"Ok, Brian Downey never played the kick like Simon Phillips in "Call For The Priest/Raw Deal" but neither did Ian Paice in "Lazy". I kind of get what you're aiming at though referring to Ginger Baker."I hear Simon Phillips as a bit "If Ian Paice had gone to music school ...", there are similarities in the foundation of their playing though Simon is no doubt more technically proficient and adventurous (but Paice was adventurous in a heavy rock context), though his best work was probably heard here:
The fact that Roger Glover took an immense liking to Simon's style (in a comparatively short time he appeared on four Glover-produced albums: Sin after Sin, Whitesnake (Coverdale debut), MSG's debut and Glover's own Elements) seems to indicate that Roger - always in awe of Paice's playing - thought so too, I believe he heard something familiar.
I like it if the bass drum is sometimes used as the "lead instrument" within the "orchestra of drums" as opposed to just serving as the foundation of the snare, cymbal and tom work, i.e. "when it leaves the format", does that explain it better? Same reason I like format-leaving bass playing too, I think it's refreshing. Too much convention drives me mad.
But for all you valiantly coming to the rescue of Thin Lizzy, it's not like I don't take anything away from our discussions here, I just ordered end of last week the Bad Reputation remaster plus the remastered Phil Lynott solo albums, so I am indeed contributing to his estate (or his mum's estate). And I buy all the Black Star Riders stuff, so ole Scotty gets a share too even though I thought his - truly magnificent - hair always more noteworthy than his guitar playing. The man
single-handedly myriad-follicly invented straightened hair decades before it became
de rigueur.
I will now proceed to listen to Bad Reputation, it's been a while since I last heard the full album, 40 years perhaps? All because of you.