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Topic ClosedAlan White a Prog Drummer?

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Poll Question: What genre or style do you consider Alan's playing?
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
23 [50.00%]
21 [45.65%]
1 [2.17%]
1 [2.17%]
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The Quiet One View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Alan White a Prog Drummer?
    Posted: September 06 2008 at 23:00
Well the question for me was that if Alan White is really a Prog drummer, at least the style, ala Bruford, Collins, Peart, Bozzio, etc.

Listening to Tales gives a really bad impression of his playing, being very simple and dull. While in Relayer his playing is very powerful, but I would consider it a more Rock style playing rather than a Prog style as I imagine Bruford playing on Relayer, jazzy leanings, etc.

And well in the last Yes outputs, his playing is rather simple.

I don't want people to come and say: "Have you heard Yessongs?!" Of course I have, but the compositions were made with Bruford not with Alan..

BTW: This is not a poll to decide wheather(?) Alan is a good drummer or not, it's if his stlye of drumming is Prog or not.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2008 at 23:03
White played with the Plastic Ono Band and a variety of other British rock outfits before he got the Yes gig.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2008 at 23:07
Originally posted by tszirmay tszirmay wrote:

White played with the Plastic Ono Band and a variety of other British rock outfits before he got the Yes gig.


interesting info, thx, I should have searched a little more..
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2008 at 23:14
I like White more than Bruford & Collins .. his drum tuning and deep toms  mean buisness he drives the beat home no sissy approach just a powerful direct at times complicated but most of the time backbone to the music, a bit like my all time favourite drummer Phil Ehart from Kansas ...

He is Prog Rock no questions about it, which is why Yes hired him in the first place and that choice turned out to be a pretty good one  Wink




Edited by Yorkie X - September 07 2008 at 04:49
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2008 at 23:24
SO i guess he can play everything.
If YES kept him on the payroll for how long now? 35 years !!, i assume he can play like a progger as well, sure he is more business than subtetlies, but i didn't cry of despair when he took over BrufordThumbs%20Up
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2008 at 23:28
Originally posted by Yorkie X Yorkie X wrote:

I like White more than Bruford & Collins .. his drum tuning and deep toms  mean buisness he drives the beat home no sissy approach just a powerful direct at times complicated but most of the time backbone to the music, a bit like my all time favourite drummer Phil Ehart from Kansas ...
 


I agree, I think White wins for tone (i.e. Drama), both Bruford and Collins also have a very nice sound but White was more powerful in the studio



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 03:36
I've actually always found similarities in White and Peart's style of drumming. Peart sounds somewhat more precise, but both are powerful and fast. And I disagree on the notion that White's playing is simple. When I think of Yes' music, one of the first words that come to mind is complex! When the music is so multilayered as it is, it's pretty much impossible for the drums to stay simple. I think White's a prog drummer.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 06:49
Intertsting poll - as you say there's no doubt he's an excellent drummer. His work on "Tales" struck me as a bit of a struggle to come to terms with the band; "Relayer" was just about the best drumm (and bass) perfomance on any album of any genre. Overall when I listen to White I do think he is more a hard rock drummer.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 07:43
Great poll, Pablo, been thinking the same sort of thing for a while, myself, though I don't know too much of his work.

Personally, I'm veering towards a yes. Remembering the rather unusual work on The Ancient as well as his really directional work on The Gates Of Delirium. I agree that he's a bit more rock-focused than most of the 'prog' drummers I listen to, and he definitely comes from that direction, but he has done some pretty interesting and superb stuff in the prog arena.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 08:14
Definitely prog  - just listen to his performances on Relayer and GFTO. He's a tad more muscular than Bruford (on Sound Chaser he's playing possibly the first ever example of jazz metal) but his work on tracks like Turn of the Century or Awaken is as prog as drumming gets.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 10:59
He is not too progressive, although he sure can play so if he wants to (Relayer). I´d say he is the "rockiest" part of Yes
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 12:52
Originally posted by el böthy el böthy wrote:

He is not too progressive, although he sure can play so if he wants to (Relayer). I´d say he is the "rockiest" part of Yes


I agree with "rockiest part of Yes"

For the rest that say his playing on Relayer is proggy, I just find it to be the clearest example of what I mean. His playing on Gates of Delirium is full of power and energy as I said at the begining, but the style is clearly Rock or Hard Rock, with some Prog leanings of course. Sound Chaser well yeah, but just imagine Bill Bruford playing on this one!
AGAIN! I'm not saying he's a bad drummer, just that his style isn't Prog. He's a fine Rock Drummer that plays in a AMAZING Prog band.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 13:00
he's played with Yes for more years than many here have been alive hahahha.  Sure he is.. what else would he be?  If he's not..just what is Peart... as someone noted earlier.. very much in the same style.. which was suited for big stadiums and concerts.. a hard hitting rock drummer with enough chops to play prog.  Bruford for example was the first to admit he wasn't.  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 13:02
Originally posted by Syzygy Syzygy wrote:

Definitely prog  - just listen to his performances on Relayer and GFTO. He's a tad more muscular than Bruford (on Sound Chaser he's playing possibly the first ever example of jazz metal) but his work on tracks like Turn of the Century or Awaken is as prog as drumming gets.


I really love that track because for many reasons I think it was really ahead of its time.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 13:13
Voted Yes, for reasons provided by others already.

You should also check out White's recent work with Circa some time, although he's a bit overpowered there by Billy Sherwood's bass some of the time.


Edited by Angelo - September 07 2008 at 13:13
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 14:35
Alan White surely is one of the best rock drummers(he played with Joe Cocker and John Lennon for example),a great session man and he did and still does outstanding stuff in Yes so he clearly can play
in a prog style:I very much enjoy his playing throughout Tales but he's not a prog drummer stricto sensu.
He still rocks so that's great!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2008 at 17:15
Not sure that there is such a thing as a "prog" drummer.  A good drummer should be able to play most styles. White's background is in rock and Bruford is a jazz drummer but they both fitted into Yes ok.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 08 2008 at 02:12
Well, i played drums for many years and I never known how people define a Prog drummer.
 
Having a well developed and technical style?
 
Most Jazz drummers have a great technique.
 
Drummers as Palmer, who is an icon, is IMO more strength than technique, not that he is bad, but he's not in the level of a Peart, Bruford, Ehart, Manu Katche or even Collins.
 
A good Rock drummer can play Prog, Pop or Punk, maybe not Jazz because it's a different technique, if you place Peart in The Who or The Rolling Stones, I'm sure he'll make an outstanding job.
 
A Prog drummer is one that has played in a Prog band, and White has played in Yes for decades, what else do you want.
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 08 2008 at 08:25
Originally posted by Ivan_Melgar_M Ivan_Melgar_M wrote:

Well, i played drums for many years and I never known how people define a Prog drummer.
 
Having a well developed and technical style?
 
Most Jazz drummers have a great technique.
 
Drummers as Palmer, who is an icon, is IMO more strength than technique, not that he is bad, but he's not in the level of a Peart, Bruford, Ehart, Manu Katche or even Collins.
 
A good Rock drummer can play Prog, Pop or Punk, maybe not Jazz because it's a different technique, if you place Peart in The Who or The Rolling Stones, I'm sure he'll make an outstanding job.
 
A Prog drummer is one that has played in a Prog band, and White has played in Yes for decades, what else do you want.
 
Iván


I couldn't have said this any better.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 08 2008 at 09:40
He's got to be prog for me, Pablo.  His work in GFTO, Gates (Yesshows version) and Drama stand out. Very versatile, and very good.
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