Your favorite albums to play to? Recommendations welcomed.

[JazzDrumGuy]

Back in the day, I'd play the entire Steely Dan box set....all the albums.......back to back......
talk about some great drumming!

 

[Topsy Turvy]

I like playing along to Amy Winehouse‘s Back to Black.

 

[TheMattJones88]

Holy crap! This is an incredible list! Superchunk never gets mentioned here.

Jon Wurster's an incredibly underrated drummer. I'm a huge Best Show fan too.

 

[stuart s]

Peace in our Time- Big Country
Coda - Zep
In Through The Out Door- Zep
Zenyatta Mondatta- the Police
Stevie Wonder- Number 1's
Test For Echo- Rush (sounds easier than the earlier ones but not easy at all)

 

[Rich K.]

John Mayer Trio "Try"
Sirius channel 50 The Groove

 

[dirtysicks]

Anything by Snarky Puppy or Chick Corea Akoustic Band.

 

[Topsy Turvy]

Jon Wurster's an incredibly underrated drummer. I'm a huge Best Show fan too.

Absolutely agree!

 

[UptownShakedown]

There are so many but for me there are 2 that are the most fun, both from the same night - King Curtis/Aretha Franklin: Live At The Fillmore West

 

[Angelo Zollo]

I would love to be able to play along to
Romantic Warrior ( Chick Corea )
way Way WAY ABOVE my skill set
Mr White, your job is very safe

 

[Soulfinger]

There are so many but for me there are 2 that are the most fun, both from the same night - King Curtis/Aretha Franklin: Live At The Fillmore West

Good call! I played along to these albums a lot when I was playing bass, killer grooves by Jemmott and Purdie.

On drums I haven´t played to records in ages but back when I used to, my favourite was the then brand new Sting live album "Bring on the Night".

 

[Gunnellett]

Appetite for Destruction - GNR.

 

[Pat A Flafla]

If I'm playing a record down for my own enjoyment, as well as for keeping the chops up, it would probably be Dream Theater's Scenes from a Memory (skipping The Spirit Carries On).
If it's just for fun, then I'm with Gunnellett: GnR AfD. Before a couple years of weekly Rush tribute gigs, I would have said Moving Pictures but I got a little burnt out. I could probably list a bunch of metal records I used to chop out to.

It's usually not full records for me, but targeted playlists.

 

[Cauldronics]

In that case, my favorite play along albums are by Steely Dan: "Katy Lied," "Royal Scam," and "Aja." There are so many great drummers and styles to learn from on those albums: Jeff Porcaro, Bernard Purdie, Rick Marotta, Paul Humphries, Steve Gadd, Ed Green, Jim Keltner. And the guitar playing is supreme! Inspiring! I'm dating myself.

I've been listening to Steely Dan quite a bit lately and playing along. Learning the songs down pat would be a great education for any drummer, I should think. I expected the Purdie tracks to be funky but he does much more than that. Hearing him outside the James Brown material he's known for was a real eye opener.

 

[underratedcowbell]

The Stone Roses debut album
Reni is great!

 

[Cauldronics]

I had the idea the other day to play along to Bow Wow Wow. That would shape up my tribal tom beats rather well. There are a few tracks where David Barbarossa gets drum corp rudimental and it drives the hell out of the band.

The story of how BWW came to be is good, too. Malcolm McClaren was done with the Sex Pistols and was forming Adam and the Ants. When he discovered Anabella Lwin (BWW singer/frontwoman), he bailed on Adam Ant and got his band to back her up. They became one of the great, underrated bands, IMO.

The bass playing is better than most bands anywhere.

 

[mebeatee]

Pretty straightforward stuff being mentioned here.....
Try these if you dare. Seriously...these make the Black Page look like boom crack boom crack.....

Philosophy of the world......The Shaggs
Trout mask replica......Captain Beefhart

If you can decipher these you can do anything.
bt

 

[underratedcowbell]

Pretty straightforward stuff being mentioned here.....


Philosophy of the world......The Shaggs

bt

To play that you really have to be in another rhythmic dimension!

 

[Browny]

Off the top of my head, these are some of the go-to records, depending on how I'm feeling and if I want it to be more of a relaxed jam along or try and stretch myself/get a work out.

Queens of the Stone Age - Sings For The Deaf (Dave Grohl)
The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium [I'm not getting this down note-for-note] (Jon Theodore)
Buddy Guy - King For A Day/Bring 'Em In [record seems to go under both names] (Steve Jordan)
John Mayer Trio - Try! (Steve Jordan)
Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus (JP Gaster)
Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy (John Bonham)
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (John Bonham)

 

[fusseltier]

First three sabbath albums, cat scratch fever, led zeppelin 2 and 4, and a few others.

 

[577rob]

Doobies and Dire Straits