"MISSING PERSONS" (Bozzio) Friday Five-Fer

[xsabers]

T...Terry came back to playing acoustic drums (Remo...yuck) and was playing Paiste Color Sound cymbals. ...

Them's fightin' words around here! Seriously though, REMO made some of the best sounding drums I've ever played. Completely underrated, IMO. It seems like people with a limited exposure to REMO drums may have only experienced some of the early, thinner drums that were prone to have problems, or the lower end lines that had the cheaper hardware. These are easy to find at places like Music Go Round and Craigslist. The nicer kits are harder to find. Talk to Jeff Hamilton about his love for REMO drums.

Back to your regularly scheduled conversation...

 

[DolFan54]

Mental Hopscotch blew my mind with the EP. I actually lost interest with Spring Session M. Although I have all 3 albums it was the EP that grabbed me.

On a side note my neighbor that lives behind me grew up with Terry. Not many people can say Terry Bozzio was the drummer in their first band. He still talks to Terry now and then.

 

[dangermoney]

Terry once told me they recorded Spring Session M at Frank Zappa's (then new) studio. Frank let them use it to help him tweak the sound of the room. A sort of beta test.

I remember reading about this years ago, don't remember where though. I do like the organic sound they ended up with on Spring Session M ...

 

[Roadappledrummer]

That fill at the end of Noticeable one still blows my mind today...top five song ending for me!

 

[snappy]

Unbeknownst to me,
my original post was edited
by a moderator 6 weeks after
I posted.
"Give" was added and "Walking in LA" taken out.
Everything rearranged, too.
*I care not for anything after Spring Session M.
I put my original song list back intact today.
Do you hear the "F word" in Walking in LA
around the
(1:25 ) mark?

 

[red66charger]

Them's fightin' words around here! Seriously though, REMO made some of the best sounding drums I've ever played. Completely underrated, IMO. It seems like people with a limited exposure to REMO drums may have only experienced some of the early, thinner drums that were prone to have problems, or the lower end lines that had the cheaper hardware. These are easy to find at places like Music Go Round and Craigslist. The nicer kits are harder to find. Talk to Jeff Hamilton about his love for REMO drums.

Back to your regularly scheduled conversation...

Yeah, I will plead ignorance to my knowledge of Reno's drum line up. My opinion was based off of the sound of the drums in Bozzio's Solo Drums videos. I think they sounded awful in that video. But, of course, that could be attributed to a number of things and most likely, the heads we're contributor. Very plastic sound.

I do know Peavey's Radial drums sound great so who am I to say Remo didn't have a similarly great product? One thing rings true for me, that Bozzio video was not a ringing endorsement for the brand (IMO, of course).

 

[drummaman1]

Yeah, I will plead ignorance to my knowledge of Reno's drum line up. My opinion was based off of the sound of the drums in Bozzio's Solo Drums videos. I think they sounded awful in that video. But, of course, that could be attributed to a number of things and most likely, the heads we're contributor. Very plastic sound.

I do know Peavey's Radial drums sound great so who am I to say Remo didn't have a similarly great product? One thing rings true for me, that Bozzio video was not a ringing endorsement for the brand (IMO, of course).

When's the last time a drum sounded good with ebony pinstripes on it????

 

[red66charger]

Once again I find myself bumping this old thread. Apologies to those of who who dislike Missing Persons (I do "get it"). 40 years later I'm still a fan.

Even to the faithful, their second full length LP, Rhyme & Reason, was a turn off. While Spring Session M is my favorite album of theirs, I really do enjoy Rhyme & Reason. It was an extreme gamble on Terry Bozzio's part. To have the discipline, skill and precision he displayed up to that point, and then to release an album with programmed drum parts, would seem to be career suicide. But again I'd point to that Modern Drummer article (I think that's where I read it), where he stated he did not program any drum parts that he couldn't pull off live. I believe they were looking to produce something so specific and edgy that it dictated that type of production.

