Loomis, I completely agree about John Bonham---"behind-the-beat" is exactly right! Some drummers like to be the engine at the front of the train, pulling the band along. Bonham was at the back of the "pocket", pushing the band from behind. The players I like are those who play in the deepest part of the pocket---dead center. Listen to "634-5789" by Wilson Pickett; Roger Hawkins (with David Hood on bass) creates the deepest, most incredible pocket I’ve ever heard! The great studio drummer Jim Keltner (Ry Cooder arranges his recording sessions around Jim’s availablility!) says he wished he played more like Roger!
A moment in time has a little "spread", a visual representation being a "V". The deepest part of the pocket is the bottom of the V. Some drummers play a little in front of (before) that moment in time, some a little behind (later than). Bonham was the latter. When I played a three-night gig with Jonny Kaplan in late 2007, after the first night he asked me to play a little "later", that I was at the front of the pocket (Jonny has a great sense of timing). What?! I listened for what he heard as we played night two, after which he asked for it still later. It wasn’t until I was driving home from the final night (with which he was finally satisfied!) that it occurred to me---Jonny learned Country-Rock not from Dylan, The Band, The Byrds, or any other American outfit, but from the Let It Bleed-era Stones. Charlie Watts is another drummer who plays late (is it a British thing?!), and that’s the way Jonny likes it (he’s a huge Keith Richards fan).
Loomis characterized Bonham as ’lumbering", which is an apt adjective. I hear that trait in a lot of drumming, partly because of the tendency of young drummers to "bury the beater" (leave the bass drum pedal’s beater head mashed into the drum’s batter head after a note is played, rather than letting it rebound away), and to play every bd stroke as hard as possible, using no dynamics, and without "feathering". That’s the manner in which Bonham played bd. To me, it sounds like every time the bass drum beater is buried in the head time abruptly stops, then starting again anew. The sense of flow is disrupted, the music becoming disjointed.
Early in The Who’s recorded output and live shows, Keith Moon was at the leading/front edge of the pocket (sometimes completely out of it, way out ahead of Pete and John). As his drinking increased, he started playing pretty far behind the pulse/beat/pocket, ruining The Who for me. I hear it starting on "Live At Leeds", and in full bloom by the time of "Won’t Get Fooled Again". Early in The Beatles career, Ringo’s playing was right where I like it---deep in the pocket. Unfortunately, his playing too took a nosedive, timing-wise, as he got older (and started drinking with Keith!). Listen to Ringo playing along with Levon Helm in The Last Waltz in 1976; Levon is in deep pocket, Ringo is way late, sluggishly following along behind, like the caboose on a train, not at the front like an engine. Sad.
