Hey, RTH — I just want to go on record as saying I’m appalled that all of you have let Mr. Mod and others ride roughshod over Charlie Watts’ reputation. Anyone with brain one ought to be able to see with crystal clarity just how vital the Watts groove thang is to the band; how he’s single-handedly responsible for setting the vibe on dozens of classic Stones traxx.
To help prove this point, I’ve assembled a montage of Watts drum intros to 12 classic Stones tracks. Now, since I assembled the montage, I already know which songs they introduce. But I’m certain there are more than a few of you who ought to be able to identify the tracks in question. Especially since I’m willing to offer up a helpful hint: All the tracks are in alphabetical order.
So come on, Watts fans and Stones know-it-alls! Show us how vital Watts really is to that band! Identify these traxx!
this is cool fritz! and i’m with you…i love chollie.
however, what struck me right away is…man, what shitty drum sounds (for the most part).
so i guess, if we apply bigsteve’s grant hart / hüsker du rule, then chollie’s a bad drummer (steve, i’m doing this not because i want you to argue about whether or not these drums sounds are actually good…in reality, i think they run the gamut from putrid to pretty much okay. but i want you to clarify: did you mean “bad drummer” = “bad drum sound”… period? ).
fritz, by throwing “sympathy” (10) in there, you undermine your own argument: that’s charlie playing the snare, but all those other percussives you hear aren’t him. they brought in a bunch of other guys to create that track and charlie actually does very little. watch the youtube. he’s not even using his kick drum.
nice inclusion of “emotional rescue” (4), though! the one after that, and also number 12 sound like they might be from something much more recent (which i pride myself on not knowing). but i don’t know…it’s been awhile for me and mick and the boys…
“thumb” (11), too! Nice one!
but you didn’t even include the actual drumming on “honky tonk”, just the cowbell (6)!
and where’s that classic tympanum on “undercover of the night”?
you included “my obsession” (8), too! wooh! but no “get offa my cloud”?
and hey, what’s the really muted little stomp thing (the third one in?). is that really drums?
i’m too lazy to get out my early stones albums….
i can SING what comes next on 1,2, and 3, 7, but i just can’t name the song. the tom rolls (9?) are from some 12 x 5 era instrumental, aren’t they?
nice work.
bigsteve, i want answers!!!
Nice start, Perfesser! However, know that there are no tracks that predate “Aftermath” in this list, nor any that were released after “Tattoo You.” This is all of “classic rock” vintage, and should be easily identifiable by geezers like us! Thus far, we have the following tracks correctly identified:
1.
2.
3.
4. Emotional Rescue
5.
6. Honky Tonk Women
7.
8. My Obsession
9.
10. Sympathy For the Devil
11. Under My Thumb
12.
oh…thanks for the big clue fritz! i know a whole bunch more now, but i’m just gonna leave it out there for others…
fun fun fun…
I’ll cover the rest from Between the Buttons.
1. All Sold Out
2. Complicated
Great idea!
Well done, Sammy! We now have:
1. All Sold Out
2. Complicated
3.
4. Emotional Rescue
5.
6. Honky Tonk Women
7.
8. My Obsession
9.
10. Sympathy For the Devil
11. Under My Thumb
It’s becoming clearer just how *vital* Charlie’s contributions are to his band!
12.
All the easy ones are taken. Is 9 from 19th Nervous Breakdown?
BigSteve wants to know if #9 is from 19th Nervous Breakdown. The answer: NO!
Fun post! I think tho that taking the drum sounds out of context is not exactly fair (when are we ever “fair” right?!). When you get all the instruments together – they (the songs) sound good and “right”…
I was recently sent the file linked below – it is a spliced collection of Mr. Starr’s drums…download the zip and take a listen. Many more than 12 songs…
http://www.deansabatino.com/downloads/18BestOfRingoDrumMix.zip
Well, Mister — if I had included any of the instrumental passages, it would’ve been too easy, no? And we wouldn’t have gotten a sense of the *vital* importance of Charlie Watts’s playing in his band!
True – but I was referencing Art’s comment about the shitty drum sounds..sorry – should have been clearer…sorry.
#5 = Hang Fire, yes?
dean, my ears i agree with your. they do sound “right” in context. i even like their quirkiness (i’ve tried to get there on my own records! it’s hard!).
