Wild Stereo Drums

Wednesday, 4 July 2007

Years ago I wrote a monthly column for a magazine for drummers, De Slagwerkkrant. A glossy magazine with interviews with all the big drummers and with ads for drum kits so big that you play for a whole minute without touching the same thing twice. I had a little corner in which I wrote about Thai elephant drummers, Chaino and obscure 60’s percussion exploitation LP’s. I am pretty sure that 99% of the readers hadn’t a clue about the records I mentioned, so I expected some requests for tapes. But in the two and a half years that I did this I got none.
This column was a good excuse to buy a lot of percussion LP’s, so you won’t hear me complain about a lack of response. I mean, I still have those records and every time I play one I have little doubt that this music is indeed as interesting as I wrote.
Today I played Wild Stereo Drums, released on Capitol. “This unique collection presents some of the greatest percussion performances ever released, now gathered in one album. Here are the thrilling sounds of big-band drummers, Latin rhythm men, drill field precisionists, all captured in the finest stereophonic sound, with vivid left-right separation. These varied instruments have been precisely recorded to cover a wide sonic spectrum – from 30 to 15.000 cycles – with sharply contrasting high and low passages, and combinations of al percussive sound that provide a telling test, indeed, for your playback system.”
Many percussion records were sold to demonstrate how good stereo hi-fi equipment could sound, but I don’t care at all about that. I just care about the drums! I also don’t care much for the subtle percussion; when it comes to percussion records I like it simple, up-tempo and danceable. Like in this tune by Dick Harrell, called Rocket racket.

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