Double Door - Chicago- Nov-14-2007

[riffraff]

Well, Blue Cheer rolled my bones...... ;D in what was an excellent gig. A Wednesday night gig is tough cuz you gotta survive two more days of work, but I got that solved by calling in sick......when nothing could be further from the truth!

I will be brief and return later after a couple of cups of black coffee, but in a nutshell, the band played hard and furious. The venue is one of the best ones they have appeared at so far in Chicago. They were on a large stage about 3 to 4 ft off the ground. I managed to get this on 8mm, so I will send a copy out to Duck. The new material fit in very well. The set list was identical to an earlier post (by mike the drummer) except we had no encore. Which was ok. The lengthy instrumental to Dr. Please probably beat the crowd into submission so the thing that remained was to pick up our jaws from the floor. Hard to cheer for an encore when thus occupied.

Paul Whaley.....Paul Whaley.....I will say it again...Paul Whaley was a stand out this time. His drumming was great. He had worked out 4 solos or passages in various songs, the best saved for last in Dr. Please. Man the drums even sounded different. I though he had a new kit, but he said later that he tuned them differently than before. He said he tightened the skins up and also mentioned that a lot of the things that he did in the past was all starting to come back. Quite cool ...It was all great to hear.

No equipment problems, Dickie in good voice, Duck in good tone. Duck harmonized in one song...was more in a shredding mode this time so his playing was fast and furious.

New T- shirts were available with the cover of What doesn't Kill you in a couple of different versions.

Younger fans were dancing to the music, old timers bobbing around. Everyone had a good time. The band graciously came out after about 20 minutes and chatted with the fans until closing ..about 2 am...

now for that cup of coffee....

[rowenafaerie]

excellent news! and to all you who think you have heard whaley because you heard the first two albums, he was far better live. looks like it will be worth the wait! a full-on blue cheer now that's something to see!

[mikethedrummer]

Thanks riffraff - glad to hear they're rested up and still going strong. FOUR Whaley solos?!?! We "only" got two in Pittsburgh - "Second Time Around" and "Doctor Please". What other songs did he solo on?

[riffraff]

You are actually correct, Mike. The other two might not quite qualify as solos , more drum passages. I was standing at the left side of the stage (from viewers standpoint) and had a clear view of Paul through the whole set. Needless to say I was impresssed this time with how much work he puts into his drumming. (He usually is hard to see).

The set list was
Babylon
Second Time Around (drum solo 1)
Maladjusted Child
I’m Gonna Get to You (Duck with soulful guitar)
Parchment Farm (with blues segment) (drum solo 2 with bass)
Out of Focus
Rollin’ Dem Bones (Duck on backing vocals)
Just a Little Bit (drum solo 3...passage)
Summertime Blues
Doctor Please (drum solo 4)

[FeedbackLourde]

riffraff said:

Paul Whaley.....Paul Whaley.....I will say it again...Paul Whaley was a stand out this time. His drumming was great.

Despite certain rumblings, He certainly BLOWS AWAY Mike Stuart!

[mr maltese]

Riff Raff,

nice review and it's great to hear that Paul is getting stronger and stronger with each gig that he plays,...I've always felt the four greatest drummers from the late sixties were Whaley,Mitchell,Moon and Baker,....and today Whaley has surpassed the other three (of course Moon has left us a while ago R.I.P.)...I've heard Mitchell cannot play like he used to which is unfortunate to hear (I've always felt Mitchell was as important as Hendrix was in The Experience and BOG) and Baker isn't what he used to be in the old Cream days either,...sounds to me like they're just getting warmed up by the time they do their last show of the tour

[riffraff]

I would add Bobby Caldwell to that list and maybe John Hammond (rip) of Atomic Rooster. You are absolutely correct about Mitch Mitchell.

I just got finished reviewing the tape, which is still amateur. As Doug Dye says you gotta have a separate mic and can't count on the built in videocam mike. I also have not been able to figure out how to stabilize the digital video camera. The loud sound waves make it unstable.

Talking to Duck, he did mention that they had a big crowd in Detroit and were very appreciative of that. Any one here on the board at that show?

[riffraff]

No John Bonham? Mr. Maltese?

