There are always people in music who are enigmatic. Charlie Watts of the Stones is such an enigma only for the wrong reasons. His long career has posed one singular question. How can someone be so lucky with so little ability or interest in what he's doing.
Charlie's long career doesn't exactly lend creedence to the "harder I work the luckier I get" theory. He doesn't play well because he doesn't really care and thats really the heart of the matter. The Stones will never be accused of high level musicianship, but at least the others try the best they can to put on a good performance.
You may ask why am I picking on Charlie. He is often seen as the heart and soul of the band and that is a big responsibility. "It's good enough" is hardly the attitude that will inspire your band mates or an audience that pays a lot of money to hear you
When Charlie Watts is in the mood he can lay down a solid groove but his fills and song endings can try any musicians patience. His lack of the most basic technique causes him to lose what ever articulation or precision he has.
What is sad about this is the potential to be a good player is there. He chooses not to. Recordings and live performances are filled with sloppy playing. You can get away with that for a while but not when you've been playing for fifty years.
Charlie is from all accounts a very fine and generous man it's his lack of dedication thats in question. Charlie never grew, except for the period when Jimmy Miller was producing the band. Miller, an excellent drummer in his own right, got Charlie to up his game. When Miller left the growth stopped.
There are going to be many people who will disagree with me but when you have the same musical defeciencies in 2014 that you had in 1965 then something is wrong.
A good friend once told me that he'd rather be lucky than good. My buddy got lucky because he was good and got even better as the years went on. Charlie Watts was extremely lucky, unfortunately he failed to fulfill the talent that got him there.
The Groove Continues...
Charlie's long career doesn't exactly lend creedence to the "harder I work the luckier I get" theory. He doesn't play well because he doesn't really care and thats really the heart of the matter. The Stones will never be accused of high level musicianship, but at least the others try the best they can to put on a good performance.
You may ask why am I picking on Charlie. He is often seen as the heart and soul of the band and that is a big responsibility. "It's good enough" is hardly the attitude that will inspire your band mates or an audience that pays a lot of money to hear you
When Charlie Watts is in the mood he can lay down a solid groove but his fills and song endings can try any musicians patience. His lack of the most basic technique causes him to lose what ever articulation or precision he has.
What is sad about this is the potential to be a good player is there. He chooses not to. Recordings and live performances are filled with sloppy playing. You can get away with that for a while but not when you've been playing for fifty years.
Charlie is from all accounts a very fine and generous man it's his lack of dedication thats in question. Charlie never grew, except for the period when Jimmy Miller was producing the band. Miller, an excellent drummer in his own right, got Charlie to up his game. When Miller left the growth stopped.
There are going to be many people who will disagree with me but when you have the same musical defeciencies in 2014 that you had in 1965 then something is wrong.
A good friend once told me that he'd rather be lucky than good. My buddy got lucky because he was good and got even better as the years went on. Charlie Watts was extremely lucky, unfortunately he failed to fulfill the talent that got him there.
The Groove Continues...
RSS Feed
