to most other drummers at the time with their zillion piece kits.. I'm fairly new to Bonhams playing and I'm loving it.. and most of my drum heroes are jazzers ! He plays lead drums...
Well, I dunno
if Bonzo had "finesse" or not. Steve Gadd has finesse out the arse, but maybe we're talking about two different kinds of finesse here, one involving kicking the bleeding shit out of your kit and the other not. But it's impossible to imagine LZ with any other drummer, so that elevates him into the Great Drummer category right there. Unfortunately his drum solos immediately strip him of the honour. Better to think of him as an essential part of a great group than a virtuoso musician in his own right. A bit like Ringo, then.
When I saw Max Weinberg in '75 I was astonished by the elf-like size of his kit. It looked like a Chad Valley Christmas present. He was completely visible from the waist up. That he managed to whip up a Thor-like thunderstorm out of it was due to his playing - all drummers are (unfortunately) amped up. And as far as I know, Max has never performed a solo in his life (a bit like Ringo, then.)
(Wasn't it Ernest "Boom Boom" Carter playing drums on Born To Run - the song? That's a freaking amazing sound, too.)
The Rising Tour
At Wembley Arena, myself and a mate were lucky enough to be backstage and watched the show from the wings. Weinberg was unbelievable. "Chad Valley" kit is very apt. No more than 4 drums, couple of cymbals and the noise and rhythm generated was just eye popping. Amazing to watch Springsteen controlling the entire band like an orchestra conductor, at times giving signals behind his back like a baseball pitcher.
I'm a drummer and I can tell you...
that John Bonham often got "lost" during a track, which probably accounts for the length of some LZ songs.It was the seventies after all...
I just think his playing is
I just think his playing is very effective.. thats enough for me. As is Moon (in the Who setting) and Ringo with his Beatles work.
Hmmm
Think it's time for by bi-annual 'trying to get Led Zeppelin' couple of hours/days.
Pretty much given up on the debut.....just sounds like a minor update on Ten Years After's OK debut.
Second LP has at least got Livin' Lovin' Maid on it.
Third LP is folky but actually again sounds more rock.
Why didn't they stick to their convictions and just make a folk LP?
.....and I'm going nowhere near 'Stairway To Heaven' and beyond.
No way, Jose.
I'll report back.