From: jaeger@buphy.bu.edu (Gregg Jaeger)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: Less is less (was Re: The BIG change -- a new thread?)
Date: 29 Sep 92 00:47:00 GMT
Organization: Boston University Physics Department

In article <1992Sep28.193711.381@leland.Stanford.EDU> 
gimper@leland.Stanford.EDU (Stuart Miyasato) writes:
I haven't seen a follow-up to the topic below yet, so here goes...
>In article <96881@bu.edu> jaeger@buphy.bu.edu (Gregg Jaeger) writes:

>>In article <D40374W.92Sep26223338@kaira.hut.fi> d40374w@kaira.hut.fi 
(Tero Valkonen) writes:


>>>I don't think there was any "less is more" attitude. In fact, Neil
>>>has himself said that he is not one of those who think that less
>>>is more. "A lot of the time, less is less." -NP

>>I'd be interested in knowing the context of this quote, because of
>>the above understanding of ``less is more'' in art. Maybe an art
>>student out there could fill us in a bit on this bit of art
>>terminology? I seem to recall Neil saying understanding ``less
>>is more'' as I have in the above...

I think he does understand it as I have; I think one can see from 
the statements below that Neil is not against `less is more' but 
rather aware of its potential pitfalls.

>I'm including a fairly detailed passage from Neil's Dec. '89 interview
>in _Modern Drummer_ magazine.
...
>Note the final sentence in the passage:  "A lot of times,
>less is less."


Thanks a million for getting this up. It gets right to the point:


>     There's an English pop band called China Crisis, and the drummer plays
>very simple patterns with very few fills, but again, what he plays is so
>elegant, and right for the music, and you can tell he has confidence.  When he
>plays difficult patterns he plays them with such authority that they just flow
>by you smoothly.  Many drummers try to pull off a more difficult pattern or
>fill, and it comes off slightly less than smooth.  I've been guilty of that
>myself certainly!  The really good drummers make what they're playing sound
>effortless-not labored.  When you have drummers who have spent a lot of time
>learning, ad a lot of time practicing and playing different styles of music,
>when they do set themselves to play simply, they have a certain authority and a
>uniqueness to what they are doing that sets them apart.  They're not just
>playing the only beat they know.  And that's what a lot of so-called simple
>drummers are guilty of.  They're playing simply because that's all they know.
>That's sad in one sense because it's so limiting.  They are victims to the
>"less is more" approach because they don't understand exactly what it means.
>You have to know what you want to play and what you want to leave out-not just
>play the only beat you know.  A lot of times, less is less.

The point here is to be found in Neil's statement that some
drummers become ``victims to the `less is more' approach _because
they don't really know what it means_ '' (emphasis mine). The fact that
someone can be a victim of a method does not make the method bad. In
fact, Neil is contrasting a good application of the method with a bad
application of the method.


I don't read this as showing that he is against `less is more'.
As I've said, IMHO, he has followed it to some extent himself of late. 
Notice for example the number of times per album he's played in 4/4 
on the last few albums.



Gregg


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