Favourite Drum parts by Nicko

Siddharth

Siddharth

Long Distance Trooper
I feel like this totally needs to be a topic of discussion. You can mention your favourite drum moments by Nicko, can be from any of the songs or live performances.

Some of my favourites are:
Of course the intro to Where Eagles Dare.
Powerslave (song).
The entirety of Somewhere In Time, specially his speed in The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner.
The chorus parts in The Wicker Man and Out Of The Silent Planet.
"Tribal" drumming in Senjutsu (song).

While his style is great for Maiden's galloping riffs, I wonder why he choses to stay away from double bass drumming? And for that matter, each of the previous drummers have avoided double bass, be it Clive Burr (an awesome drummer as well!), Doug Sampson, Thunderstick and others. Is there any such norm in the band?
 
Oh, there’s many. He is Maiden’s secret weapon.

- Where eagles dare
- The drumming on Powerslave album (even the b-sides. His performance on Mission to ‘Arry is legendary as well)
- The Live after death album
- I love the beat he does in Mother Russia
- The sign of the cross, especially the middle parts
- stuff like Montsegur, Dance of death, For the greater good of God, The pilgrim, El dorado is awesome
- things like The trooper, Can I play with madness, Be quick or be dead, Writing on the wall, I’m sure he can do these while sleeping.
 
Let's see:

Where Eagles Dare, whole song.
Trooper, drum fills.
To Tame A Land, outro part.
Instrumental sections of CSIT, Deja-Vu, Moonchild, Infinite Dreams, SSOASS, TETMD (gallop). Actually, the whole SIT album.
Powerslave, whole song (the drum rolls!).
Rime, whole song again (especially the part before the calm mid section).
Be Quick Or Be Dead's fast tempo.
Sign Of The Cross, the hit-hat drumming.
The use of the cymbal in Clansman.
Wicker Man (the chorus)
Dream Of Mirrors (the fast part)
Paschendale (instrumental section)
New Frontier (outro)
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (verses)
For The Greater Good Of God (the start of instrumental section)
Empire (in the middle of the song)
Senjutsu (tribal drumming)
Death Of The Celts (cymbals hits)
Hell On Earth (the fills)

There are more for sure.
 
I may not be an expert in prog rock but got to know that in Isle Of Avalon, at the mark of 4:23 the song has a part in 7/8 time signature and has a nice brief jam with Nicko's drumming taking the spotlight. Really like it!
 
Let's be real, Nicko puts on a fucking clinic on every album. VXI not withstanding because who knows wtf was really going on behind the scenes. Something like: Nicko: "Well since you're going to repeat that chorus 58 fucking times, I'm going to ease up on the technicality so everyone can hear it perfectly clear."
 
VXI is like an extreme version of the kind of drumming Nicko had largely been doing up until that point in the 90s after NPFTD. I couldn't name a single actually memorable drum part on FotD while the preceding album is chock full of them. Hard to say if it was a deliberate direction from the "producer" or if it was just Nicko being mentally checked out and not caring to put much of a performance in.
 
Ruflux said:
VXI is like an extreme version of the kind of drumming Nicko had largely been doing up until that point in the 90s after NPFTD. I couldn't name a single actually memorable drum part on FotD while the preceding album is chock full of them. Hard to say if it was a deliberate direction from the "producer" or if it was just Nicko being mentally checked out and not caring to put much of a performance in.
Click to expand...
Ehhh...hard disagree. FotD has some phenomenal drums, not to mention the production on those drums sounds amazing to this day. Even X Factor still feature his single-footed-triplets and fills. VXI otoh has what someone in this forum once referred to as "muppet beats" and that's an analogy that'll never leave my head.

Compare any live version of any VXI song with the album and you'll see a huge difference in drum performance, and it highlight how anemic the VXI drums really are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top