What equipment upgrades or tweaks will improve the sound of drums?

Huge Elton and Nigel fan here.  I've never found Eltons recordings to be worth a crap except for his newer and awesome Peachtree Road album and his live albums.  

His older recordings are just bleak on anything other than vocals IMO.

However if you're interested in cd or dvd, check out his live concerts.. In particular the One Night Only concert and the Live at the Royal Opera House concerts.  

The drums in those are what I'm wanting to hear.  Mixed well, powerful, and made my Klipsches dance!

I know this is about vinyl but if you want good drums with Elton, you have to get away from his old original recordings.

@udog


Listening to drums live, I am immediately struck by two things....that drums have both tonality and impact...and when being reproduced on home audio, if either one is missing, they will never sound like drums sound live.

So, the question is, do you have any "records" in you collection now, other than Elton John, that give you tonality and impact...and sound like live drums?  If not and if none of the recommended records and tweaks do the job...then more costly upgrades may be required??

I just dug out and listened to, an album that was probably the most requested, by my customers, for demos. Ry Cooder’s, ’Bop Till You Drop’. Great mix and mic set-up on the kit. Of course, that’s an LP, stamped in 1980. Don’t know how well someone might have remixed it, for a newer format. Another excellent recording(CD, this time) is Audioquest’s, ’Jazz Masters’. Both will provide all the bottom definition, tonality, palpability, etc, you could want. No trouble, at all, following what the rhythm section’s doing. eg: The Bass(each note, defined) and Kick(beater on skin, there), presented as two distinctly separate voices/entities. The Bassist, on ’Gloria’s Step’(from the Audioquest CD), I’d favorably compare to Pastorius. He plays the Bass, like Sandoval plays Trumpet. Now, for something completely different: Dead Can Dance’s, ’Into The Labyrinth’(especially, ’Spirit Dance’).......

Many good comments here.
I played drums for 20 years and Nigel Olsson had one of the best sounding kits. I saw Elton twice at MSG in the mid 1970s and the drums were certainly a highlight for me. The mix was perfect and the drums sounded melodic and dynamic, and they went deep.

I wish there was a recording that could come close to capturing Nigel's sound.

do you have any "records" in you collection now, other than Elton John, that give you tonality and impact...and sound like live drums?

This is worth looking into to test your system.
I also agree with lowering your noise floor to make the detail more revealing.
Lastly, have you rolled any tubes? Telefunken and premium Amperex can provide realistic sonics with deep bass extension.

A Decca or London cartridge ;-) . No, seriously. I saw and heard Nigel live with EJ in 1971, and his Slingerland drum kit sounded similar to Keith Moon’s Premieres: big and boomy!