John Mayhew on Trespass

Tony Banks being a huge King Crimson fan and then meeting Steve Hackett who was also a Crimhead gave Banks this opportunity to work with someone new in the band who valued the same things . Hackett seemed to have a more definite attack on electric guitar than Phillips....although that was the style of guitar playing Banks was searching for. Like maybe having someone on board that could play like Fripp, but direct their own voice. It was evident during this time that Banks personally did not care for John Mayhew's style and wanted to find a drummer whose attack was harder and could drive the band's sound a bit more. For example the sound of Phil Collins snare drum on "Dancing In the Moonlit Knight" where during an up-tempo section of the song Collins drives the band more and with Hackett attacking those strings ....certainly Banks had the right people.

Edited by TODDLER - February 19 2012 at 19:25

John Mayhew's drumming on Trespass is perfectly fine. But unlike Collins, he doesn't add his own flavor.

I would compare John Mayhew's drumming on Trespass to Mick Pointer's on Script 

bucka001 wrote: The kindest thing that can be said about John Mayhew is that he was adequate. His playing didn't ruin the album and, at the very least, the band were able to get the job done with him. But he was not a "good" drummer, and that has nothing to do with comparing him to Phil Collins. It's more to do with the drummer's role in the band and what he brings to the table. John Mayhew was fired because he wasn't good enough. John Anthony (the band's producer) said that he wasn't giving the band time, he was following theirs (which is a pretty major flaw). As a drummer myself, I can hear exactly what JA is talking about. There is a sort of trepidation to John Mayhew's playing, it's just doesn't sound real confident or solid. But, I agree that it doesn't ruin the album.

Well put.  As a listener, I think to say his work didn't really exude any great flavour would sum it up.  Collins succeeding him spotlighted the difference, but so would have Bruford or Weathers or Barlow, to name only a few, had they stepped into his shoes instead of Collins.

Flyingsod wrote: Im not a fan of drums really and for a vast majority of bands I regard them as fancy metronomes (Phil incl) and  they never really enter my stream of  musical consciousness. Mayhew's drumming manages to wrest my attention away from the more musical instruments several times though, and I like any drummer that can do that.

Edited by bucka001 - April 23 2012 at 10:33

bucka001 wrote:   It's probably because he wasn't  rythmically locked in with them!  (just having a bit of fun!)

 HAh! that may be the key :) And to be fair to Phil I'll restate I'm no big fan of drums and people who know drums probably know better.

Slartibartfast wrote: It's hard being the shadow of Phil Collins.  His drumming didn't ruin the album for me.

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: I know that in a long term Collins was the best Genesis drummer (with the bonus of his great backing vocals), but I don't know if he would had done a better job with Trespass

I first heard The Knife on Genesis Live, so when I heard it on Trespass I was a bit disappointed that the drumming on it was so much less dynamic and powerful (I could say similar things about the guitar playing, though Hackett did retain some of the guitar solo in it's album form for the live shows).  I've also heard Phil play Stagnation from that album......and it seemed to me he was overplaying a bit.  Of course, in that case I was more used to the Trespass version.

Overall, I think the album gets a lot of its charm from the somewhat tentative performances of all the band members (compared to later albums, at any rate).  Phil may well have been able to do a better job, but I think the whole character of the album would have changed and it wouldn't be so unique in their discography.  So for that, I'm glad Mayhew was the drummer, even if I much prefer Collins drumming in general.  Definitely doesn't ruin the album for me.