Sunday 13 July 2008

Give The Drummer Some


Whenever I get back from the boot-sales or charity shops with a fresh batch of records, the first thing I listen for is a drum-break. There's nothing better than finding some dope drums, and the more obscure the record, the more satisfying the feeling. Now obviously there's drum-breaks on near enough all genres of music, but what could be better than a whole album of nothing but drum-breaks? I've picked up a few 'drum tuition' L.P.'s over the years, but this is probably my favourite. Lloyd Ryan's 1978 album - "Prelude To The Pulse Of Time", released only in the U.K. on 'The Label' (TLED 2). There's also a 'part one' titled "The Pulse Of Time - Rock Drumming" (TLED 1) which I have never seen or heard, but judging by this release should also be a sampling producers dream. The cover alone on this one is worth every penny of the £1.00 it cost me, and the record itself does not disappoint. A very basic, beginners guide to drumming, broken down in to 32 short exercises, ranging from individual drum sound demonstrations to playing different rhythms (dance beat, rhumba and pop). So to start with, you've already got a nice little drum kit to sample with all the separate hits, clean and with plenty of breathing space, and then you've got the loops - and the 'pop' beats are where it's at. I've uploaded one example below so you can get a taster, but there's plenty more on here, so keep your eyes peeled for a copy. I put this in my eBay search soon after I got it, which was about two and a half years ago. Not one single listing has appeared yet!

The only other record I have by Lloyd Ryan is "Kendo's Theme", a U.K. 45 on PVK which was actually the song British wrestling legend Kendo Nagasaki used for his entrance to the ring. It's a spacey Disco-Funk type of tune that kinda reminds me of Rah Band's "Messages From The Stars". There's a break on this as well but nothing amazing - the 12" version though, is extended and harder hitting. Try finding that!



Lloyd Ryan 'Exercise 10b' (1977 The Label L.P. track)



Lloyd Ryan's Express 'Kendo's Theme' (1975 PVK Records U.K. 45)



3 comments:

Daily Diggers said...

Hey Mr Krum....

I'm just chillin' in the spot with the Beat Detective and Dj Skye - we all agree this is a great site homeslice ;o) & full of record paraphenalia ... just how we like it!

...and LOL we used that Lloyd Ryan drum tuition LP in a scratch track we released in '99 - I will hit you off with a soundclip on your email.

Keep raiding them bargain bins and keep up the dope posts - we love this shit!!

Kid Dyno - DAILY DIGGERS

Anonymous said...

Lloyd Ryan is my drum teacher, so your article certainly attracted my interest!

Lloyd has other stuff for download from his website, you should check out tracks from his Bangin' For Britain (formerly Drumming Your Mother Would Love) CD:

Link

Lloyd is also thinking about putting together a drum breaks album, depending on demand. Let him know what you think!

MR KRUM said...

Hi...thanks for your comments. I actually checked out Lloyd Ryan's website before adding this post.

To be honest with you, I'm not entirely sure how much demand there would be for a Drum Breaks LP. He may have missed the boat by a few years, what with all the downloading business going on nowadays. Maybe adding downloads to his site would work better, but I wouldn't have a clue how successful that would be as it's something I know nothing about and it doesn't appeal to me in any way at all. I'm a vintage vinyl person - I only collect music in it's physical form - be it 45's, 12"s or LPs.

Now, if he had any original copies of his Drum Tutorial albums knocking about on vinyl any where then I'd snap them up!