I appreciate excellent 'drummanship' as much as I appreciate excellent guitar playing. There is, however, no force on this planet that will make me want to listen to a drummer 'masturbate' his drumming for an eight minute solo, same with guitar. I don't care HOW good you are.

/DWTFV

Here's ol Ginger with Masters of Reality doing Rabbit One over Watership Down clips. LOL

One of the best. Few can come close to his playing.

Lowell George: One of the best. Few can come close to his playing.

Mike Portnoy would like a word with you.

Personally, I do not care for Mr. Baker's style of drumming.

I like when drums carry the song, not fight to get in front of it.

Only Moon could get away with that shiat.

This is not a knock against his skills, it's just not to my taste.

Sincerely Yours,

A Ringo Lover

no way im watching an 8 minute drum solo.

Quick, what do Ginger Baker and starbucks coffee have in common?

Proving that being a meth addict at 30 doesn't necessarily mean you are dead by 40 (although you might look like you were dead at 40).

rpl: Quick, what do Ginger Baker and starbucks coffee have in common?

long drum solos?

theyre both on every corner?

delicious but expensive lattes?

Only eight minutes? He must have been having an off night.

you couldn't handle that on good acid...

/obscure?

Whenever someone mentions Ringo Starr as a capable drummer, I remember when a reporter asked John Lennon if Ringo was the best drummer in the world. Lennon replied, "Hell, he's not even the best drummer in the Beatles." Paul did a lot of the drum tracks on their recordings. Ringo was mediocre at best, chosen only for his appearance and fit with the "look."

The Dynamite Monkey: Personally, I do not care for Mr. Baker's style of drumming. I like when drums carry the song, not fight to get in front of it. Only Moon could get away with that shiat.

Nah, Mitch Mitchell, Carl Palmer, Bill Bruford, heck, any prog rock drummer all were equal musical members, none of that "Oh, sure, I'll do kick pedal on 1 & 3, snare on 2 & 4 and steady 8ths on the hi-hat" stuff. I love drummers who play the song, actually PLAY, not just provide a beat. Tastes vary widely, obviously.

Rockdrummer: Paul did a lot of the drum tracks on their recordings.

Ding! Wrong answer! Paul drummed on exactly two whole songs: Back in the USSR (Ringo had quit because of all of the fighting) and Ballad of John and Yoko (because John didn't want to wait for Ringo and George to show up, he wanted to record there and then). Macca played more lead guitar than drums. Mark Lewisohn's awesome Complete Beatles Recording Sessions book lays it all out.

Ringo was perfect for The Beatles, he's still held in high esteem by other drummers. Could he have played with the Mahavishnu Orchestra? Of course not! But then, Billy Cobham wouldn't have been right for Penny Lane, either.

Ah, Ginger Baker, my first musical idol. My parents wouldn't buy me a kit, however, so I picked up bass guitar because of Jack Bruce. His drum solos lasted so long because it was the only break he'd get from being sandwiched in between Bruce and Clapton's triple Marshall stacks.

/Blind Faith, biatches!

Rockdrummer: Whenever someone mentions Ringo Starr as a capable drummer, I remember when a reporter asked John Lennon if Ringo was the best drummer in the world. Lennon replied, "Hell, he's not even the best drummer in the Beatles." Paul did a lot of the drum tracks on their recordings. Ringo was mediocre at best, chosen only for his appearance and fit with the "look."

wrong.

H31N0US: Lowell George: One of the best. Few can come close to his playing.

Mike Portnoy would like a word with you.

Chad Wackerman and Chester Thompson would like a word with Mike Portnoy.

Rockdrummer:

Whenever someone mentions Ringo Starr as a capable drummer, I remember when a reporter asked John Lennon if Ringo was the best drummer in the world. Lennon replied, "Hell, he's not even the best drummer in the Beatles." Paul did a lot of the drum tracks on their recordings. Ringo was mediocre at best, chosen only for his appearance and fit with the "look."

You're wrong on all counts. Ringo consistently showed a remarkable knack for playing exactly what was needed. But do feel free to cite specific examples of "he's doing it wrong" or "his drumming ruins this song."


Back to Ginger Baker... I've got an old Fela & Africa 70 album (or I did, anyway -- I've got it on CD now) recorded around '71 or so with Ginger guesting on drums in addition to regular drummer Tony Allen. Great stuff, I think there might be a couple of clips relative to his trip to Lagos on YouTube.

And here's a great quality clip of Cream playing Sunshine of Your Love. An EB-3 is the only bass I've owned for the past 30 years.

DrBenway: You're wrong on all counts. Ringo consistently showed a remarkable knack for playing exactly what was needed. But do feel free to cite specific examples of "he's doing it wrong" or "his drumming ruins this song."

Add me to the chorus of "you're wrong Rockdrummer!"

/ often I might add

DrBenway: And here's a great quality clip of Cream playing Sunshine of Your Love. An EB-3 is the only bass I've owned for the past 30 years.

Dr. Benway I usually agree with you on these threads but listen to that little mini-roll he plays before the last line in the chorus. WTF is up with that? You know what I would say to my drummer if he played something like that?

"Stop"

And while Cream is not my favorite band, when people talk about them all you ever hear about them is Eric's playing and Ginger's drumming. How about a shout out for Jack's vocal on this cut? It's a great vocal performance in my opinion.

And he wrote the signature lick on his upright!

Dr. Benway: And here's a great quality clip of Cream playing Sunshine of Your Love. An EB-3 is the only bass I've owned for the past 30 years.

What a great clip! They look fantastic, Clapton's woman tone sounds incredible, Bruce is so powerful they don't a rhythm player and Ginger is fantastic too. At one point, I thought they were going heading off on an improv but I noticed the clip was only 4:58. :-)

The Dynamite Monkey: And while Cream is not my favorite band, when people talk about them all you ever hear about them is Eric's playing and Ginger's drumming. How about a shout out for Jack's vocal on this cut? It's a great vocal performance in my opinion.

Yep. When my parents nixed my idea of getting a drum kit, I got a bass guitar instead. Jack Bruce was my idol for years for being a singing bass player who wrote most of the songs. No surprise really that I later was/am a huge Greg Lake and Chris Squire* fan and that I patterned myself after them.

/Love Cream, incredible band, my first musical love
//10-15-67 Detroit baby

The Dynamite Monkey:

Dr. Benway I usually agree with you on these threads but listen to that little mini-roll he plays before the last line in the chorus. WTF is up with that? You know what I would say to my drummer if he played something like that?

"Stop"

Well, that sort of thing certainly wouldn't fit in a lot of things, but it's never bothered me here. I actually kind of like how he changes what he's doing after each line. But there was a Blind Faith clip I found yesterday, though (I, like submitter, was cognizant of Ginger's birthday and was looking for something to post, too) where his slipping on-and-off with the time on the breaks had me scratching my head.

And while Cream is not my favorite band, when people talk about them all you ever hear about them is Eric's playing and Ginger's drumming. How about a shout out for Jack's vocal on this cut? It's a great vocal performance in my opinion.

And he wrote the signature lick on his upright!

Jack was/is a monster -- great bassist, and a hell of a voice. Yeah, that's true about the lick. And it was legendary engineer/producer Tom Dowd who came up with the signature beat. There's a very good documentary on him, in fact, that gets into his work with Cream and later with Derek and the Dominoes quite a bit -- Tom Dowd and the Language of Music, it's called. It includes him breaking down the tracks on the master tape for Layla, which was pretty interesting.

Another little side note on that Sunshine clip: The SG Clapton's playing resurfaced a few years later in someone else's hands.