Why start another thread on Charlie? Because there hasn't been one in a while and he is just so f*cking good. I am listening to a live version of "Satisfaction" and once again it strike me how much of a soul drummer he is. Matter of fact he does something that my favorite drummers alldo. More than Soul it is prevalent in Gospel music. Charlie plays a lot on the on beat. It depends much on the song, and also if it is live or not. Very often in live shows he switches constantly back and forth between playing the traditional rockbeat on 2 and 4 to hitting the onbeats in between. What he is in effect doing is following the vocals. Jagger. Asa much as it is said that he follows Keith he follows Jagger just as much. And this is a great asset IMO. Gospel drummers will hit every beay of the bar often. I don't know if Wilco still have that drummer, but he is another guy who does that. I saw Wilco, not one of my fave bands with him, and it changed their music for the better I thought.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Whole heartedly agree 110%.Charlie is the greatest.He is the man for the job,no matter what the job is.Hats off to Mr. Watts.

Pleased to meet you......

I was listening to the Charlie Watts Orchestra earlier today - 3 drummers, 2 bassists, 22 wind instrumentalists. What a row - I quite like his quintet sound, but that orchestra thing was awful (unless you happen to be a fan of the big band sound).

Charlie Is Still The Greatest - Watts or Brown?

Charlie - Charlie Brown
Stu - Schroder
Keith - Pigpen
Ronnie - Linus
Mick - Lucy
Bill - chasing Peppermint Patty

Elmo Lewis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Charlie Is Still The Greatest - Watts or Brown?
>
> Charlie - Charlie Brown
> Stu - Schroder
> Keith - Pigpen
> Ronnie - Linus
> Mick - Lucy
> Bill - chasing Peppermint Patty


Pretty good Elmo.Keith is kind of Pigpenish isn't he?

Pleased to meet you......

Charlie is in the stratosphere of good.

Re Charlie "following the vocals," often it's more a matter of him being the complete foundation of the vocals.

As Eric Burdon once said to me, "Without a good drummer to protect and guide you, a singer is nothing."

I always thought of Charlie and Bill as a rhythm section that could kick Mick's ass whenever he started to wander.

Charlie did kick Mick's ass!

Pleased to meet you......

I love Charlie's playing circa 1968-69, assured, dynamic, subtle...

then the damn disco beats started sneaking in and spoiled him!

Ain't that the truth though, Majesty? In 72/73 IMO he was still the old Charlie but already in 75 it snuck in. I think he changed snare drums. One of the many things I love about Ya-Ya's is the very subtle rattling of his snares that one hears from the vibrations. That is something so live, alive and it went away. He started using a snare that is slightly deeper and more boomy. Coupled with his precise playing. In 81 is the only tour that I am not crazy about his playing because he went overboard with that whole lifting of the Hi Hat stick on the snare hit. All his playing is machine like then.
He still does all the fills etc. But what also changed is the songwriting that calls for him to play the disco beats to begin with.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

It seems he has lost the ability ot play those 69-esque beats, everytime I hear him now his playing is closer to the 80's aproach, even on the oldest stuff.

As far as studio albums, I've always considered Between the Buttons as Charlie's solo album. Certainly that's some of the most active full drumming Charlie has played across an entire album, in my opinion.

I also suppose that Charlie's style of drumming has changed as he has grown older. Just looking at him playing, he's seems to struggle a bit to keep moving in time, in opinion.

Then again, I think what he plays now sort of fits the scale of the concerts they play these days. yet, at the same, on one song, I can't remember which one, I saw Charlie pull out the brushes for one song. I was amazed...here we are at a rock concert and Charlie is playing with brushes! Cool ....

Personally, I like the way he lifts off the high hat for some songs. I remember Keith saying something about leaving spaces in the music so the music can breathe. I see Charlie's lifting off the high hats as sort of accentuating that concept.

Marv Peck

Y'all remember that rubber legged boy