I meant that by purely technical standards, these are “bad drum sounds” and i pointed this out as a way of getting bisteve to elaborate on the “bad drummer results in bad drum sounds” theory he mentioned in the Hüsker du thread (hey! is there supposed to be an ¨ over the second “u”)?
i think rick’s right about #5.
i also think that number 3 is not drums, but either the strings of a bass or the thicker strings on a guitar being strummed, but with studio reverb on them.
I knew I could count on Waspuppet’s eagle, er, ears to spot at least one or two of these. You are correct, sir — track #5 is indeed “Hang Fire.”
The list now reads:
1. All Sold Out
2. Complicated
3.
4. Emotional Rescue
5. Hang Fire
6. Honky Tonk Women
7.
8. My Obsession
9.
10. Sympathy For the Devil
11. Under My Thumb
12.
BTW, Poat — Looks like I’ll be driving upto Maine for the whole shooting match — which means I could stop off in Proton on the way home on Sunday the 3rd, or on the way up on Thursday the 31st. Lemme know which, if either, of these works for you.
Come on, guys — numbers 3 and 9 aren’t that hard! Number 7 is one of my fave Stones Deep Trax. 12 is also a strong underdog Stones number, from their last truly Great album (hint, hint).
well, since you’re getting impatient, numbuh nine: stupid girl.
numbuh 3: doncha bother me.
“Stupid Girl” is one of them – i’m just too lazy to count.
apparently, you’re also too lazy to read two posts above your own, andy!
Two points for the Professor, one miserable half of one lazy point for Velv.
The list now reads:
1. All Sold Out
2. Complicated
3. Doncha Bother Me
4. Emotional Rescue
5. Hang Fire
6. Honky Tonk Women
7.
8. My Obsession
9. Stupid Girl
10. Sympathy For the Devil
11. Under My Thumb
12.
Just two left! We’re proving something here!
number twelve….”when the whip comes down”.
i know number 7, too.
ya want it??? ya want it???
guilty as charged. I was so psyched I thought I knew one that others didn’t.
Wow — the Perfesser is really showing us Watt’s Watt! You are correct on “When the Whip Comes Down”… sure, go for the gold. What’s the deep track I love so much that sits at position 7?
numero 7 would be… “if you can’t rock me” (also a fave of mine: it’s only rock n roll, right?).
andy, it’s understandable. my all lowercase posts are hard to read.
No, what I meant was that if you’re not a good drummer, the drums will sound bad no matter how well they’re recorded. Like me, Grant Hart plays drums serviceably, but he just doesn’t hit them like a real drummer. There’s no slam in his snare. (In the Protools era, these deficiencies can be partly overcome with sophisticated editing.)
On the early records by Husker Du (and there are supposed to be 2 umlauts btw) this didn’t make much difference, as long as he could maintain the tempo, which he could. But when more was required of him, his drumming prowess failed to keep up with his and Mould’s growth as songwriters. Note that as soon as he went solo, Hart got another drummer and played guitar.
Actually Cholly is the counterexample to the Grant rule — he always sounds all right to great, no matter how muddy the Stones’ overall recordings are.
gotcha Steve. I knew that there was a thoughtful theory behind what sounded like a reductive blanket statement. Thanks for elaborating. I agree completely!
Hey Hrundi,
Who around these parts is dissin’ Charlie Watts? What are their reasons? I need to know right now.
Get back to me on this ASAP,
E, Pluribus
Plurbie — your very own Moderator, that’s who!
By the way, keep your eyebulbs peeled for the most astonishing Stones-related clip you’ll have ever seen, starring your fave septugenarian sex fiend, Bill Wyman. I guarantee it’ll leave you speechless. I immediately thought of you when I found it.
Well, I couldn’t get the youtube link to load up properly using the admin function, so I’m just pasting the link here. Folks, you need to watch this all the way through. You won’t be sorry. Much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khm1rm_AWBI
thanks for the nightmares, fritz! gadzooks!
wow. steinberger basses are so intense.
Mr. Bakshi.
If you ever need to embed a YouTube from admin, never mind all the hoo-ha, just use the YouTube tags and the video id. So this would be [youtube]khm1rm_AWBI[/youtube]
And regarding this video- she was clearly asking for it, wearing the short skirt and all.
Thank you for your attention.
Holy cow! Never has a video abused slo-mo to the point of requiring the little robots in the front row to make fun of it! I’m glad that, at my nadir of youthful excess, I never found the class of drugs that would render that entertaining, let alone meaningful. Good god, man!