How Good Was Levon Helm as a Drummer?

Helm was actually a pretty “busy” drummer and quite technical, but it always sounded so natural and perfect and easy. Mark of a great drummer.

 

Perfect drummer.

 

In the category of "Best Rock Drummer", I always have him in my top five.

 

He made The Band. To me, regardless of the talents of Robertson or Manuel (in particular), take away Levon, and the band becomes 50% less interesting.

Absolutely one of the finest drummers and singers of all time.

 

he was a pretty awesome person in general, but indeed a great drummer

 

As long as you didn't mention a guy Levon used to play with with the initials "R.R.", you'd be good to go!

 

Not sure that Randy Rhoads has any place in this discussion

 

Levon was a ridiculously amazing drummer. It’s like his groove marinated for years - tender, sophisticated, complex. Guys would kill for that groove.

 

Randy Rhoads and Levon Helm- now that would have been an interesting combination!

Meant Robbie Robertson, of course, but I'm sure you knew that...

 

He was great. He was a back beat drummer, who could swing and play second line. He could sing and play stringed instruments, a triple threat.

It was a big loss when he passed.

 

Notice Eric's guitar strap comes undone a little after one minute. Robbie sees it and steps in until Eric gets his strap right. Pretty slick.

 

Great feel, great groove, great dynamics, great support to the songs. Plus singing! Fantastic and a hero of mine as a singing drummer! He grew up on early rock and roll and that swing is irreplaceable.

 

Exactly, the right guy in the right band

 

Levon was my favourite thing about the band

 

Just listen to his stellar playing on Life Is A Carnival, nuff said!

 

Perhaps more than the majority of drummers, Levon was musical. His abilities leant sympathy in his playing that complimented the music. He was never overbearing.

 

I love his drumming. Funky, soulful, laid back, among other superlatives. He could've done any number of projects (as he did once in awhile) and fit in perfectly.

 

The coolest drummer ever!

 

I was thinking about this sort of thing yesterday when I was reading some old "versus" thread about individual musicians.

If the question were, say, "Keith Moon vs. Levon Helm," the only reasonable answer in my opinion is that the question is like, say, "pepperoni vs. milk." Pepperoni is my answer if we're talking about a pizza. Milk if we're talking about a bowl of cereal. I'll pass on milk for my pizza, and I'll pass on pepperoni for my cereal. So each thing is just right for its context.

That made me start thinking about this, though: it's really remarkable how often just the right set of musicians have wound up together, so that you get artists like the Who and the Band. If the Who wouldn't have found Keith Moon, they wouldn't have been anywhere near the same band. Likewise with Helm and the Band. And of course the same thing goes for the rest of the band members in those particular situations.

Now, to an extent we can figure that it's a factor of the band evolving to suit the particular collection of musicians available, but I don't think it's only that. Some people just won't mesh very well, some individual musical styles never gel. I doubt that Pete Townshend would have flourished as he did if he had tried to make it work with Phil Rudd as a drummer, Tom Hamilton as a bassist, and Lou Reed as his lead vocalist. My suspicion is that a band made up of those four guys would have probably clashed in (more or less) every direction, would have probably never evolved to gel anywhere near what happened with those musicians in other contexts.

I know this as a musician myself, too. There are some situations where it's always a bit of a trainwreck and you know it just isn't going to work out trying to force some people to fit into the puzzle. It's just not the right combination of players. But sometimes it's almost like fate intervening where you find the perfect partners in crime.

And of course we also see this play out in some collaborations and supergroups etc. that seem to be far less than the sum of their parts. You need the right combo of people working together.

But it really seems remarkable just how often not only players who fit well together end up in the same band, but just how often players who have a sort of "magic" together end up in the same band, so that you get the Beatles, and Stones, and Who, and Band, and Led Zeppelin, and Grateful Dead, and so on, and it's especially remarkable given that the right people are often found in the same geographical area. I would think that it would be a lot more rare than it is.

 

I prefer the one from Rock of Ages

 

Keltner was influenced by Levon. Never heard of that before. Thanks.

Awesome!!

He's the best at "singing and drumming at the same time"

 

Levon was great. Choked up on the sticks quite a bit, that had a lot to do with his swingin/shuffle presentation. I only wish they got a more live un-muted tone out of his drums, a bit to damped for me.

His playing on "The Shape I'm In" on The Last Waltz was some of his most aggressive and energetic I've heard, cool stuff.

 

He was the second best drummer in The Band

I love how amused and animated Levon is on the Eagle Rock DVD.... The Making Of The Band....when he talks about Richard's drumming. You can tell he loved Richard as a brother as well as a fellow Band mate and musician.

 

Some Levon drumming trivia, he used traditional grip for most of his career, during the later part of his career he switched to match grip.

 

I'd imagine that a big part is just the chemistry that develops when musicians (even beginners) who like each other and want to hang out (at least in early days ) develop a sound and repertoire together, which is why a "supergroup" that lives up to expectations is such a rare thing.