The Reason They Call It The Rhythm 'Section'

Yes, I'm blogging the original performance, like an old person. And why? There are more current clips, after all. Somehow, though, those current clips just don't have it, so I decided to go back to the original to see what it really is. For comparison, check out this clip of Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart from a 2009 show at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. They're in fine form, right? So what's missing?

It's the rhythm section.

Howlin' Wolf, who popularized this song -- all those first-generation Chicago bluesmen, in fact -- had the best rhythm sections ever. Those were the rhythm sections that inspired The Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann, The Yardbirds, and all those seminal British blues bands, including The Jeff Beck Group.

Listen, then, to the original audio. Hear how drummer, Mick Waller, and bassist, Ron Wood, work in lockstep; there's a reason they call it a rhythm section. Listen to the heavy, heavy syncopation; they spend so long on the dotted eighths that the sixteenth notes almost come too late. The hard, un-syncopated triplets in the instrumental breaks that follow make for a stunning rhythmic contrast with the slinky groove in the verses. There's the sense that the rhythm section is not only important, but driving the proceedings.

The funny thing is that, in the original, the lead guitar and vocal lines take their inspiration from the drums and bass. The song builds from the bottom up, which is right in line with the principles of acoustics. Bass notes have longer wave forms; the sound takes longer to get moving and reach the ear. In fact, when upright bass players use the bow, they have to start bowing before the note is supposed to sound; that's how long it takes the sound to come out. If you build from the bottom up, your timing is better, your drive, or sense of forward motion is better. The music has a more propulsive feel, even when the groove is ostensibly lazy, as it is here. This is masterful work, and incredibly hard, but these guys make it sound easy.

None of that is happening in the El Rey video. The drummer and bassist have taken the easy way out. Beck and Stewart sound less inspired as a result.

The video below? This is the original Jeff Beck Group with "I Ain't Superstitious".