When debate over the alleged ham-fistedness of John Bonham came up the other day, it became clear to me which drummer I would first place on the examining table in a new feature I’d like to call Is There a Drummer in the House? I know we’ve got a couple of drummers checking in regularly, and I know we’ve got a number of self-appointed drum consultants on hand. As much as I value the role of the drummer, I don’t know enough about the instrument to articulate what it is I value without the aid of shooting dirty looks at a drummer and speaking in vague impressionistic terms that few drummers can understand. I’m counting on you to help me articulate what sometimes confuses me in the role and execution of drummers.
Bev Bevan, drummer for The Move and ELO. If you’ve already gotten the impression that Mr. Moderator loves The Move, you’d be right. I also grew up liking the hits of ELO as much as any Beatles-loving, lonely, love-starved teen in the ’70s, although I’m not one to spend much time filling in the paperwork toward a Critical Upgrade of their output.
In both the music of The Move and, as I listen to them with more discerning ears, ELO, I’m frequently perplexed by Bevan’s drumming chops and choices. The guy could bash like a mofo, and his bashing added an element of excitement to the records, but I can never tell exactly where the line is between heavy rock chops and poorly executed, overplayed choices.
Following are three examples of the Bev Bevan style, each of which are from late-period Move albums, that period when Jeff Lynne had joined the band and they’d fully embraced The Power and Glory of Rock, so these factors probably play a part in the resulting arrangements. Nevertheless, see if you can help me out.
The first example is “Chinatown”, a Roy Wood song not out of character with his whimsical pop numbers from the years before he’d fully committed to The Power & Glory of Rock. I love this song, but from the opening fill through the end of the song, Bev Bevan seems like he’s not paying attention to the song’s core vibe. He’s bashing away and laying into the kick drum like he’s in a street fight. Do I love this song, in part, because of or despite Bevan’s drumming?
Next, the original version of “Do Ya”. I’m not sure which version I like better, this one or ELO’s hit, but on both versions, Bevan seems a bit sluggish. It’s almost just right – or is it? Could the song have been even better with a slightly more sympathetic, nimble drummer (eg, the heavy yet not ham-fisted Bonham)?
Finally, a song on which Bevan’s drumming sounds wholly appropriate: “Feels So Good”. This, by the way, is a prime example of The Power & Glory of Rock. See if you agree that it best suits Bevan’s style. Then tell me if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Then tell me what you think of this FACT:Jeff Lynne is the drummer on “Feels So Good”!
I look forward to your responses.
just a quick comment before I actually give the question some serious thought.
Bev’s drumming on Hello Susie from the Move’s Shazam lp, is probably my favorite rock drumming of all time.
certainly top 5.
I find him to be really boring – especially in ELO.
I know Kevin’s gonna come through and help me out. Andy, “boring” is a judgemental approach; I’m looking for the analytic. I know you can break it down. (That is, if you’re feeling better.) The rest of you? I need your help. And none of that “Why question it if it rocks?” nonsense.
Thanks.
Yes, I am feeling better now. Thanks.
I can’t get into charting specific beats, but he never has memorable fills. When I hear his drumming, I never get the urge to air-drum along with him. In ELO, he had a huge drum set he never fully utilized (didn’t he have roto-toms at one point)
I’m not the biggest Move fan, so if there are specific songs where he shines, please let me know.
Sorry I can’t help you. Listening to some ELO on purpose is out of the question, and all attempts by RTH members to turn me on to the Move have been unsuccessful. Bun E. Carlos’ drumming on California Man rocks, however.
I just listened to “Feels So Good” – Good beat but no cool fills. Once he gets going, he never changes it up.
andyr wrote:
I can see you feeling this way. Good explanation. By the way, there’s a “trick ending” to my post after you hit the “More” link, which excludes Bevan from all comments regarding this track! “He” is not him.
His drums in Chinatown really add to the song I think. This song has a weird, almost lopsided groove, and the drumming is perfect. He does come in with some fills at weird times though. Adds to the charm though.
