great understated drum parts

for example, tangled up in blue. the drummer (the internet suggests it's bill berg) does so much, but in such a restrained way: no snare on the verses, all this playful hi-hat syncopation, using the bass drum more as an accent than a timekeeper or whatever, those great little galloping double snare hits on the chorus (sounds like he's using brushes?). it makes the song but in such a complete and natural way that you barely notice it as its own thing.

so...other examples? everyone likes a flashy drummer, but i continue to gain respect for drummers who can pull it way back in service to the song, but still add something unique. i'm thinking ringo was also a master at this, like take "in my life".

anyway, i realize it's a pretty broad question.

um, jazz drummers don't count, i guess? or whatever, i don't care. ok.

Neil Young - Don't Let It Bring You Down

One of those parts where it's what the drums DON'T do that makes it, i.e the song suggests fills at lots of points but the drums just leave space for the guitar and piano to hang instead, which makes the song much more haunting. The kick-snare on the verse just alternates between BOOM BOOM POP and BOOM - POP, although in a very subtle way it's in the reverse order from what you'd expect. Pretty much the only fills in the whole song are two snare eighths into the chorus and three coming out. It also helps that the drum and cymbal sounds themselves are so perfect.

Neil Young records are generally great for this sort of thing, whether it be Ralph Molina or Levon Helm.

Very similar example -- Bandit from Greendale. Neil Young's acoustic guitar tends to be fairly percussive, and his drummers know how to let that work and not step on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZLLYEzKE8

haven't heard bandit, but yeah, in DLIBYD also since the vocals are doing so much rhythmically it would prob become a mess if the drums did much more than they do. listening to it again, there's also a great tension between the singing, which is constantly pushing forward, and the drums, which just sound like they refused to be rushed.

xpost yes!

didnt know he played that part

gadd part is understated but really fucking hard to play, fwiw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU-kBxIy8cI

speaking of levon...the night they drove old dixie down -- the marching pattern and big crescendoing rolls in the chorus, but also the maybe half bar of double time in each verse, kind of just enough of a suggestion of speed to get each verse over the hump.

maybe the claps shouldn't count. regardless I love what the drums do later in the song.

Yeah Levon Helm on that.

A lot of stuff from Court and Spark and Hissing of Summer Lawns comes to mind. E.g. that super light feel with that one syncopated accent on Help Me, or that little hiss/rest in every bar on the verses of Hissing.

Sam Prekop solo album also

e.g.
- Showrooms -- I love that drum pattern on the intro with the hi-hat clasps
- practice twice -- the clave-like cowbell rhythm with the two tom beats

Speaking of Chad Taylor, I don't know if this counts as understated, but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Wr0Crafyg

Not so fun fact: Tangled Up in Blue is one of the hardest songs to play in Rock Band 2 drums, so many slight changes and improv going on throughout. I even doubt the original drummer can play it note by note exactly as it's on the record.

Nirvana, "All Apologies." At least one particular subtle thing always stood out for me: Dave hitting the tom rather than the snare on the fourth beat of every other bar during the verses. You barely notice it, but when you do, it's a nice little detail.

Richie Hayward on this clip is so great, even though it swings like crazy the song is pretty sparse and I guess the additional percussion helps things along but I love the itchiness of his drumming here and the brevity in his playing is just right. Oh and he makes great faces too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEOlTZGuLKM

Dah was going to suggest Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and just noticed it's the first vid upthread. Good choice.

Neil Young records are generally great for this sort of thing, whether it be Ralph Molina or Levon Helm

Jim Gordon on "You're So Vain" competes with Steve Gadd for an understated studio slick but monster performance.

Benny Benjamin and then Uriel Jones and Richard "Pistol" Allen on every Motown hit ever. Benny would tend to show his stuff at the very beginning of the song in a pickup and then would often play a simple but deep backbeat which would leave a lot of room for rhythmic variation from James Jamerson's bass or Jack Ashford's tambourine.

