Items18The creator’s order
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In the Air TonightThe quiet Roland CR-78 pattern gives you time to forget what a full kit sounds like. Then Collins sends a gated tom fill tumbling downward just before the kit takes over. The last stretch feels louder in part because that entrance has been withheld for so long.0 - 2
The Obvious ChildThe deep drums and higher rattles belong to Olodum, recorded in Salvador’s Pelourinho Square. About halfway through, listen to the percussion recede as the players themselves ease off. When the full beat returns, you can hear how much space that brief retreat created.0 - 3
Be My BabyHal Blaine has the opening to himself. Low drum hits set up a little pocket of silence, then a snare shot snaps the phrase shut. When the rest of the arrangement arrives, keep listening for that same drum shape through the mass of voices and instruments.0 - 4
Get Ur Freak OnFollow the rapid tabla taps underneath the plucked tumbi hook. They spill into the gaps around the straight kick and snare, especially when Elliott leaves a little room at the end of a line. Those little flurries keep the beat moving even when the hook stays the same.0 - 5
CannonballFirst comes the distorted voice, then Jim MacPherson’s short pattern of stick clicks. It makes the entrance feel almost like a countdown. Listen to how much louder the floor seems to get underneath Josephine Wiggs’s sliding bass once the full kit comes in.0 - 6
Take FiveListen to the piano once Paul Desmond’s saxophone steps back. Brubeck keeps the same five-beat figure while Joe Morello moves farther afield around the kit. The piano gives you a way to count through the solo, so you can hear just how far Morello’s accents travel before the tune comes back.0 - 7
Funky Drummer (Pt. 1 & 2)Wait for James Brown to call on Clyde Stubblefield and the band to leave him exposed. The kick and snare keep the groove planted while tiny snare taps and a shifting hi-hat give it its shape. The absence of the other players makes nuances you might otherwise miss easy to hear.0 - 8
No One KnowsIn the break after the second chorus, Dave Grohl moves between the toms and cymbal accents so quickly that the low hits and bright crashes seem to answer each other. Engineer Eric Valentine recorded the cymbals on a separate pass, which helps you hear each part of that exchange clearly.0 - 9
Oye Como VaPut the piano figure in the background for one listen and follow the bright metallic pulse instead. The dance rhythm comes from the steady bell and the quicker percussion answers that flicker around it. It’s an easy way into how Puente’s cha-cha-chá works before the room fills with voices and horns.0 - 10
Blue MondayThe bass-drum burst at the beginning almost gives you a false start. Listen for the extra low hits before the more regular pulse settles in. Stephen Morris described the track as designed for clubs, and those first bars put the weight of a big club sound up front before the keys enter.0
