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The Steve Perry produced Journey live in Houston concert was released today on DVD withg a bonus cd included and it's an awesome package.
This was originally broadcast live on MTV and has been floating on the boot circuit for quite sometime, but now it has full remixed audio and a 5.1 mix.
Bonus interviews never seen before too. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
Awesome. Thanks for the info Randy.
oh bless you, randy walker!! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]
Awesome! Can't wait to see this. It's interesting to compare Steve Smith during his time with Journey to the Steve Smith of today.
As you can probably guess, I'm a huge fan of Steve Smith. Since he was a Berklee trained jazz musician who got a great gig with Journey, he was new to rock drumming and therefore was playing by instinct with Journey. (He even referenced this in an interview). I thought his rock drumming was phenominal given his training. His instincts were great and he is the standard bearer for rock ballads.
If you contrast that to his style now, he is technically much better now and has really studied music and improved his musicianship immensely. But in some ways, I think he overthinks his parts and is not playing with the same freedom he did with Journey. I've seen various comments from time to time in here about how "stiff" he is. I've never really felt that we was stiff but maybe that's what people are commenting on?? In any case, I still really admire him as a drummer and I think he is one of the most versatile and well rounded drummers in the world.
Thoughts??
Well, for me I prefer older Smith like this DVD over the new and improved Smith.
The drum solo on this concert kicks.
I have a few SS boots Live w/Journey...I love 'em. The epic Journey footage was the Frontiers Tour, but I have a few others.
I just popped in SS's new DVD's and watched them again, focusing on the solos. The guy's sick technically and musical. It is a different style then the Joruney days and I respect his growth as a musician. That's the direction he discovered. IMO, his stick control is in the Buddy world of drumming.
As for rock drumming, I loved his playing on Journey LP's and his sound, especially that boxy popping snare.
Frontiers is a rock masterpiece IMO. Listen to Edge of the Blade...he plays just a few notes but his groove and intensity drives that tunes so deep. When I listened to that years ago, I couldn't believe his play was so simple--I would have sworn he played more complicated parts. The shuffle on, After The Fall is great. I loved comparing his style to Jeff's on this tune. There is a great fill on this tune--so creative and musical. Smith played some real signature fills with Journey. A guy rarely mentioned in hear, Mark Zonder, has a similar approach to drumming as Steve w/Journey. Check out his playing on Fates Warning's Parallels; especially the tune, Eye to Eye.
I might be off, but as I understand it, Steve really thought out these drum parts even back then. He is a thinker type personality. I don't believe he walked into the studio and just let it happen as Ringo stated he did.
Edge of the Blade off Frontiers is an absolute classic! Excellent drum track.
Course that guitar riff is pretty F'n killer too!
D.
My skin-stretchin' bruthas,
Ditto on the Frontiers disc.
I totally dug EOTB [& that gtr riff!].
The tune Frontiers itself has a cool "inverted" drumming intro into a cool approach to the groove of the tune.
Troubled Child was a hauntingly crankin' tune in 3 & 6...what a killer classic album that was.
Evolution, Departure, Escape, Captured, AWA Frontiers & Raised on Radio had some great memorable pop / rock drumming parts. I also enjoyed the Trial By Fire disc [even if it was still a little "80s" in some spots [img]wink.gif[/img] ]
BTW - i think After the Fall was actually not a shuf per se, but rather similar to the old groove JP used to play on tunes such as Carlton's off Last Night...4/4 in 1/2-time, w RH/HH on "1, &a2, &a3, &a4, &a1," w the LH filling in w ghost notes in between the hats/BBs...perhaps feelwise it was somewhere slightly in between straight & shuffled?, if my haven't-listened-to-it-in-eons memory isn't failing completely [img]wink.gif[/img] ...hope i got that right... [img]cool.gif[/img]
Has that old Frontiers & Beyond Concert Video VHS been released to DVD yet?! If not, it should be, by Gadd...the one w all the live AWA behind the scenes footage...& where some idjit in the crowd throws a bottle & hits Neal Schon in the head, & it starts bleeding, & Perry stops the show & has "a few words" to say to the person/crowd...& SS is wearing out a hole in the fabric of the "arm" of a backstage couch [AWA the floor] while warming up for the show, & Schon is just looking on & sort-of laughing in disbelief...
"Ladies & gentlemaen - I'd like to introduce you to Steve 'Machine-Gun' Smith!"... [img]cool.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 15, 2005 11:23 PM: Message edited by: got_a_match_grip? ]</font>
for a brief second, Frontiers and Beyond made it to DVD, but it was released without Perry's consent, so it was taken off the market.
[See added-edit in my post above]...
You know, some peers of mine used to bag a little on SS's groove or feel [stiff was never the comment, but rather, "too white," or, "too tippy-tappy-over the top" & not "digging in deep enough into the trench"], but I've never had a problem w him. He has long been a major influence on my playing...
However, I did see a vid-segement where VI was reading charts & playing "a country-style tune"...& i wasn't buying it [jazz-rock guys trying to cop a country vibe]...& SS was never a seriously fonkay mutha, but oh well...i go listen to the gospel, RnB, & funk drummers for that...but he was a great trad-meets-bop-meets-contempo jazz player AWA pop & rock drummer, IMHO. I also completely dig the jazzy-fusion Vital Info & Steps Ahead stuff.
SS used to "take a lot of flack" for his "too-human" feel [ebb & flow in the groove or meter], but in the [long-now] age of rigid, rigid timekeeping [drum machine/click] in SOOOO many popular tunes, i tend to appreciate a cat that has a natural human feel to their playing & not sounding like every other record or player [machine-time]...of course he's even evolved since then...
