I was listening to Moby Dick on the way in to work today. It got me thinking about great and famous drum solos.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by I. Ron Butterfly had some intense drum solos (and sounded great on an Organ).
**Bill Bruford ** had some great solos in his days with King Crimson.
I am trying to recall a good example from Keith Moon.
**Neil Peart ** of Rush had some intense ones, can someone put a name to some of the specific Songs?
Going way back in time, **Gene Krupa ** made a name for himself on “Sing, Sing, Sing”, though that might not technically be a Drum Solo. He had a few short solos at different points throughout the epic song.
I have heard **Ginger Baker ** live doing a great and very long Drum/percussion solo at the Stone Pony. It was incredible, but I am not sure of a recorded song that shows off his ability as a solo.
True drum aficionados will blanch or worse when I mention this, but the first thing that came to mind when I saw the thread title was the Surfaris. Classic drum work.
I am playing it now, I don’t think this counts. It is a really simple if fast drumbeat. I might be able to do it. Two drum beats and an occasional bamf.
The beginning to “Time”, off of Dark Side of the Moon. Sure, the drums and “clock synth” and organ share equal volume, but the “main” instrument is the drum, for me, which with the counterpoint of the organ, make it the most memorable drum solo for me. Which of course means that right after I submit this I will think of a better one.
I nominate “A Quick One” … or perhaps some of the brief solos tangents in “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
We can start with “YYZ”, “The Rhythm Method”, and “The Drummer” (aka “O Baterista” or “Der Trommler”). The latter two do not appear on studio albums, but were recorded live.
One more to nominate is Chuck Ruff’s drum work on Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein”.
Ever see The Benny Goodman Story? The real Krupa, who plays himself, does Sing Sing Sing and another nice solo, on a song whose name I forget.
I saw him in Central Park a long time ago. Great stuff, but most people I think prefer the solo on the studio Toad. I like the Toad on Wheels of Fire myself, being probably the only person in the world disappointed on hearing the extra stuff on the boxed set edition was not part of the solo.
I got nothin’ but love for Futch, but I think we can both agree that’s a stretch for this thread. Incidentally, for his live solos (each member of the Flecktones gets some alone time on stage) he usually does really cool improvs with midi triggers and voice/sound samples.
Not really a drum solo but I recently saw Aussie crooner David Campbell with a 7 piece band. He turned out to be one of the best singers I have evr heard live. For his first encore he came out and the drummer began to lay down a really nice slinky rhythm and Campbell began to sing Begin The Beguine. I thought, “Wow this is pretty cool. He’s going to do 16 bars basically a capella with the drummer.” But he did the whole song with just him and the drummer playing around with each other. Far more memorable than any of the dozens of actual solos I have heard.
