I found Led Zep's Moby Dick (live version) on Limewire. came with the comment, best drum solo ever!!!. well, whatever. took me a while to appreciate Bonham. the contrast of his precision, and JP Jones's, with the looseness of Plant and Page (call it sloppiness for Jimmy), made it seem like Bonham was off the beat. he aint. he sometimes tries to put too much in fills, which can be impressive but also distracts, but his beat is rock hard. "Moby Dick" is like Cream's "Toad", with a ripping rock guitar intro then the band walks away as the drummer shows off. I can't imagine Elvin Jones making such a mess of things. jumping from one rhythmic bit to another, no cohesion. Bonham's impressive, I'll admit, but it's still largely boring. it's nice when he starts hitting the drums with his hands. I remember in high school, someone was crowing about the Zep concert the night before. he couldn't get over that Bonham used his hands. that was enough for him. reminds me of whatever beer commercial, which bespoke the virtue of the beer as being that it's cold. not cold brewed or something like that, just cold. as if that were an intrinsic of the beer. anyway, Bonham used a monster drum kit. which always seems like a bit of baloney. I remember seeing Gene Krupa on tv, soon before he died I think. he had 5 or 6 cymbals, including one maybe 5" across. imagine that. I think you need only so much precision when yo're basically making noise. you listen to his work with Benny Goodman (I used to listen to Live at Carnegie with my father), and his drive is apparent thru out. Bonham's solo lacks drive, he's too busy shifting gears. drum solos always seem like a bone for the cheap seats. my memory of Ginger Baker was of his drubbing 20 minute solos (I saw 2 in one night at a Cream concert, yawn), but listening to some Cream stuff lately and his drumming is quite tasteful. just don't solo, bub. I suppose my favourite drummers are Elvin Jones and Dave Mattacks (of Fairport Convention). Jones makes such definite statements with his drums, give them such presence in the music. I saw a thing on PBS about Coltrane, and there's Jones saying how incredible Trane was. Jones has a faraway look in his eyes as if he can't believe what Trane did. coming from Jones, I mean. Mattack also gives incredible presence. what he doesn't do, the air between the beat, comes alive. that's good drumming, when the silence reverberates. so in conclusion, folks, rock on.