He was AWA is a VERY successful drummer to date...if not in the strictly drumming top 20 most successful of all time.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 15, 2005 11:42 PM: Message edited by: got_a_match_grip? ]</font>
Hey Randy
Your Perry comment reminds me of that haunting article by Journey's producer a few years back...if memory recalls, it coulda been titled, "Steve Perry--Devil to all things Journey!"
All this talk about After the Fall has me thinking...that's a tune I probably haven't heard in 15 years -- but it's bringing back great memories...
GAMG -- I have the funny idea in my head for some reason that the left hand snare part was more like,
- e + - 2 e - uh - e + - 4 e - uh
everything is ghosted here except the 2 and 4 backbeats. Am I on drugs here? Don't know why I think it was this way, and like I say I haven't heard the song in probably 15 years.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 16, 2005 09:02 AM: Message edited by: Thomas Rieck ]</font>
PP, you have to remember, Journey is a business and Journey prior to 2000 is a different set of guys. The discussion was not held with all past members to release the DVD, plus they did a crappy job.........no indexing or chapters, just straight from VHS to DVD.
Ordered mine yesterday.
Now Perry needs to find some of the old stuff with Rolie and maybe Aynsley.
I have some boots on VHS of that old stuff. Aynsley used some GIGANTIC cymbals.
How unfortunate that when most of the groundbreaking live music was being performed, the video capturing equipment blew chunks, or no one really cared to record it.
TR - yep, that's basically it man. AFA I've always "heard" it also, anyways.
I went back & read my above post & realized i'd worded [that LH part] wrong..."w the LH filling in w ghost notes in between the hats/BBs," should not have meant actually in between every HH note itself, but rather a concept generalization...apologies for the misconception. My bad in wording. Good call on bringing that to attention. Another good thing about intelligence in an open forum... /;-]
The RH/HH stays the way i had it in my earlier post, & the LH/sn is yours... [img]cool.gif[/img] Jeff used to use this groove often, & he did it fantastically.
I've also played it & have seen it played the same way except minus the LH/sn "+" [just aft the "e"], so that it's almost entirely linear AFA the hands only themselves go, & no notes fall together ATST, with the excepttion of the sn-BB 2&4 & the RH/HH on the same notation together there...or both, to mix it up, i guess...
______________
BR - just saw Rolie's band agin on Sat at this large local fest, he was there at last year's AW...they do lots of old Jourmey w a great vocalist covering Perry's parts...[oh, yeah; Augeri's too [img]wink.gif[/img] ...sorry, i don't know the guy's name]; AWA old Santana fr Gregg's early days w him. They're a really, really good band for that stuff.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 16, 2005 02:26 PM: Message edited by: got_a_match_grip? ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The "uh" of 2+4 is in both hands though, right?Quote:
Originally posted by got_a_match_grip?:
no notes fall together ATST, with the excepttion of the sn-BB 2&4
...or is that left [img]smile.gif[/img]
Yeah...I am a trouble maker...
Nonetheless, it's a smoking groove. Did Garibaldi make this one popular?
I think I remember SS playing this on his early instructional videos.
DOH [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]
Yeah, that'd be right AW...[ah's = both RH/HH awa ghosted-LH/sn]... [OK...you can now basically totally disregard the earlier "linear" comment entirely]... [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img]
Sometimes, if one is not careful, describing a beat on a standard keyboard/typed forum is like, well, trying to "define the definiton of 'groove'...[or trying to 'draw a sneeze']" ;]
Nuthin' like vagueness or ambiguousness [or is it, ambiguousity?! [img]wink.gif[/img] ]...AWA not being above a good correction! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 16, 2005 04:34 PM: Message edited by: got_a_match_grip? ]</font>
I just ordered the DVD at Amazon for only $16.49!
I just recieved my copy yesterday! Steve Perry did a great job editing and re-mixing. It looks and sounds great! Randy, you were right, that drum solo by SS does KICK! These guys really did jam. Perry's vocals are amazing and Neil Schon can lay it down. How in the hell does Jonathan Cain stand up and lean over for 2 hours playing the keyboard?? My back hurts just watching him!
But, the best part of the whole vid is Steve Perry's shirt. Man, that yellow leopard print thing is AWESOME! I gotta get me one of those!!
Got mine today. It's pretty good, but I've seen and heard better from Steve Smith both playing and sound-wise. Don't get me wrong though. This is great stuff. It's just that there are better performances in the vault somewhere....
Any examples DSOP? Always looking for more SS material [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I also dug yon Mr. Smithers on Tony MacAlpine's Edge of Insanity album [Andy West from the Dregs on bass], a "melodic metal" rock instrumental jam masterpiece. AWA Deen C on Mac's subsequent Maximum Security. Yer typical blazing 80s instrumental gtr stuff. [These were the "pre-Virg/PX daze" [img]wink.gif[/img] ]
OK, so b4 anyone might call me on it, SS does rush a tad-hair during his solo phrasing at the end of [i believe it was] the Witch & the Priest tune. So what of it. [He got that from the Great Tony's Lifetime-Believe It's "Fred" anyways... [img]wink.gif[/img] How come i don't hear any more complaining off in the distance now?!] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img] Like none of us ever rushed at any one time in our lives, ever... [img]wink.gif[/img] [Even Mssr. Weck claims this when he was around 9 or 10 or so...] [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Can anybody give me an idea (sticking?) for what he is doing in his solo starting at 3:11?? It is a monster tom, bass and snare roll thingy (technical term). I've heard him do this a fair amount and obviously lots of drummers do variations on it but I've never been able to figure it out...too damn fast.
Any help would be appreciated.