I really dig this thing he does at the end of Do Ya. That’s exactly what I love about this guy. that double thing. I’m no musician, so I don’t know what to call it.
That’s the sound from Hello Susie that gets me off everytime!
I have to agree with kpdexter on ‘Do Ya’. I love this version of the song, and Bev is a good-time drummer. He just seems to me to be one of those guys that can get along with whatever the band is doing. He’s got some chops when he wants to, yeah, but I really think his style is just to hang back and be loose. He’s got a certain bounce that to me shows how happy he is in playing – just a real elasticity and you can tell in the songs that he’s having a good time, maybe not so much in keeping “common” 4/4 time perfectly on the nose all the time, but this is fine. Listening to ‘Do Ya’ actually reminds me of how fun it was to cover Wilco’s ‘Outtasite/Outta Mind’ because I really liked to bounce around with double bass-drum beats throughout that song, real body movement on the drums makes me happy. I actually thought that JL’s drumming on ‘Feels So Good’ was all over the place – fast/slow/faster/faster/faster… it was kind of making me want to yell at the rhythm section to get it together – it’s like the guitar is racing to keep up! Good trick though Mr. Mod, you almost had me!
Thanks, RTH! You were a great help. I agree with almost everything you’ve said. My enjoyment of the music of The Move and ELO is neither improved nor decreased. This suggests that, whatever I was thinking, feeling, and not quite “getting” was on the right track. I look forward to future episodes of Is There a Drummer in the House? at least as much as I’m sure you do.
Having seen Bev Bevan play live a few times he is really up for it, I think he was slowed down with ELO songs with the multi tracks. However Fire on High has some nice drumming on it!
Welcome aboard elo_jacko. We do tend to forget that drummers are in service to their band’s music and often have more to offer that we get to hear.
Hi there,
I’m a drummer myself … have been for more than 30 years. I’ve loved and analysed Bev’s drumming in both The Move and ELO and feel somewhat qualified to comment. (Apologies, this is a bit long!)
On ‘Do Ya’ (both versions), Bev is double-tracked. This means he recorded his part once, then recorded it again.
On The Move’s version this was experimental and challenging … probably the first time Bev and had ever attempted it. (The exception may be ‘First Movement (Jumping Biz)’ from the first ELO album, but I’m not sure of the chronology.)
Being an experiment, Bev’s playing on the original ‘Do Ya’ has a looseness that would be lost on ‘classic’ ELO recordings: he’s not aiming for perfection.
See, when you double-track an instrument (particularly a drum-kit, where potentially four instruments are being struck simultaneously), it’s very important to keep the playing SIMPLE. Otherwise the resultant mix sounds like a heard of antelopes running down a flight of stairs. 🙂
So once ELO entered their ‘classic’ period, Bev’s drumming was purposely simplified so the double-tracking would sound more accurate and not detract from the many other elements in the mix. (Poorly double-tracked drums also sound amateurish, a no-no once ELO entered their ‘superstar’ era!)
But on the earlier recordings (1971-73), Bev and Jeff weren’t quite so particular. Or perhaps they didn’t have the funding to spend as much time in the studio, reaching for perfection.
Nonetheless, even on The Move’s ‘Do Ya’, Bev must’ve divined that he’d have to keep his drumming fairly pedestrian for the double-tracking to work. This may explain why you hear his performance as ‘sluggish’. To my ears, it’s an admirable balance between ‘exciting’ and ‘careful’.
A fun point: there are numerous ELO recordings where you can hear the effect of NOT getting the multi-tracking right. One that comes to mind is ‘Showdown’: the first snare drum note sounds like a flam. From memory, the first three songs on ‘Discovery’ reveal similar artefacts. And the final snare note before the repeat of “I remember the dead of night” in ‘Big Wheels’ is another example.
