Alex at his best

**Betty Boop** · 01.10.02, 01:30 PM

I think the 1984 album belongs to him, and his drumming on the first few measures in Panama is amazing--sounds like he's hitting with his hands and the sound has that muted flattened bongo sound. Awesome. It's deceptively simple and perfect against what Ed plays. And also way up high in the mix.
Do we have to mention the intro for Hot For Teacher which, played live, actually caused heartbeat problems for audience members right in front of the speaker cabs at the shows.
As a percussionist he was just starting to happen on 1984.
Where else does AVH shine...hmmm....

P1 · 01.10.02, 01:38 PM

You wanna hear some insane drumming, listen to The Pleasure Dome. Instrumentally, that song is amazing. For a whole album, I would probably agree with you about 1984.

**YankeeRose** · 01.10.02, 01:50 PM

I like Alex's drumming the best on 0U812! He's really awesome on songs like Mine All Mine, A.F.U., Source Of Infection and Feels So Good. [img]smile.gif[/img]

**JWS_5150** · 01.10.02, 02:23 PM

The Hot for Teacher intro is just...WOW.

Nothing can top that, IMO. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

Pleasure Dome was pretty damn cool too.

**Rikk** · 01.10.02, 04:06 PM

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by P1:
You wanna hear some insane drumming, listen to The Pleasure Dome. Instrumentally, that song is amazing. For a whole album, I would probably agree with you about 1984.<hr></blockquote>

Absolutely. I may not like the F.U.C.K. album very much, but I think that is by far the strongest song. Once in a while, the Sammy era released a complete total VH classic, and that's definitely one of them. Too bad it's probably the least known song on the album.

**paradiddle** · 01.10.02, 04:14 PM

Good call, Pleasure Dome (the actual song) kicks very heavy ass! Alex is a monster. Whant about Loss of Control? Not bad.

**Dan Halen** · 01.10.02, 04:21 PM

I agree that 1984 is probably Alex's best drumming album. The Hot For Teacher intro and drumming on Pleasure Dome are his best, though, IMO.

**Rikk** · 01.10.02, 05:19 PM

I definitely agree that Alex's drumming has improved immeasurably over the years. He was a great energetic drummer in early years, but listen to his drumming on ME WISE MAGIC and even how he started doing really amazing drum fills on 1984.

One of the most under-rated drummers in rock history.

**79th and Sunset** · 01.10.02, 05:40 PM

The one song that came to my mind right away was "Loss of Control" but a lot of people (not me) dont like that song as much as say, "Me Wise Majic", or "Hot for Teacher" etc...

No doubt too, the drumming on "Please Dome" was awesome !

The one thing about Alex that always was amazing to me was the loud sound he would get out of his drums. He was right up there with John Bonham on getting that killer, full, sound, live, and on the albums/CD's.

**Cabo Kid** · 01.10.02, 09:21 PM

Great topic. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

I've always admired Alex's style and finesse behind the kit and have been especially impressed with such songs as LUTS, HFT, PD, GGB, Outta Love Again and his whole presence from Fair Warning to 1984. He had this whole "persona" about him that sounded like he was saying "I'm gonna run your ass over with just my fists if I need to".

His playing style was hard, fast & furious (a style my wife has never accused me of having [img]redface.gif[/img] ) but I digress.

Check out some of the boots if you can. I thought on the 'Balance' stint, the whole "latin flavor" was cool for ONE tour, but not for 2 consecutive ones. That's just me though. I thought he relied on the electronics too much on '1984' shows, but his sound on the US Festival was so beefy and loud...THAT is the Alex that kicks my ass! [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]