^^ Watching Jack Ashford demonstrate his tambourine technique in the "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown" doc was just O_O.

^^ YES. He starts playing and the ENTIRE SOUND COMPLETELY CHANGES. It's totally astounding. It's like, "Oh, the airplane has suddenly taken off vertically."

Kenney Jones on the live version of "Around the Plynth" that incorporates "Gasoline Alley" on the Faces box. Nary a snare hit in the whole song, and his bass drum is doing who-the-fuck-knows-what.

The hi-hat accents on the Smashing Pumpkins' "1979" pretty much make the song.

All of Brown Eyes by fleetwood mac. the drums help to make the song.

my fave bto song. not generally known for their subtlety. and it doesn't sound great on youtube, but i've always loved how the drums/percussion lead this song (quietly). and i love the vocals. and its one of my fave rock guitar solos of the 70's in the middle there. and one of my fave outros of all time. did i mention how much i love this song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QANEJaBEkhI

Chic: "When You Love Someone"
Sly & The Family Stone: "If You Want Me To Stay"

All of Brown Eyes by fleetwood mac. the drums help to make the song.

Or "Dreams."

al jackson on al green's stuff

Ron Sexsmith's drummer, Don Kerr, did a cool thing I had never seen before the other night: used a maraca as a drumstick (holding the big end and striking cymbals with the handle while simultaneously shaking.) Subtle and really effective.

I've seen Steve Shelley do that, but holding the handle while striking the snare drum with the head of the maraca.

al jackson on al green's stuff

The band meaning Booker T and the MGs.

Gimme Shelter

Mimi's drum sounds are pretty (ok, very) minimalistic but essential

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1nRXc3qYV4

The Velvet Underground - "Heroin"

(and VU and Moe Tucker in general)

Isn't there some story about Phil Spector physically removing cymbals from drumkits before recording?

The Beatles drummer on "Long, Long, Long."

The hi-hat on "I'm Ready for Love" by Martha and the Vandellas - how hard is it to play that beat?

earth - an inquest concerning teeth

adrienne davies is the master of understated drumparts. watched her live a couple of weeks ago. sublime from start to finish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwJ_XuAgMNM

The Beatles drummer on "Long, Long, Long."

― clemenza, Saturday, March 26, 2011 11:52 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark

something really cracking me up about Ringo being referred to as "The Beatles drummer"

Rick Marotta's dancing hi-hat pattern in Steely Dan's "Peg." Plus he kicks it into the stratosphere in the last chorus by simply switching to the ride cymbal, after not having touched it previously in the song.

...or does that hi-hat part count as "flashy"?

intro to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLN_0DevVKw

and this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKQUC7V3mbk&feature=related

Was told by a drummer friend that the drummer on the Martha and the Vandellas song I mentioned was probably Richard 'Pistol' Allen, who played on Holland-Dozier-Holland productions.

Love this part:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YpE47V1AHE

Also love that Brian Blade, who can play like Tony Williams, can also do something like this.

more please

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGHQ2s4NQcE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItZyaOlrb7E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XBz4nq31Yw

Joni Mitchell, Court & Spark, whole record

Purdie on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7E_jz3jHQc

very understated, but gotta mention the hi-hats in "Heart of Gold"

No doubt tres unfashionable but I have always had a soft spot for "Murder By Numbers" by The Police - the restrained energy is palpable.
Or, more respectably, PJ Harvey's "Is This Desire" - drums almost not even there, but the song is unthinkable without them.
And one of my all-time favourite drum parts - greatly understated to boot -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4FjVjyjiaQ

Anything ever played by Mick Fleetwood.