But I must point out: to double-track a Rock drum-part accurately (especially for a drummer who doesn’t write/read musical notation) is INCREDIBLY difficult. It’s easier nowadays, as we have the technology to ‘move’ any misaligned notes; but in the tape/analogue days of the 70s, Bev achieved something extraordinary! (Also witness Roger Taylor’s playing on Queen’s ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’.)
But did multi-tracking actually enhance the sonic qualities of ELO’s recordings? I mean, Jeff’s premise must’ve been “If we lay down the drums twice, they’ll sound twice as big”. Same principle as multi-tracking guitars, voices, pianos, or having multiple violins in an orchestra, or multiple tenors in a choir.
The trouble is this: when two (near-)identical sound-waves collide they DIMINISH each other. Very much like two waves at the beach when they collide at an angle. The resultant sound is called ‘phasing’.
Unlike a guitar (where subtle variations in the player’s finger-movements can alter the sound of a double-tracked note), to hit a drum in roughly the same place is going to produce a sound that is INCREDIBLY similar each time, unless the drum has been re-tuned.
To my ears, this means that the phasing on Bev’s multi-tracked drum parts actually DIMINISHES their power.
I would argue that the VERY best drum sound Bev ever got was on The Move’s ‘Shazam’ album. It’s not *artificially* big … there’s no double-tracking. Bev’s kit was simply well-tuned and well-mic’d. The resultant mixes are big, crisp and faithful to the true sound of a drum kit, as perceived by the drummer.
(Plus, the drumkits manufactured in the 60s simply sounded better – to many discerning ears – than from the 70s onwards. Check out Darren Jesse’s sound on Ben Folds Five recordings … he insists on using ‘vintage’ kits for that reason.)
Regarding Bev’s style as a drummer: like many of the Rock guys who emerged in the 60s (Keith Moon, Charlie Watts, Kenney Jones, John Bonham, Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell), Bev was influenced by the Jazz greats of the preceding generation. You can hear this clearly before he was obliged to multi-track and simplify his parts.
For example, listen to the (intentionally) off-time fills in The Move’s ‘Hey Grandma’ and ‘Wave Your Flag And Stop The Train’. These are Jazz-influenced and actually quite brilliant. 🙂
When given his freedom, Bev was a tremendously exciting, nimble and dextrous drummer. Can we find examples of this in his post-Move repertoire? Occasionally: his solo on ‘Nellie Takes Her Bow’ and virtually everything on ELO’s second album (particularly ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘From The Sun To The World’) are good examples.
Many people also cite ‘Fire On High’. Yes, the drumming is exciting, but it’s *contrived*: each fill had to be carefully planned and memorised for the multi-tracking to work.
I know the above doesn’t truly answer your original questions, but I hope it furthers the appreciation of Bev Bevan’s work. 🙂
Kind regards,
Jason Paris
Great stuff, Jason Paris! Thanks for signing on and sharing your insights. This is exactly why the call was put out for any drummers in the house.
I had never considered that he was double-tracking his drums on those songs. That certainly explains the constant flam effect and the muddiness.
I agree that Shazam has the best drum sound (and best overall sound) of any Move album. Rock on!
🙂 Thank you Mr. Moderator.
There’s one point I should’ve been clearer on: the reason Bev’s playing on the first two ELO albums is more inspired, uncontrived and exciting is because he wasn’t constrained by multi-tracking.
The only multi-tracked drum part on those two albums is ‘First Movement (Jumping Biz)’. And – as with The Move’s ‘Do Ya’ – this was somewhat experimental. Indeed, if you listen to that track on headphones you’ll hear Bev playing substantially different parts; on the ‘classic’ recordings he aimed for *perfect* duplication.
🙂 This discussion has reminded me of a cover of ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ that I produced for my daughter (she was four at the time, so please be forgiving): https://soundcloud.com/abbie-music/mr-blue-sky
I didn’t even *attempt* to multi-track my drumming!
Kind regards,
Jason
I heard that Bev left his beautiful wife Valerie after 40 something years for that bitch Joy Strachan-Brain.