For years I've searched for video footage of a live concert from the Rhyme & Reason tour, with Terry playing the custom built electronic kit. I have not found any, which is surprising given how much there is of him playing the roto tom kit with MP. However, in 2008 a live CD was released, "Dale Bozzio and Missing Persons - Live From the Danger Zone". The recording quality is not the greatest. Some of the low-pitched electronic drum sounds get buried in the mix. Admittedly, the songs from Spring Session M and the EP don't sound as good with the electronic kit. However, the songs from Rhyme & Reason are pretty incredible, IMO. "All Fall Down" and "Give" are really good. This will sound like crap on phones and terrible speakers. With headphones and quality speakers you get a pretty good idea what Terry could do with the E-kit live. Of course I'm not so naive to think artists didn't do overdubs on live recordings, but with drums...and particularly these "drums", it's hard for me to imagine there were overdubs on these recordings. And to my knowledge, all the drum parts were performed live.

Again, not everyone's "cup of tea", but the innovation and mastery are there:

 

[Rhyma Hop]

.

What is anywhere near this cool in current music?... With a hot chic that can sing and a real rock band who can play their instruments well AND write very catchy tunes.??.. anybody ?

 

[Jay-Dee]

.

What is anywhere near this cool in current music?... With a hot chic that can sing and a real rock band who can play their instruments well AND write very catchy tunes.??.. anybody ?

Cool song.

It's probably the only one of theirs that found any traction over here but I still love it all these years later, particularly the way Terry Bozzio phrases his fills.

 

[Trommeslager]

So cringe — embarrassing. Could not hate this more… ugh

 

[hsosdrum]

Hated the band and its music; loved Terry's drumming on "Mental Hopscotch".

 

[cribbon]

They were the band in the great film "Lunch Wagon". lol

Yeah, I rented that from Blockbuster just because Terry & MP were in it. Total cheese except when Terry was blasting.

 

[John DeChristopher]

They were the band in the great film "Lunch Wagon". lol

I recorded it with my first VCR circa 1983.

Yeah, I rented that from Blockbuster just because Terry & MP were in it. Total cheese except when Terry was blasting.

There were a few funny moments in it. The great Chuck McCann selling stolen watches. And the performance scenes were great. But otherwise, yeah, total cheese.

 

[red66charger]

So cringe — embarrassing. Could not hate this more… ugh

It's one thing to hate the music, but "cringe" and "embarrassing" are not necessary. Unless, of course, you are deliberately trying to insult the person who shared it, which is me. So yeah, good going bro.

 

[dsop]

Saw them a few times in small clubs in Toronto and Buffalo in the 80s. Some of the best live drumming I've ever witnessed. I also saw them when they reunited for a show in Los Angeles at the Roxy years later and that was incredible too.

 

[bpaluzzi]

It's one thing to hate the music, but "cringe" and "embarrassing" are not necessary. Unless, of course, you are deliberately trying to insult the person who shared it, which is me. So yeah, good going bro.

An adult using “cringe” is far more embarrassing than anything on the clip you shared.

 

[old_K_ride]

.

What is anywhere near this cool in current music?... With a hot chic that can sing and a real rock band who can play their instruments well AND write very catchy tunes.??.. anybody ?

back when dying one's hair blue was inconceivably radical...song related/I couldn't believe Terry's drums being heard on commercial pop radio back then

 

[Trommeslager]

An adult using “cringe” is far more embarrassing than anything on the clip you shared.

It stay popular with Dirty Old Mans … she never did for me.

 

[red66charger]

It stay popular with Dirty Old Mans … she never did for me.

What???

Obviously there's a language gap here, but I understand enough of the gibberish you wrote to get what you're saying. I didn't listen to Missing Persons' music because I was a dirty old man. I was 18-years old when Spring Session M was released. I was listening to nothing but Led Zeppelin and John Bonham for several years when my eyes were opened to the incredible drumming Terry Bozzio played in Missing Persons' music. It was after hearing him play in Missing Persons that I discovered his stuff with UK, Frank Zappa and the Brecker Brothers. By this time I would have been 19 or 20-years old.

How about you just quit talking crap about stuff you have no idea about. You are entitled to not like the music, but you have no right to judge and insult people who do like it. Bring something positive to the group instead of your judgemental crap.