Entertainment For Lively Minds
Your best rhythm section?
Good evening all.
I'm sitting here, cans on noggin, laptop on, um, lap, and the SB+ is streaming some fine sounds whilst the FPO indulges in Struckly Clam Don't Sing or somesuch.
Anyway, the mood I'm in, I thought what was called for was funky music. And that got me to thinking: what is my favourite rhythm section.
After a bit of deliberation, I've settled on the backline of Tower of Power - especially the Garibaldi:Rocco axis of funk. I doubt there's a tighter duo out there, occasional synergies of the JB family notwithstanding... there seems to be such an intensity when the ToP guys get going - tighter than a tight thing in a tight spot, faster than a scalded cat and with more precision than I can find a metaphorfor...
So, what's YOUR favourite rhythm section?
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The usual list for me
Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr
Bill Wyman & Charlie Watts
John Entwhistle & Keith Moon
Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker
John Paul Jones & John Bonham
Spider Webb & Colin Grigson
Some more examples: http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/best-rhythm-sections-bass-drums
Can't be doing with the "I'm a Z List celeb with BBC connections, watch me prance round like a fairy" program either.
Garibaldi takes the biscuit...
I agree with the assessment of the Tower of Power section. I saw them in Tokyo earlier this year and they were as tight as ever.
Nile Rogers, Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson would have to be up there with the best - consistently funky on the Chic and Sister Sledge stuff.
Um, funk wise, how about Bernard Purdie and Chuck Rainey on Royal Scam/Aja era Steely Dan? Just love that bass line on The Fez
Richie Hayward and Kenny Gradney laid down some fat grooves with the Feat. Richie is seriously ill now which is a drag.
Finally, I came upon this, from Joni Mitchell's 1983 tour, featuring Vinnie Colaiuta and Larry Klein. As an example of 'in the pocket' grooving (with a twist)it's pretty cool.
I make no apology
for posting this after Patrick Crowther did on the intro thread. Now this section has RHYTHM
My favourite
Danko and Helm. Here's them without the rest of The Band, just to be objective:
http://open.spotify.com/track/6rY2kv4xivfmksJkBBwMV6
Most of the above
and McVie and Fleetwood, seriously!
Their playing on 'Rumours'...
was extraordinary. They knew where to leave space and most importantly, they swung.
McVie and Fleetwood
can also be heard on this:
http://open.spotify.com/track/1mERTPyqC6Qz6XAwHZH4M5
Booker T
Not sure which is the best rhythm section here: Booker T & The MGs or Sam and Dave's legs.
Some documentary evidence...
(there are other versions but this was the first one that had semi decent sound quality I could find on Yoohoo tubes.
Some more:
Bill Bruford & John Wetton
Pugwash Weathers and Ray Shulman
Pierre Moerlin and Mike Howlett
Terry Williams and Martin Ace
Phil Taylor and Lemmy
Guy Evans and....er....Hugh Banton? (Sorry, Nic).
Bill Bruford & John Wetton
were not a rhythm section, they were a wrecking ball!
mine would be the BAD boys: Greg Roberts (smurd) and Leo "Eezy KIll" Williams (bass)
the Chameleons were no slouches either with John and Mark
Weathers and Shulman
from the fabulous Gentle Giant. Excellent choice.
How about
Liebezeit and Czukay
Bruford and Wetton / Bruford and Levin
Phil Collins and Percy Jones
Jansen and Karn
Sly and Robbie
Barker and Rieflin
Youth and Big Paul Ferguson
AC/DC take some beating...
...up until 1983: Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams.
Also Bill Berry and Mike Mills.
I really admire Galen Polivka and Bobby Drake from The Hold Steady, too. I'm a huge fan of the band anyway, but I think so much of their tight, focused sound comes from those two.
Plus one
Gotta add Malcolm Young to that rhythm section. Like a swiss watch, belting you over the head with a 4 pound lump hammer attached.
My mate and I were reminiscing just recently about seeing AC/DC at the NEC back in the 80s. It was the first time I saw them indoors, after Monsters and other events, and the big finale For Those About To Rock fired up as usual. As usual, the first cannon shots went off, and suddenly the room was much quieter. This was because the cannons were so loud, the percussion wave had blown the cover off one of the stadium hanging lights above our heads. We noticed this because of the dust and insect detritus falling into the spot light beams. And you wonder where tinitus comes from.
Blockheads
Norman Watt-Roy & Charlie Charles (were the first pair to pop into my head)
I saw Ian Dury & the Blockheads on every tour (except the last one). Charlie Charles was the only drummer I know whose kit got smaller as the band got more successful.
A late 70's early 80's vibe emerges....
Chris Franz & Tina Weymouth
Dee Dee & Tommy Ramone
Karl Bartos & Wolfgang Flur (definitely the engine-room of the Kraftwerk rhythm sound)
Sly & Robbie
well I'm talkin' 'bout
a rhythm section, not fave drummer or bassist, a combo - a team that work together to produce something spectacular
Karn and Jansen
The more time that passes the better and more extraordinary this seems...
big into Japan
yeah Mick Karn, what a cool geezer. I used to listen intently trying to figure out what he and Jansen were doing. And as this shows, it wasn't studio trickery. They could do it all live. The 'Oil on Canvas' album is worth a visit.
Them Crooked Vultures.
I was there last night.
John Paul Jones. Dave Grohl. Who plays drums like a fucking big hairy bad bastard.
That's not a rhythm section.
That's a fuck-off big hairy stick-that-up-your-arse-grandad wiggle-wiggle yar-boo-sucks lalalalalI'mnotlistening rhythmfuckingschism section.
With all knobs on.
So there.
My leaving early because it was to loud only compounds my argument.
Many of the above of course
but it also has to include :
Rick Laird and Billy Cobham
Danny Thompson and Terry Cox
Arthur Grant and Steve Broughton.
Good as JPJ is
I still think the best match for Dave Grohl in a rhythm section has to be Krist Novoselic. He had the attack, the growl, that complemented Grohl like no-one else.
John Wesley Harding
Who were the riddim section here - it was Kenney Buttrey and - oh, it's gone. (Sorry, am in a bit of a work-rush right now) but those blokes were dynamite. Just listen to that interplay throughout 'Down Along The Cove', leading up to a great big choogalooing finale. Or the sublime, simple 'As I Went Out One Morning'.
The Attractions
Surely Messrs Thomas and Thomas should be mentioned on here even though Elvis Costello reckons that the real rhythm section of the Attractions was him and Pete Thomas with Bruce noodling all over the place on his bass.
Honorable mention for John Stirratt and Glenn Kotche.
Stirratt
He's a fantastic bass player. Unflashy, melodic (when needed) and a rock-solid timekeeper. So often it's the really flashy people who get the attention.
Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian
... simply supernatural interplay.
See also:
Ron Carter and Tony Williams
Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström
Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette
Joe Osborn & Hal Blaine
Joe Osborn & Hal Blaine. Toss in Larry Knetchel on keyboards and you’ve got yourself one hell of a group.
Joe Osborn & Hal Blaine
Joe Osborn & Hal Blaine. Toss in Larry Knetchel on keyboards and you’ve got yourself one hell of a group.
Radle and Gordon
Carl Radle and Jim Gordon - Delaney & Bonnie, Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Derek & The Domino's, plus they were the rhythm section on 3/4s of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass LP. Fantastic rhythm section.
Just need to add to...
Nick Duvet's nomination of Tony Thompson and Bernard Edwards.
The answer is...
Al Jackson Jr and Duck Dunn