Bruce on Tom Jones' TV show
Posted: 17 Apr 2016, 20:30Some nice inserts by Bruce last night on Tom Jones' The Decade That Made Me (BBC1 Sat 16th April). Good show all round, and especially good that it was given prime placing on a Saturday night. Tom and Bruce made the point very strongly that in the '50s the teenagers were waiting for a music they could call their own, and rock'n'roll was that music. The impact of Rock Around The Clock, followed by Heartbreak Hotel and Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On cannot be underestimated.
Tom made one of those not-quite-right statements that, because he said it, will probably and unfortunately become accepted wisdom. Referring to Rock Around The Clock he said there were two drummers and that ain't so. Marshall Lytle carries the rhythm with that click-de-click-de-click by slapping the strings of his upright bass against the neck. Billy Gussack, the drummer brought in to play the session, opens and closes the track but in between he plays a weird selection of 'kicks' and 'bombs' on the snare, sometimes emphasising the on-beat, sometimes the off. Just the sort of thing you might play when you didn't know the number (which he didn't).
Tom made one of those not-quite-right statements that, because he said it, will probably and unfortunately become accepted wisdom. Referring to Rock Around The Clock he said there were two drummers and that ain't so. Marshall Lytle carries the rhythm with that click-de-click-de-click by slapping the strings of his upright bass against the neck. Billy Gussack, the drummer brought in to play the session, opens and closes the track but in between he plays a weird selection of 'kicks' and 'bombs' on the snare, sometimes emphasising the on-beat, sometimes the off. Just the sort of thing you might play when you didn't know the number (which he didn't).