[mikethedrummer]

Bobby Caldwell didn't get to make a name for himself until he joined Johnny Winter in 1970, so I wouldn't necessarily include him in that same group. For my money, he's as good or better than any of them, though. I'd also like to add my friend and teacher, the late George Suranovich (from Love), to that list.

[FeedbackLourde]

John Bonham is totally overrated and his son really blows chunks! I'd say the most underrated heavy drummer out there is Bill Ward. Look at the stuff he does on the early Sabbath records. I'd put Rat Salad up against Moby Dick any day of the week....

[Terence Belcher]

Riff Raff...

Did you happen to bump into the World Famous Jonah Shayna Bracha farber at the Double Door, by any chance?
Well, it says `World Famous` on her website, but then, I guess she wrote that herself. It`s amazing how many people with websites think they are `world famous` and have to tell us that they are, even though none of us have ever heard of them before, or are ever likely to hear of them again, whilst `world famous`guys like those in Blue Cheer don`t have to tell us, because we know that they are

TAB.....25

[mr maltese]

Riff Raff,

I have to agree with FBL on John Bonham - I prefer Bill Ward to Bonham myself,.....as for the more technical drummers IMHO to
me hands down Carl Palmer,Buddy Rich and Louis Belson are among three of the very best drummers,.....in the technical categorie I've always found Neil Peart to very overrated I still think he's very good but certainly not in the league with guys like Palmer,Rich and Belson,.....another great drummer from New Jersey a guy by the name of Joe Nevolo (who has played with Mahogany Rush,Tony McAlpine and most recently,BB & The Stingers)I would rank him very high along with the others just mentioned he also plays with the flash like Terry Bozio

As for the time keepers I love Phil Rudd (AC/DC) and Bun E. Carlos (from Cheap Trick),.....then again all this is is a matter of personal taste

[FeedbackLourde]

I saw Terry Bozio when he played with Jeff Beck. They were on a double bill with Stevie Ray Vaughan and had the misfortune of playing second. SRV BLEW Beck off the stage and he came on looking pissed off and cranked up obnoxiously loud (in this case, it didn't make him better). Anyway, I pretty much watched Bozio that night and he was definitely one of the best drummers I ever saw.

As for time keepers...I personally like Charlie Watts and of course.....Norman Mayall!

[mikethedrummer]

I guess we're staying off-topic here, but...

FBL and Mr. M - I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you guys on this one. While Bonham was pretty inconsistent and self-indulgent as a soloist, his accompaniment work was usually top notch and often brilliant. In all honesty, Bill Ward never did much for me, but then I kind of lost interest in Black Sabbath after their first couple of albums. I agree that Neil Peart is overrated, although he is an excellent drummer in the Rush context. I'm not sure that Terry Bozzio is human - no one should be able to play like he does. And I do agree that Norman Mayell (FBL - note spelling! did a good job of keeping time.

[riffraff]

Yeah, Mr. Maltese, Feedback and Mike....it's funny whenever a top 5 or top 10 lists is drawn up, I always go..another 5 or another 10....like , hey , what about.....

So I agree Bonham's whole catelogue is spotty, while he was at the top of the game in Led Zeppelin I and other instances. I have grown to appreciate Bill Ward more so over the years.

And Terry Bozzio, while an awesome drummer, is into timbre, and while his expertise is at the highest level, there are others who play at a higher emotional level (to me anyway)....enter Paul Whaley.

The remarkable thing about Mr. Maltese's post is that he put Paul in the top 4. The shame of it is in Vincebus he was cut out of the mix, so the drum level was probably 25% of what it should have been. If there ever was an album calling for a remix, that is it. Hearing Paul live we get an idea. But man, if they ever remix that album correctly, it would slay the unbelievers.

You listen to Beck's Bolero and in an instant you recognise that Keith Moon was the epiphany of emotional power hitting drummers. Paul was very close behind. Keith had the advantage of more exposure and bigger audience. Can't say enough about Baker and Mitchell, though they were more the rolling drummers using a jazz style. I am not a drummer, wanted a set as a kid, though...banged on pots and pans and plastic pails hah! The drummers on this bb can put it more eloquently.

But the only one out there now, playing like days of olde is Paul. Thank you Paul...!!...!!....!