This one is *the* great understated jazz drum part imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1hm7KlfT8

Kurt Dahle of The New Pornographers is always great for tasteful little parts. One of my favorites is his snare fill just before the bridge in "Adventures in Solitude."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RIdRl9bbRJQ#t=128

In "Harborcoat" by REM, I love the way Bill Berry gallops on the hi-hat in the third and fourth measures of each verse.

i like this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpCB-0d42-g

Talk Talk - New Grass immediately sprang to mind

hurting's mention of Blonde Redhead upthread otm. Basically that whole album is a great understated drum part.

i've never given them a chance, maybe i would like?

i personally love that album, but i also hear it with nostalgic bias because it was one of the soundtracks to driving around in high school. but the drum parts are consistently interesting.

Jaki Liebezeit on "Quantum Physics". You feel the pulse all the time, but volume-wise, he's barely there

Roxy Music - More Than This

The little tossed-off tom fills are the epitome of understatement. So effective.

Nick Cave - Your Funeral My Trial

those quiet snare rolls at the end of the verses ("The stars all winked at me / They shamed a child") leading into the soft dual tom strikes and the hi-hat sizzle, then the groove that appears momentarily as the title words are sung, then disappears again. absolutely perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtX1h8r-bwg

less the beat itself (though i like the way the bass drum gradually expands the 8th notes at the beginning of phrases), but the perfect feel

Talk Talk - New Grass immediately sprang to mind

― ultros ultros-ghali, Friday, January 3, 2014 10:26 AM (five years ago)

the talk talk drummer is so good. Ascension Day is a highlight as well

the video i posted just above, 3 years ago, has disappeared. at least for me. great understated drum parts i have forgotten

apparently this beat had "the perfect feel"

Next time you hear Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How I Feel" keep in mind that Steve Ferrone walked in and that was the first time they went through the song together. I guess Petty had tried it over and over with Stan and some other drummers and it just did not work. How Ferrone nailed that track is partially why he got the gig.

BB King had also tried to cut "The Thrill is Gone" a few times before and just could not get that feel he wanted until the famous version was cut as a near throwaway at the end of the session.

Both those takes have that unusual mix of laid back yet with feeling of movement, not static. Curtis Mayfield has tracks that can get that feel too.

I've heard that story and don't entirely buy it. Steve Ferrone is a session drummer. Stan Lynch is not. Stan Lynch never does the same take twice. Steve can do the same exact take, again and again and again. Petty had been butting heads with Stan for decades at that point, in part because Stan did his own thing, in part because Stan had creative impulses. Petty wanted a drummer with less ego, someone he could control, someone he could tell exactly what to do. While I am not that familiar with Petty post Wildflowers, I have never heard Steve do anything particularly memorable, including the aforementioned track. Consider the two songs Petty did with Dave Grohl on SNL, and how much more personality they have.

Ferrone is pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75bYDYLSP0o

I never said he wasn't any good. He's a session drummer, he's great. but the role he played with Tom Petty was neither to be particularly creative nor particularly interesting. just consistent.

I saw him tour with Bryan Ferry and he wasn't particularly interesting then either.

I thought the story about that song had to do with him doing a million takes, and the producer (Rick Rubin?) asking him to try one in there without a single cymbal crash, and then finding out later that's the take they used.

I agree with JiC. Ferrone's a perfectly adequate session player, but doesn't have the distinctive sound that Stan Lynch had. I don't know the story behind Stan's departure, but I remember from the Petty doc (I think) that on Into The Great Wide Open Jeff Lynne had the brilliant idea of making this cracking unit record their parts separately/individually, something Stan bristled at.

None of Ferrone's playing with the Heartbreakers is as memorable as Stan's, but Ferrone wasn't hired to come up with memorable parts.

Now you want great understated drum parts, check out any of the hundreds of songs recorded by JR Robinson. Supposedly Quincy Jones often only let him use a kick, snare and hi-hat for his kit, and think of the awesome stuff he came up with. Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t21rGZjjJfE

Or check this shit out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdH3t5-_JQ4

I love Cale's backing band on this version of the song, the drum part especially, not sure who it is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeFYJdW3xDg

just read the comments, Brandon Flowers on drums. Curiously, Cale slags off drummers on a later, inferior live version on Jools, but this is perfect